Government grapples with High Court to axe the next nurses strike
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) have revealed the government is appealing to the High Court in London for a ruling that the strike concerning nurses next week is illegal.
In a bid to cut nurses strikes, which are planned to commence on Sunday 31st April until Tuesday 2nd May, short, the government has asked the High Court to assess whether the last day of the strikes falls outside of the RCN’s six-month mandate for action.
Health Secretary, Steve Barclay, originally had plans to prevent the entire strike from taking place, but has decided to just try and cut it short.
Pat Cullen, the RCN’s General Secretary, said the government’s ‘threat’ was ‘wrong and indefensible’, claiming: ‘The only way to deal with bullies is to stand up to them…including in court.’
Despite stating that the union is prepared to take minister down in a court room, the organisation intends to contest the government’s attempt to have part of the strike deemed unlawful. A hearing is due to commence within the next few days.
Ms Cullen has begrudgingly informed RCN members in an email that it would truncate the strike if they lost the case.
The email said” ‘If the government succeeds in silencing members like you and convinces the court to stop part of our strike, then we’ll have no choice but to cut it short.’
The RCN called this bank holiday weekend’s strike earlier this month after its members rejected the governments latest pay offer in a ballot. Of the 61% of RCN members in England who voted, 64% rejected the deal, which the union had endorsed, and 46% accepted it.
After rejecting the pay offer, the union announced the new strike action date, but ramped up the number of nurses walking out of hospitals to show how serious they were about gaining some decent respect from government ministers. The RCN has since been criticised for refusing to grant any exemptions for key aspects of care including, intensive care, maternity services and A&E.
In a statement, which was revealed this week, Mr Barclay, said: ‘Following a request from NHS Employers I am regretfully applying to the high court to declare the Royal College of Nursing’s planned strike action on 2 May unlawful,” he said. “Despite attempts by my officials to resolve the situation over the weekend, I have been left with no choice but to proceed with legal action.
‘I firmly support the right to take industrial action within the law. But the government cannot stand by and let a plainly unlawful strike action go ahead nor ignore the request of NHS Employers. We must also protect nurses by ensuring they are not asked to take part in an unlawful strike.’
Once the nurses strike has occurred, cut short or not, the RCN plans to reballot its members next month in an attempt to gain a fresh legal mandate for a further series of strikes, which Ms Cullen has warned could last until Christmas.
Image: Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona