A year of strikes
Unions urge Sunak to ‘do the right thing’ and offer fair pay
RISHI Sunak has been blasted for failing to resolve public sector strikes a year after workers voted to take action.
Trade union leaders yesterday demanded the PM stop “messing around” and give staff the pay and conditions they deserve.
Wednesday marked one year since railway workers in the RMT voted to begin their biggest walkouts in almost 30 years.
Since then, nurses, junior doctors, paramedics, teachers and civil servants from across the UK have all joined the strikes.
Official figures show that in the 12 months to March this year, 3.6million working days were lost to industrial action with
1.5 million people participating.
TUC general secretary Paul
Nowak told the Mirror: “It’s time for Rishi Sunak to do the right thing and give our public servants the fair pay and conditions they deserve.
“Taking strike action is not something teachers, civil servants or railway workers do lightly.
“But they have been left with
3.6 million working days lost in year to March, involving 1.5m strikers
no choice. Year after year of real-terms pay cuts have pushed workers to breaking point and created a huge staffing crisis across our public services.” Mr Nowak added: “These disputes could have been resolved months ago. Ministers need to stop messing around and agree a deal with all their workforce. Fair settlements can be reached. The ball is in the Government’s court.” TUC analysis shows UK workers are living through the longest pay squeeze in more than 200 years. Real wages – pay adjusted for inflation – are still worth less than they were in 2008. Over the last year alone, real wages have slumped by more than £1,000 on average. Gary Smith, GMB general secretary, said: “The brutal cost-ofliving crisis means millions – NHS workers, carers, retail staff and so many more – are struggling like never before.
“Strikes are happening because working people have had enough of this relentless attack on their living standards.
“Employers everywhere must realise that unless they start talking with workers and delivering decent pay rises, it’s only going to get worse.”
Mr Sunak was grilled about how the ongoing teachers’ strike was having an impact on education as he appeared on ITV’s This Morning on Thursday.
He said: “I want people to know we are working really hard to resolve these things. I think people will have seen we are finding ways to do it with the NHS, for example.
“With teachers, we tried to do the same thing, I’m sad that it has not been possible yet and they rejected the offer.
“I think teachers do an amazing job… but I’ve got to make some difficult choices and figure out what is fair when it comes to taxes, what is the responsible thing to do when inflation is high, and I’ve got to figure out what is a fair pay deal.”