Rishi Sunak has set up a dedicated unit within government to respond to the wave of strikes taking place across the public sector.
The prime minister has appointed Cabinet Office minister Oliver Dowden to lead the government strike response unit, which will consider how it can reach agreements with the growing number of workers in public services, from ambulance staff to civil servants, who are taking industrial action this winter.
A source told the Financial Times, which first reported the news, that although each dispute required a “tailored response”, the government wanted to look “across the board” at how it could avert industrial action, including pay settlements.
The source added that pay settlements across public services were usually decided by independent pay review bodies, but refused to say whether the government would consider offering more to prevent more strikes from happening.
Downing Street said solving disputes was “fundamentally a matter for employers and the unions” but there were cases where “ministers feel it’s right to facilitate talks”.
Ambulance technicians, paramedics and 999 call handlers, who are members of Unison, were the latest to vote to strike over pay this winter.
Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said that ministers “must roll up their sleeves and start talking to unions about how better wages for staff can help start to turn the NHS around”.
She added: “The decision to take action and lose a day’s pay is always a tough call. It’s especially challenging for those whose jobs involve caring and saving lives. But thousands of ambulance staff and their NHS colleagues know delays won’t lessen, nor waiting times reduce, until the government acts on wages. That’s why they’ve taken the difficult decision to strike.”
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“The public knows health services won’t improve without huge increases in staffing and wants the government to pay up to save the NHS. It’s high time ministers stopped using the pay review body as cover for their inaction.”
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