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Anti-strike laws are due to be introduced to parliament today with the aim of enforcing a “basic” level of service if workers, including NHS staff, choose to strike.
The government says it will take the power to ensure that vital public services have minimum safety levels set as disruption to blue light services, such as fire and ambulance services, puts lives at immediate risk.
For the other sectors covered in the bill, which includes health services, the government expects to continue to reach voluntary agreements, and would only look to consult on minimum safety levels should these voluntary positions not be agreed.
It comes as discussions between government and trade unions representing health service staff yesterday ground to a halt with no agreement on pay and conditions. More than 10,000 ambulance workers will go now on strike as planned tomorrow (Wednesday).
Rachel Harrison, GMB National Secretary, said: ” There was some engagement on pay – but not a concrete offer that could help resolve this dispute and make significant progress on the recruitment and retention crisis. The public expects the Government to treat these talks seriously – it’s time they got on with it.”
Need to to break this impasse soon
Health leaders said that although they were encouraged to see that talks took place between health unions and government, they were not encouraged by the contents of those talks.
Matthew Taylor chief executive of the NHS Confederation said it was important to break this impasse as soon as possible to bring an end to this dispute.
He added: “It was very disappointing that discussions to date have not yet resulted in any tangible outcomes which would prevent the planned industrial action this month. No health leader wanted to be in this position in the first place and as always leaders will be continuing to look at ways to reduce the effects the disruption will have on patients.
“NHS leaders have been making further intensive preparations to manage the upcoming industrial action this month and will once again be very grateful to the public for their on-going support when using ambulances and other urgent and emergency care services in line with national advice.
“However, with prolonged NHS staff strike action in the offing the fear is that the risk to patients will intensify in the days and weeks ahead. As the NHS battles the worst winter in decades, and with demand for services at an all-time high, we cannot afford to let this drift into prolonged months of industrial action.”