Nurses strikes: Union boss says members are being ‘handled as criminals’

Nurses are being “treated as criminals” for happening strike, a union chief has claimed.

Pat Cullen, the top of the Royal College of Nurses (RCN), described well being secretary Steve Barclay’s resolution to “pursue legal action” over the union’s upcoming strike as “cruel” and “unacceptable”.

Members of the (RCN) working for the NHS in England are making ready to take industrial motion for 48 hours over the May financial institution vacation.

They are set to stroll out from 8pm, or the beginning of an evening shift on 30 April, till 8pm or the beginning of the evening shift on 2 May.

The motion will see nurses in emergency departments, intensive care and most cancers wards down instruments for the primary time.

But NHS bosses imagine the union’s six-month mandate for industrial motion expires in the course of the strike interval. The authorities is ready to place this to the take a look at within the courts.

“What they are doing is dragging our nursing staff through a courtroom, and I find this not just cruel but totally unacceptable,” Ms Cullen advised BBC Breakfast.

“[They are] treating them as criminals.”

However, she insisted that members would “absolutely work within the parameters of the law” if the courts discovered in opposition to them.

“We will never do anything illegal. Nurses don’t work like that, and I’m a nurse myself,” she advised Radio 4’s Today programme.

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“But if nursing is defeated then it is in my mind, and in our nurses’ minds, an even darker day for this government.

“They ought to actually see sense, calm this down and withdraw their place and get in and begin negotiating with us.”

Mr Barclay introduced on Friday that he would launch the authorized motion after bosses from NHS Employers wrote to him asking him to test the legality of the strike motion.

In an announcement, Mr Barclay mentioned: “Following a request from NHS Employers, I have regretfully provided notice of my intent to pursue legal action to ask the courts to declare the Royal College of Nursing’s upcoming strike action planned for 30 April to 2 May to be unlawful.

“The government firmly believes in the right to strike, but it is vital that any industrial action is lawful and I have no choice but to take action.

“Strike motion with no nationwide exemptions agreed, together with for emergency and most cancers care, may even put affected person security in danger.”

Mr Barclay warned nurses that collaborating within the motion may put their careers in jeopardy.

“This legal action also seeks to protect nurses who could otherwise be asked to take part in unlawful activity that could, in turn, put their professional registration at risk and would breach the requirements set out in the nursing code of conduct,” he mentioned.

The RCN argue the courtroom arguments ought to solely relate to 2 May, reasonably than the entire strike interval.

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Mr Barclay revealed his intent to launch authorized motion after nurses in England represented by the RCN rejected a proposal of a 5% pay rise final week.

The supply was rejected, regardless of a suggestion by union leaders to just accept the deal.

An NHS chief warned that an escalation of motion would “endanger patient safety“.