Unions warned the government on Sunday that strikes would continue unless it reopens this year’s pay settlement for health service workers ahead of crisis talks on Monday aimed at curtailing a wave of industrial action across Britain.
Leaders of the Royal College of Nursing and three unions representing ambulance workers — some of whom are set to strike on Wednesday — all said that without a fresh pay offer for the current year, any talks would be in vain.
The government’s meetings with public sector unions representing nurses, ambulance workers, doctors, teachers and rail workers on Monday were proposed by prime minister Rishi Sunak late last week, after weeks of deadlock between ministers and unions.