[1/4]Demonstrators protest against a picket line outside St Thomas’ Hospital as young doctors strike over pay and working conditions, in London, Britain June 14, 2023. Portal/Toby Melville/File Photo
- Prime Minister says he will not negotiate again even if there are more strikes
- UK accepts independent salary recommendations
- The decision follows far-reaching industrial action
- Teachers unions call off strikes; Doctors unimpressed
LONDON, July 13 (Portal) – British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Thursday tried to end months of crippling public sector strikes by offering teachers, doctors and other workers pay rises of 6% and more, but warned it would cost billions would cost, which could mean cuts elsewhere.
Sunak faces an election over the next 18 months against a backdrop of the highest inflation of any major economy, a near-stagnant economy and a string of scandals and missteps from his Conservative Party’s 13-year tenure. According to opinion polls, the Conservatives are far behind the opposition Labor Party.
The Prime Minister said he had accepted recommendations by independent pays panels on pay rises for public sector workers, stressing it was a last-ditch offer aimed at ending months of industrial disputes.
“This is a significant pay bonus, one of the most significant we have received in decades, and it is costing billions of pounds more than the Government had budgeted and there are consequences,” Sunak said.
The package will mean an extra £5 billion ($6.55 billion) – 2 billion this year and 3 billion next year – will be made available from existing departmental budgets.
“Today’s offer is final. We will not renegotiate this year’s settlements and no amount of strikes will change our decision,” Sunak said.
The education unions immediately said they would call off planned strikes and recommended the deal go through. However, two unions representing doctors said the offer was unlikely to end the strikes.
The wage increases are below the UK’s current inflation rate of 8.7% but aim to fill the gap left by the country’s worst industrial unrest in more than 30 years.
Junior doctors will now get a 6% pay rise and a flat rate increase of £1,250, while teachers would get a 6.5% pay rise. Police and military will receive similar comparisons.
After more than a year of elevated inflation – which peaked at more than 11% – the government is struggling to balance the need to end the strikes with rising public debt.
It has little scope for higher wage spending without either raising taxes, cutting other public services, or missing self-imposed targets for reducing borrowing.
NO NEW Borrowing
Sunak said the wage increases would not drive up inflation as there would be no new borrowing or spending to fund the increases. The teachers’ salary increases would be funded by a reallocation of the existing departmental budget.
Explaining how he would fund the higher salaries, Sunak said the measures would include, among other things, increasing the fee paid by international workers to access the country’s health service, and also raising the cost of applying for a visa to enter the country Great Britain would rise.
Other new sources of funding are likely to come under close scrutiny from unions as budgets for public sector services such as hospitals are already tight.
“The government is putting its departments in a difficult position,” said Unite union general secretary Sharon Graham. “They now have to decide whether to pay workers a reasonably decent salary or cut benefits in the already underfunded public sector.”
The British Medical Association, which represents some 45,000 young doctors in England, said the government’s offer was still a pay cut in real terms.
“Today it missed a great opportunity to put a credible proposal on the table to end the strikes,” said BMA Council Chair Phil Banfield. He added that young doctors in the middle of a five-day strike are likely to take further industrial action.
Ministers have repeatedly pointed to the danger that excessive wage increases could undermine the inflation-lowering target and lead to rising prices.
However, the Bank of England has focused more on private sector wages, which have grown faster than public sector wages and have a more direct impact on the prices of goods and services used to calculate consumer price inflation.
Total UK debt is just over 100% of GDP, slightly below the average for advanced economies.
($1 = 0.7634 pounds)
Additional reporting by Kylie MacLellan, David Milliken, Suban Abdulla, Paul Sandle, Farouq Suleiman and Alistair Smout, text by William James, editing by Kate Holton, Alex Richardson and Frances Kerry
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