Struggling nurses are pleading with Keir Starmer to speak out in support of strikes.
Campaigners say the Labour leader must “stand up for the rights of workers” after he repeatedly refused to back those voting for industrial action this week.
The Royal College of Nursing is recommending its 300,000 members walk out over pay in a landmark ballot, with the result due next month.
Now, campaign groups representing tens of thousands of NHS workers have urged Mr Starmer to join them after a decade of real-terms cuts under Tory rule.
Ramona McCartney, national organiser of The People’s Assembly, which has over 100,000 supporters, said: “We have a massive cost-of-living crisis in this country and the Tories are doing nothing but increasing the burden.
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“With vast amounts of people including nurses having to choose heating or eating this winter Keir Starmer and the Labour Party should start doing the job they are well paid for and stand up for the rights of workers at a time when they are needed most.”
Nurse Holly Turner, co-founder of the 88,000 - strong NHS Workers Say No network, added: “We need solid, unwavering support from the party meant to be representing working class people.
“Striking is a last resort for many as they find themselves facing attack after attack from the Government.”
In July, the Government confirmed a pay rise of at least 4.5% for the majority of NHS workers, which it said gave most a £1,400 salary increase. But the RCN is demanding nurses be given a pay rise of 5% above the RPI inflation rate of 12% to make up for years of miserly salary increases.
Speaking on BBC Radio Devon this week, Mr Starmer said: “I completely understand why people are concerned and are considering industrial action.
“I don’t want the strikes to go ahead. My wife works in the NHS. The last thing anybody who works in NHS wants is to go on strike.”
Pressed on whether he would back the strikes, he repeated that he ,Keir didn’t want the action to go ahead.
Mental health nurse Matt Tacey is voting to strike after seeing the “erosion of pay and increase in demand” in his 14-year career.
He said: “I’m a bit miffed and disappointed in Keir for saying he wouldn’t back strikers. [Voting for strikes] has not been an easy decision to make, there is going to be a loss of service and that’s not something we take lightly – it’s a decision we have been pushed into.”
The 32-year-old, who earns around £42,000 as a service manager for the community mental health team at an East Midlands trust, is feeling the pinch as costs soar.
He and wife Nicole, 33, also an NHS nurse, and their one-year-old daughter Connie may move in with his in-laws to save cash after energy bills doubled.
If strikes go ahead, the RCN says they would affect non-urgent but not emergency care.
Anthony Johnson, lead organiser for Nurses United, said decades of real-terms pay cuts have put patients at risk because it has driven tens of thousands of nurses out of the profession.
The registered nurse said: “Nurses feel that we have no other choice than to take industrial action to get a fair deal for us and our patients.”
Susanna Lindsay, 62, a mental health community nurse for 30 years, branded the Government’s pay award “disrespectful”.
She said: “It’s always very busy, often due to short staffing. You are constantly tired and it’s stressful because you want to do a good job.”
She is a Band 7 nurse, which has a salary range of £41,659-£47,672, and works at a trust in the east of England.
The gran of three is worried about rising energy bills at her rented home in Essex this winter. But on taking the decision to strike, she said: “For me it’s not about wages, it’s about defending the NHS.”
A spokesman for Mr Starmer said: “The Tories have lost control of the economy and working people are paying the price. The best thing that Labour can do for working people is to secure a Labour government at the next election. We’ll get our economy firing on all cylinders.”
The Department of Health said: “We value the hard work of NHS nurses and are working hard to support them.
“Industrial action is a matter for unions and we urge them to carefully consider the potential impacts.”
- This story was updated post-publication after a photo of a different nurse named Holly Turner was used in error.
