Royal Mail, Rail, NHS, Disputes and Other Strike Issues

Court may need to decide if nurses' strike is legal..

NHS leaders have written to the health secretary asking him to check with the courts if the next nurses' strike in England is legal.

The Royal College of Nursing is planning a 48-hour walkout starting at 20:00 BST on Sunday 30 April.

NHS Employers says it has received legal advice that the timing of the industrial action would be unlawful.

The RCN disagrees, saying the strike falls within the required six-month period from when votes were cast.

If the RCN is wrong, the whole strike may need to be called off.

NHS Employers says it believes ballots closed at midday on 2 November 2022, meaning action on 2 May - the last day of the planned strike - would not be covered by the strike mandate.

In his letter to health secretary Steve Barclay, NHS Employers Danny Mortimer said: "The advice that we have received makes clear it is highly likely that if the notices for industrial actions are incorrect in one respect, then they are incorrect in total and that the strike action for the entire period of 30th April to 2nd May is illegal."

RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive Pat Cullen warned that "bullying" nurses and dragging them through the highest courts "would not be a good look" for government.

"It would show utter contempt for nursing staff. We will make the case for the legality of our action in all forums."

The BBC has approached the Department for Health and Social Care for comment.

The planned walkout from 20:00 BST on 30 April to 20:00 on 2 May will involve NHS nurses in emergency departments, intensive care, cancer wards and other wards.

Nurses have already walked out twice this year - on 6 and 7 February and on 18 and 19 January - but on those dates there were exemptions, so that nursing cover was maintained in critical areas.

Hot weather adds to NHS pressure as doctors strike..By Nick Triggle and Katharine Da Costa, BBC News.

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Health bosses are warning of major disruption and pressure on the NHS in England, as the hot weather combines with the latest junior doctor strike.

British Medical Association members will walk out for 72 hours from 07:00 on Wednesday.

It is the third strike in the pay dispute and is expected to lead to the cancellation of much routine care.

And with the heat placing extra demands on A&E units, bosses urged people to use services sensibly.

Junior doctors, nearly half the medical workforce, will walk out of both routine and emergency care.

NHS England said the health service would have to prioritise emergency and life-saving care. The hot weather was already causing high demand for urgent services - and people should avoid the sun at the hottest time of day and drink plenty of fluids.

Alongside heat-stroke, hot weather also brings an increase in heart failure and kidney problems as well as high rates of sprains and fractures and respiratory problems.

Consultants are being drafted in to provide cover during the strike but the amount could be lower than during previous junior doctors' strikes, in March and April.

Rory Deighton, of the NHS Confederation, which represents health bosses, said a particular challenge this time was "securing the level of consultant cover" - because of the amount consultants were asking for overtime payments - creating uncertainty over how many appointments would need to be postponed.

The four-day April walkout saw about 196,000 hospital appointments and treatments postponed. And the hospital waiting list, growing since the start of the pandemic, has now hit a record 7.4 million people.

"Each wave of strikes chips away at the NHS's resilience, impacting on staff, internal relationships and their ability to deliver on government pledges to reduce the elective backlog," Mr Deighton said.

Teachers' strikes: School disruption as NEU members walk out again in England..By Hazel Shearing, Education correspondent.

Many schools in England are likely to close on Wednesday, as teachers walk out again over pay.

It is the sixth national strike by members of the National Education Union (NEU) in England since February - and another is planned for Friday.

As well as lessons, end-of-term events such as sports day, concerts and school trips could be disrupted.

And with more strike ballots taking place, schools are bracing for further disruption in the new school year.

It has been more than five months since teachers first took to the picket lines in woolly hats, clutching takeaway coffees between gloved hands.

They received a 5% rise for the year 2022-23.

This time they are calling for above-inflation increases, plus additional money to ensure any pay rises do not come from schools' existing budgets.

The weather may have improved since that first strike on 1 February, but relations between the two sides in this dispute remain as frosty as ever.

There are no talks under way between the unions and the Department for Education (DfE), and there is no obvious resolution in sight.

There have been crunch points in recent months.

After intensive talks in March, the government offered teachers an additional one-off payment of £1,000. It also offered a 4.3% pay rise for most teachers next year - with starting salaries reaching £30,000.

The NEU, and three other unions involved in the dispute, rejected the offer - which means the one-off payment is now off the table.

As schools returned for the summer term, all four announced they would join forces to co-ordinate any future strike action.

More strikes have taken place since then.

The most recent walkout, on 2nd May, affected more schools than previously - with less than half, only 45.3%, able to fully open.

Some teenagers we spoke to at the time were worried revision classes would be affected, as they prepared for exams. The NEU has said it did everything it could to make sure school was as normal as possible for those year groups taking examinations this summer.

Two things will determine what happens next.

The first is the announcement of how much teachers will be paid next year. The matter has been considered by the independent pay review body, and its recommendations are currently being appraised by the government.

We don't know when any announcement will be made on pay. If previous years are anything to go by, we can expect it to come in late July, as children prepare to break up for the summer holidays.

The other thing to watch will be the results of strike ballots, which are currently under way in all four unions.

It is the second time that members of the NEU, teachers' union NASUWT and the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) have been asked whether they would be prepared to strike over pay. Last time, only the NEU received enough votes for industrial action to go ahead.

In addition, the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) - another head teachers' union - is also balloting members, for the first time in its 150-year history. Head teachers have told the BBC, they are concerned about the effect pay has on recruitment and retention of staff.

With those ballots set to close in mid-to-late July, we could see a flurry of activity in the coming weeks.

Online tool Teacher Tapp quizzes thousands of primary and secondary teachers, in both the state and private sector, about their daily experiences in the classroom. One recent survey suggested almost four-in-10 Year 6 students had visits to their new secondary schools booked on strike days this week.

These could well be disrupted.

And if enough union members vote for further strike action, those same pupils could see their new Year 7 teachers walk out in the autumn term too.

Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the NEU, said Education Secretary Gillian Keegan's "refusal to re-enter negotiations" had "united the teaching profession in its anger towards a government that is failing to recognise the serious challenges that need to be addressed in our education system".

The DfE has not yet responded to a request for comment, but has previously said its pay offer was a "fair and reasonable offer" and schools would receive an extra £2.3bn over the next two years.

Imagine
All the crap in this world, we then are antagonised by a pay disputed.

Small minds and all that

Doctor paid £3,000 for shift as new strike begins..By Nick Triggle and Rob Sissons, BBC News.

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The NHS is having to pay millions of pounds to plug holes in front-line staffing left by striking doctors.

In one case, a consultant in Plymouth was paid more than £3,000 to cover a 12.5-hour junior-doctor night shift.

Paying for cover is costing hospitals three times more than they save in the wages deducted from striking junior doctors, hospitals are reporting.

The finding comes as junior doctors in England walk out again, joining consultants already on strike.

It is the first time junior and senior doctors have been on strike at the same time - action that looks set to cause significant disruption.

For full details on this item follow the link:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-66861960

Yes, But can you really blame them ?..

Deputy chief executive Saffron Cordery said: "We need government and unions to sit down and talk to stop strikes becoming business as usual,"..

And The BMA say the rates reflect the "market value"...

A spokeswoman said: "The rate card has been developed to address the fact that for too long trusts have been continually leaning on consultants to work many extra hours in excess of their normal contracts, not just during strike days but in the face of rota gaps and chronic workforce shortages.

"Crucially, the principle is to ensure that NHS trusts adopt a fairer and more consistent approach with rates based on those already being offered in parts of the country to reflect the market value of doctors' work."

The union also pointed out the estimated £1bn cost would have been enough to fund for this year the 35% pay rise junior doctors are after.

London Tube strikes called off as more pay talks planned..By Liz Jackson & PA News, BBC News.

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Strikes by London Underground workers which would have crippled Tube services this week have been suspended, the RMT union has announced.

Little or no service was expected across the capital's entire network from Sunday evening to Friday morning.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union had previously voted to take industrial action over a below-inflation pay increase of 5%.

The union said "positive discussions" meant further talks could take place.

The 5% offer was described by Transport for London (TfL) as "the most we can afford".

But it said an "intervention" by London's mayor had allowed pay talks to be reopened.

The RMT's general secretary Mick Lynch said: "Following further positive discussions today, the negotiations on a pay deal for our London Underground members can now take place on an improved basis and mandate with significant further funding for a settlement being made available."

He described it as a "significantly improved funding position" which meant scheduled strike action would be suspended "with immediate effect".

"We look forward to getting in to urgent negotiations with TfL in order to develop a suitable agreement and resolution to the dispute," he added.

TfL said as the strike had been suspended so late there would still be some disruption on Monday.

It advised people to check for the latest travel information.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said he was "delighted" the industrial action had been called off.

Royal Mail could deliver on three days, regulator says..By Michael Race..Business reporter, BBC News.

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Royal Mail could reduce the number of days it delivers letters from six per week to five or even three, under proposals to reform the service.

A report from the regulator said the postal service was "getting out of date" and action needed to be taken.

Ofcom said another option would be extending the number of days it takes for most letters to be delivered.

Royal Mail said its current delivery network was "not sustainable" and that reform was "urgently needed".

The company, which was privatised between 2013 and 2015, is legally obliged to deliver a universal service, which means it currently has to deliver letters six days per week, Monday to Saturday, and parcels Monday to Friday.

But in recent years, the volume of letters being posted has plummeted, with half the number being sent compared to 2011 levels, while parcel deliveries have become more popular - and more profitable.

Dame Melanie Dawes, Ofcom's chief executive, said the options for reform were being put out for "national discussion", with an update scheduled for the summer.

"Something's got to give, or the service is going to be too costly and either stamp prices will go up or it will become unsustainable," she told BBC Breakfast.

The government said earlier this week that it would not support Royal Mail scrapping postal deliveries on Saturdays, with the prime minister's spokesman arguing they were "important for businesses and particularly publishers".

Ofcom estimated the company could save between £100m and £200m if delivery days were cut to five per week, and between £400m and £650m if there were just three postal days.

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However, reforming the postal service by cutting delivery days would require the government and parliament to change the current legislation.

An alternative option would be to to reduce the speed of delivery for most letters to within three days would save £150 to £650m, Ofcom said, but the regulator said there would still need to be a next-day service available for any urgent letters.

Under Ofcom's current rules, each year Royal Mail is required to deliver 93% of First Class post within one working day and 98.5% of Second Class within three working days, but in 2022/23 the company only delivered 73.7% of First Class and 90.7% of Second Class mail on time.

In the first half of the current financial year, Royal Mail posted a £319m loss and the business, which is owned by International Distribution Services plc, has been calling for urgent reform since 2020.

It has said previously that it would like to go from delivering six days a week to five, from Monday to Friday only.

Martin Seidenberg, Royal Mail's group chief executive, suggested the UK was "being left behind" in having not yet reformed its postal service, adding that the company had been "calling on government and Ofcom to tackle this issue for four years".

"The lack of action means that we are now facing a much more serious situation," he said.

But the Communication Workers Union (CWU), which represent posties, said the union would not sign up to a three-day delivery service, claiming it would "destroy" Royal Mail and "impact thousands of jobs".

Ofcom said Royal Mail's recent poor performance, which led to the company being fined £5.6m in November last year for missing delivery targets, showed that "people are not currently getting a reliable service".

The regulator said its research, conducted in 2020, showed people valued affordability and reliability the most when it came to letter postage.

You are such a bore.....why bother reading if you already know what it consists of..just gives you something to grizzle at..time for your Farley's Rusk I think..