Striking workers across the country know 'the public is with them', claims trade union boss

Nurses, ambulance workers, teachers, rail workers and civil servants have joined the picket lines in recent months, after inflation hit a 40 year-high, and the strikes have caused widespread disruption.

Nearly 2.5m working days were lost over 2022 – the highest annual figure since 4.1m days were lost when Margret Thatcher was Prime Minister in 1989.

But Paul Nowak, who became General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in December, said most people support the striking workers and blame the Government for refusing to end the “stalemate”.

Speaking in Leeds, he said: “The British public is with them. People understand that we've got a staffing crisis in our NHS, that we've got a staffing crisis in our schools, that we've got a crisis in morale and motivation in our civil service.

“They are very clear, the Government has a responsibility to end the strikes.”

He added: “But they've still got that public support and it's really important that they carry on and show the Government they're serious about securing real-terms pay rises.

“We’ve got the Budget coming up and the Government could make a different set of political decisions and choices if it wanted to and choose to put money in the pockets of working people.”

Mr Nowak said striking workers have been buoyed by several “breakthroughs” in recent weeks, such as firefighters calling off strikes after being handed a revised offer of a 7 per cent pay rise, that is backdated to July 2022.

But the Government has stated that it cannot afford to spend tens of billions of pounds on giving public sector workers above-inflation pay rises, as it is reining in spending and borrowing to cut the national debt.

Speaking last month, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also claimed that increasing public sector pay could fuel inflation.

“There is absolutely no credible evidence whatsoever that increasing the pay of nurses or paramedics or teachers or civil servants fuels inflation,” said Mr Nowak.

“The Government doesn't talk about the fact that dividends are rising three times faster than wages, that we had a bumper year for bonuses in the City of London or that chief executive pay went up by nearly 25 per cent last year alone.

“But the real frustration is that they've not even sat down and seriously negotiated.”

The TUC General Secretary has also condemned the Government's plan to push through legislation that would force some public sector employees to continue working during strikes and provide a minimum level of service.

“I just don't think that the public will buy the fact that would be acceptable to sack a nurse or a teacher for exercising their basic rights to take industrial action,” he said.

“We think the Government should think again and pull back on the legislation.”