Unions can't keep striking 'because they're burning through cash'
30 December 2022, 08:19
Unions cannot keep up their strike action because they are burning through cash, Government insiders have claimed.
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Ministers think they will have to back down on pay after a winter of discontent saw workers walk out over pay disputes after high levels of inflation.
They believe unions will struggle to keep funding strike pay and could run out of money in months.
A minister claimed: “[The unions] can’t sustain this in the long term, they know that.”
Nurses, ambulance workers, rail employees and Border Force are among thousands of staff to take action in recent weeks.
But a senior source told The Times: “Union leaders are talking tough but strike action is an act of self-harm against their own workers who are losing out on wages and double pay days this Christmas.
“For their own workers’ sake, union leaders need to stop playing politics and call off the costly strikes.”
Read more: Fury as Gary Neville compares Qatar's migrant labourers to Britain's striking workers
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The Public and Communication Services Union, which counts striking Border Force staff among its members, has spent about £1 million a month on strike pay, out of a £4 million strike fund.
It is trying to bolster its coffers to support industrial action by levying £5 a month on its members.
Mick Lynch’s RMT does not provide strike pay but does have a hardship fund for vulnerable members.
The Royal College of Nursing has a fund of about £50 million. It hit out at “unhelpful language” about the affordability of strikes ahead of an expected escalation in industrial action in the new year.
Pat Cullen, the union’s secretary, said it would only “embolden” workers to take action.
“They know what is unaffordable is a failure to invest in nursing,” she said.
The Government says it has been fair on pay by accepting pay review bodies’ recommendations. These average 4 or 5% in wage rises.
