The Nurses' Case Is Overwhelming. Do The Right Thing Rishi

YESTERDAY was the worst day yet in the nurses’ pay dispute. It wasn’t just that they were on strike again although that is bad enough but that they were joined by ambulance drivers.

However bad things are at the moment the strikes continue today with no sign of any resolution it’s clear the nurses’ union, the Royal College of Nursing RCN), is ready to step up its action if need be. As a general rule, the Government’s approach of standing firm against the cur rent wave of public strikes is entirely right. Some of the strikes are shameless attempts to use union muscle to force wage increases that simply can’t be afforded, let alone justified. The RMT for example, represents workers whose average salary is 59,000 in jobs so highly sought after that there are no vacancies anywhere. When new jobs do come up, applications outweigh jobs available by 300 to 1 in the South; 750 to 1 in the North. The RMT’s strikes are a perfect example of shooting yourself in the foot. When they started, they caused chaos. But there have now been so many that people have got used to making alternative arrangements. So when the strikes do eventually stop the RMT will find that all they’ve done is damage the case for investment in railways, as fewer of us will be using them.