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Plans to use troops to break strikes will endanger NHS patients, unions warn

Tories propose deploying 1,200 ‘insufficiently trained’ military personnel to cover for nurses and ambulance staff

TORY plans to use troops to break national strikes will endanger NHS patients and threaten civilian democracy, unions and campaigners warned yesterday.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN), Unite, GMB and others slammed proposals to deploy 1,200 “insufficiently trained” military personnel to cover for striking nurses, ambulance staff and Border Force officials.

The Peace Pledge Union (PPU), Britain’s biggest pacifist network, also condemned the plan, saying it represents an “expansion of military power into civilian life and undermines the right to strike which is part of a healthy civilian democracy.”

Thousands of RCN members are set to follow up last Thursday’s walkout, their first national industrial action across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with a further 24-hour strike tomorrow.

The action, which general secretary Pat Cullen said would be escalated to include more hospitals if ministers do not reopen pay talks by the end of the week, comes after it stressed that this year’s below-inflation 4.75 per cent wage deal is exacerbating a staff exodus and worsening patient safety.

Unite, Unison and GMB paramedics, call handlers and other 999 workers in England and Wales will then strike on the next two Wednesdays, while underpaid PCS members at airports and ports are preparing to down tools for a week from Friday as 2022’s strike wave reaches a crescendo.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has responded by claiming inflation-matching salary packages are “unaffordable” and threating to further curb the right to withdraw labour.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay claimed yesterday that his “number one priority is keeping patients safe,” but Unite accused the government of “hollowing out” the NHS and blasted plans to rely on troops as a “desperate measure.”

GMB said ministers had opted to “dig in their heels” on pay with the health service “already on its knees” and Unison head of health Sara Gorton warned the military is no substitute for ambulance staff who had undertaken years of training.

“The hours spent on contingency planning could have been better used trying to prevent the strikes from taking place,” she stressed.

PCS accused Home Secretary Suella Braverman of “scrambling around to get anyone she can” to cover for border staff and argued troops “shouldn’t be put in this invidious position when they should be enjoying the festive break with their families.

“The same applies to civil servants who are being pulled in from elsewhere, also leaving their jobs uncovered,” the union’s head of bargaining Paul O’Connor said.

“Instead of throwing good money after bad trying to desperately mask the effectiveness of our industrial action, the government should put a serious offer on the table to deal with the cost-of-living crisis that they have created for their own workforce.

“That is the only way to resolve this dispute.”

The PPU urged Downing Street to divert Britain’s considerable military budget, the fourth highest on Earth, to “hard-pressed public services to make realistic pay offers.”

Campaigns manager Symon Hill said: “Militarism has been marching into more and more areas of civilian society, from the sharp rise in military visits to schools to the creation of events such as Armed Forces Day.

“Using troops to break strikes will further entrench everyday militarism, damage civilian society and undermine attempts to settle workers’ grievances.”

Mr Hill noted that many troops are paid “even less than the workers whose strikes they will be ordered to break — precisely because military personnel are banned from striking or even joining unions.”

A commitment from Labour’s Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford not to use troops to cover frontline ambulance services is welcome, Mr Hill added.

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