England’s biggest nursing union has called in the police to investigate some of its own members, as the internal fight over whether to accept the government’s pay deal turns bitter.
The Royal College of Nursing has asked the police to investigate a petition to hold a vote of no-confidence in its leadership, while reporting the behaviour of other members to social media platforms and the nursing regulator. Meanwhile Vote Reject campaigners claim they are being bullied and intimidated by union management in an attempt to win what is likely to be a knife-edge vote.
The accusations from both sides reflect the stakes involved in this month’s vote. With weeks to go until the ballot closes, the RCN is warning its members that if they reject the deal they will have to go on strike again to get a better one, raising the prospect of more industrial action by nurses over the coming months.
The NHS is already bracing itself for record disruption next week, with four days of walkouts by junior doctors after the bank holiday weekend. Hundreds of thousands of appointments and operations are likely to be cancelled, on top of the 320,000 already lost to previous strikes.
A spokesperson for the union said: “This debate must be conducted in a manner that befits the nursing profession. Only a very small number are acting in a way that looks like bullying or harassment, and that will never be tolerated.”
One member who is involved in the Vote Reject campaign however said: “There has been totally unacceptable monitoring and intimidation. This is supposed to be a democratic union, but leadership is acting in a way that is anything but democratic.”
Ballot papers were sent to members of 14 health unions last week asking them to vote on whether or not to accept the pay deal thrashed out over weeks between ministers and union negotiators. Under the terms of the deal, staff will receive a one-off 2% salary uplift and 4% Covid recovery bonus for the current year, and then a permanent 5% pay rise from April. The deal will apply to all NHS staff except for doctors and dentists, who negotiate separate deals.
Leaders at every big health union except for Unite have recommended that members accept the offer, warning them they are unlikely to receive a better one. The leadership of several big unions, including the RCN and Unison, have told members that they will have to go back on strike if they want more money, and are more likely to lose their one-off bonus than they are to get a better offer.
Last year Scottish members of the RCN and the GMB voted to reject a pay offer agreed between those unions and the Scottish government, although Scottish ministers have since paid the agreed sum anyway. Union leaders say they expect the Conservative government in the UK to be more aggressive in their tactics should the English deal be rejected.
The Guardian revealed last month that some union members have begun a highly organised campaign to reject the deal since it falls far short of the UK’s current inflation rate of about 10%.
Soon after the deal was accepted, two RCN members put together a petition to hold a vote of no confidence in the union’s leaders, including Pat Cullen, the chief executive. When that petition crossed 1,000 votes – enough to trigger an extraordinary general meeting – the union leadership launched an investigation into whether all the signatures on it were valid.
The union now says it believes 600 of the those signatures were false, and belonged to members who later said they had not signed the petition. They added that one name on the petition belonged to a deceased member. The petition has since been taken offline and the union has contacted the police.
An RCN spokesperson said: “This is now a significantly discredited and underhand petition and has been invalidated. As a result, we will not be taking this further.
“We will be taking legal advice, involving the police, the regulator and carrying out a forensic examination.”
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One of the petition’s organisers did not respond to a request to comment; the other could not be reached.
The RCN has also deleted WhatsApp messages and Facebook posts made by members of the Vote Reject campaign, arguing they amount to intimidation of other members. The language was so vitriolic, an RCN official said, that the union contacted social media platforms and the nursing regulator to complain about them.
Members of Vote Reject however say the union’s tactics themselves amount to bullying and voter suppression. Claire Turner, a nurse in the east of England, claimed on Twitter she had been forced out of her role on the union’s local board, saying: “Apparently I was too passionate about #VoteReject despite the fact I was elected by members to represent them and their interests. Accepting another pay cut is not in their interests. Is @theRCN really member led?”
The RCN’s eastern regional board did not respond to a request to comment.
Both the RCN and Unison, the two biggest nursing unions, have told local branches and individual representatives that they should be campaigning for a Yes vote, although both say representatives are free to campaign for No if they choose.
A Unison spokesperson said: “The union’s health committee decided to recommend acceptance of the offer. It’s now down to health branches to ensure Unison members have their say and are fully informed about the offer and the union’s position.”
Union leaders say the campaign has been particularly hard-fought within the RCN because that was the first health union to go on strike, and many of its members have been particularly energised as the industrial dispute has dragged on.
One said: “The RCN is going to find it particularly difficult to pass this deal. But that causes a headache for all of us. We cannot be sure that the government will stick to the deal if the biggest nursing union does not vote for it.”
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