Conservative party chair Nadhim Zahawi has criticised workers’ unions, saying that it is not fair to “disrupt people’s lives” with industrial action around Christmas.
Unions are at loggerheads with public sector employers over pay and conditions, arguing that wages should match increasing inflation which now stands at more than 10 per cent.
Unions representing NHS workers, rail and transport workers and Royal Mail have all co-ordinated strike action, which is set to involve thousands and cause disruption to many more in December.
The NHS will be affected as nurses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are set to strike for two days in December. Meanwhile, rail strikes – which have been ongoing in recent months – will continue.
Rail workers will walk out on December 13, 14, 16 and 17, before resuming industrial action in early January.
Speaking to the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg, Zahawi said that the government was “operationalising contingency plans” for when the strikes go ahead, including deploying 2,000 members of the military and staff from the civil service to step in.
Such personnel could be drafted in to assist services at the UK border, as well as ambulance driving and working for the fire service.
Zahawi also claimed that the rising cost-of-living was being driven by the conflict in Ukraine, a matter which was out of the hands of the government.
He warned that if employers gave in to the unions’ demands of higher pay, it could trap the country in an inflationary spiral and “hurt the most vulnerable”.
Zahawi said: “It's unfair, in my view, for the unions to really damage and disrupt people's lives and livelihoods at Christmas.
“They should rethink and reflect on this because that is exactly what (Russian president, Vladmir Putin wants to see. Let's not divide, let's come together.”
While ministers remain adamant that wage rises to match inflation are not possible and have encouraged unions and employers to agree on settlements to stop the strikes, unions argue that real-terms wage cuts have been going on for longer than the current inflationary crisis.
Unions have also accused the government of falling back on the Ukraine crisis as an excuse, with Royal College of Nursing general secretary Pat Cullen calling it a “new low for this government” to use it to justify real terms pay cuts for nurses.
Cullen said: “The public does not believe this kind of rhetoric and wants ministers to address our dispute.”
Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson suggested that a compromise on teachers’ salaries could be reached, that lay “somewhere in the middle” of what ministers were offering and the unions' demands.
Government has offered teachers increases of between five and 8.9 per cent depending on their position, but workers and unions say that this pales in comparison to inflation.
Phillipson added that because of the “chaos” that had been apparent within government in recent months, there was an inertia among ministers and key decisions on public sector pay were not being taken.
Recent months have also taken their toll on the Conservatives’ standings in the polls, leaving them lagging significantly behind Labour.
Last week, the Tories suffered a further blow as Labour held the City of Chester constituency following a by-election, with 13.6 per cent of votes swinging Labour’s way from the Conservatives.
Commenting on the by-election outcome, Zahawi said there was “no shying away from the fact that the internal challenges of the Conservative party has probably led to the gap in the polls” and the Tories were now undergoing a “rebuilding exercise” with Rishi Sunak having been installed as prime minister.
Sunak’s immediate priority has been to take measures to bring inflation under control, with numerous tax hikes and other measures to help stabilise the nation’s finances announced in his government’s Autumn Statement.
