New TUC chief warns crippling strikes could hammer Britain until the summer

Strikes could last until the summer if workers don’t get a better pay deal, the TUC general secretary has warned. 

Paul Nowak, 50, who has recently replaced Frances O’Grady as head of the Trade Union Congress, said millions of workers had ‘no alternative’. 

Mr Nowak suggested that there could be more crippling strikes in 2023 than there have been in 2022, which has seen significant disruption across several major industries. 

He accused the government of sabotaging efforts to resolve the current wave of strikes and said politicians were ‘blind’ to the NHS staffing crisis.  

Newly appointed General Secretary of TUC, Paul Newak, said the solution to the strikes lies ‘in the hands of the government’ and said action could continue through next summer

Recent workers that have been on strike include transport staff, border force officials, nurses and ambulance drivers and Royal Mail workers

Mr Nowak said striking workers have been ‘left with no choice’ after more than a decade of pay cuts, and accused ministers of ‘sabotaging efforts to reach settlements’.

The Conservatives’ decision to hold down public sector pay has left workers ‘hugely exposed to the cost-of-living crisis’ and deepened the staffing crisis in the NHS, education and other public services, he added.

‘We can’t go on like this. We can’t be a country where nurses are having to use food banks, while City bankers get unlimited bonuses.

‘Unless we get wages rising across the economy, families will just keep lurching from crisis to crisis.’

Ministers are refusing to reopen negotiations for 2022 pay deals, but the union chief said workers were not prepared to close the discussion. 

TUC released figures that show workers have lost £20,000 on average since 2008 as a result of pay not increasing with inflation. 

By 2025 the average loss per worker will hit £25,000, the union claims.  

Mr Nowak said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who he negotiated Covid support packages with, had forgotten the lessons of the pandemic and was now the ‘biggest barrier’.  

Mr Nowak slammed the Conservative government for ‘deflecting the fire’ and being ‘disingenuous’ about the effects of NHS strikes.  

The union chief said the Prime Minister was the ‘biggest barrier’ to a settlement and said unions were prepared to fight to keep 2022 pay deal discussions open

Mr Nowak signalled that union leaders are prepared to strike through to next summer. 

‘They’re prepared to do that and I’ll tell you why. It’s not because union leaders are prepared to do it. It’s because our members are telling us they’ve got no alternative.

‘They can’t afford another year of real-terms pay cuts.’

The union chief said a £15 minimum wage was the ‘bare minimum’ and added that he didn’t think it was a lot to ask for the people who are working some of the toughest jobs in the economy. 

‘I think it’s the bare minimum that people need to have a decent standard of living and we shouldn’t be ashamed for asking for it.’

He shrugged off government claims that increases in wages was causing rocketing inflation in an interview with The Mirror.  

Mr Nowak dismissed the row over Keir Starmer banning Labour frontbenchers from joining picket lines, suggesting that it was more symbolic than substantive.

‘For me, that commitment Keir made to reverse any anti union legislation… is far more important than a frontbencher turning up and getting a selfie on a picket line.

‘I don’t know any dispute anywhere that’s been solved because a shadow minister has turned and had their picture taken for 15 minutes.’

The new union chief said claims that strikes were essentially a general strike were a ‘disservice’ and a ‘red herring’. 

‘I think they want to fight culture wars that our members aren’t interested in.’

Who is TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak? 

Paul Nowak, who has recently taken on the position of general secretary at TUC

Paul Nowak, 50, first joined a union at 17, when he was a part-time staff member at ASDA. He worked in call centres for BT and Cheshire County Council and as a hotel night porter. 

He was a member of the first intake of TUC’s Organising Academy in 1998, alongside Sharon Graham, General Secretary of Unite and Roz Foyer, the General Secretary of the Scottish TUC. 

Then aged 26, he made his first big leap into union leadership when he became an organiser for BIFU, which is now part of Unite. 

Mr Nowak joined TUC staff in 2000, moving through the ranks to become  regional secretary for the north of England and then Head of Organising. He was appointed first Assistant General Secretary in 2013 and then Deputy General Secretary in 2016. 

He is married with three grown-up children and lives on the Wirral. Mr Nowak is a lifelong Everton fan and enjoys playing the guitar. His favourite songs to play are All About You by McFly or Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison, although he also enjoys composing his own music.