MADRID, February 22 (EUROPA PRESS) –

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is reportedly exploring the possibility of offering a 5% pay rise to public sector employees to pacify demands for better wages and end the growing wave of strikes, according to a ‘Financial Times’ report.

The UK Treasury, which in January hit an unexpected surplus after an increase in collections, has indicated in a private memorandum, seen by the newspaper, that a hike of up to 5% for the public sector for 2023-24 would only have a “low risk” to benchmark. measure for private sector wage growth.

In this way, the better prospects for public finances will give the UK prime minister more room to increase wage bids and thus end strikes by public workers, particularly in the health sector.

In this regard, and in what may represent a shift in tone in the conflict of recent months, the Royal College of Nursing on Tuesday canceled a 48-hour strike scheduled for next week in the UK to restart negotiations with the Health Minister, Steve Barclay.

For her part, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan also called on teachers’ unions to reopen “substantive formal talks” over pay, conditions and reform, but only if the National Education Union cancels a strike planned for next week.

The number of work days lost due to labor disputes in the UK totaled 843,000 days last December, which is a significant increase compared to 467,000 in November and is the highest number recorded since November 2011, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Britain has been hit by protests by workers from a wide range of sectors demanding wage increases in response to rising living costs, including strikes in sectors ranging from the postal service to health care.

Similarly, the ONS shows that wages for workers in the UK registered an average increase of 6.7% in the fourth quarter of 2022, the largest increase in the entire series of history outside the pandemic period, although workers continue to lose purchasing power due to stronger inflation. .

Between October and December, the average total salary growth (including bonuses) was 5.9% and regular salary growth (excluding bonuses) was 6.7%.

Likewise, the average fixed salary increase for workers in the private sector is 7.3% and for the public sector is 4.2%. “Outside of the coronavirus pandemic period, this is the highest growth rate observed for the private sector,” the ONS noted.

However, despite record wage increases observed in the fourth quarter, in real terms, adjusted for inflation, growth in total and regular compensation fell to 3.1% for total compensation and 2.5% for regular wages.

This decline, while smaller than the record decline in total real wages recorded between February and April 2009 (-4.5%), “continues to be one of the largest declines since a similar record began in 2001.”