UNIONS dismissed today’s crisis talks with Tory ministers on how to resolve national strikes over pay and jobs as a “missed opportunity and bitterly disappointing.”

A government source told the BBC that the Whitehall discussions with NHS, rail and teaching unions had been “useful and constructive.”

But Unite accused ministers of “insulting” its members by focusing on productivity over pay and GMB warned that the lack of any movement on real-terms wage cuts would see walkouts by ambulance staff go ahead on Wednesday as planned.

The government has repeatedly claimed that any public-sector pay rises must be “affordable,” but unions are demanding salary increases that keep up with the soaring cost of living following more than a decade of austerity policies holding pay down.

Before the meetings, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “People need to get talking. That’s what they’re doing. Hopefully, we can find a way through this.”

The former chancellor did not deny that he could follow Wales’s devolved Labour government in offering a one-off payment to nurses, paramedics, rail workers and teachers, who have all gone on strike in recent months across many parts of Britain.

However, Unite’s Onay Kasab said that ministers had suggested during the talks that the payment would be conditional on “productivity savings.”

He said that some of his union’s members were already working 18-hour shifts and that it was “an insult” to raise the issue of productivity.

“We are extremely angry,” Mr Kasab stressed.

GMB’s Rachel Harrison described the discussions as “falling well short of anything substantial that could stop this week’s strikes,” while Joanne Galbraith-Marten from the Royal College of Nursing said that there was “no resolution to our dispute yet in sight.”

Unison head of health Sara Gorton was slightly more positive, suggesting that Health Secretary Steve Barclay’s tone had “changed, but, that shift needs to be matched with a firm commitment from the Treasury to fund higher wages now.

“Ministers know, unless they come up with some hard cash for a pay boost for what’s left of the current financial year, there can be no resolution.”

The PM has signalled a willingness to consider pay talks for 2023-24, but unions warn that yet another round of cuts to take-home pay for 2022-23 is exacerbating an exodus of workers from key public services.

Ms Gorton added: “The NHS can’t deliver quality care for patients until it has the necessary staff.

“Only with proper investment in the workforce can the health service be turned around, public confidence restored and patient waits reduced.”

There were also meetings between Education Secretary Gillian Keegan and teaching unions.

Afterwards, National Education Union (NEU) joint general secretary Kevin Courtney said that “no concrete progress” had been made and there was no new pay offer.

“There is nothing so far that would dissuade us from taking industrial action,” he said.

Both Mr Courtney and NASUWT general secretary Dr Patrick Roach welcomed a commitment to further talks, but Dr Roach noted the lack of any “tangible progress.”

The unions are currently balloting their members across England and Wales for strikes, as is school leaders’ union NAHT, which has opened its first-ever national vote on industrial action.

In Scotland, teachers are due to strike tomorrow and Wednesday, with more walkouts next week. 

The day of union-government talks coincided with the British Medical Association beginning to ballot junior doctors in England for industrial action, which could lead to walkouts in March if the proposal is approved.