For the first time in the 106-year history of the UK’s nurses union, thousands of nurses will walk off the job in Britain next month. Staff members will strike on December 15 and 20 in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, according to the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union. Apparently, Scottish nursing staff won’t be taking part.
The National Health Service (NHS) nurses’ walkouts are the first of what may be a number of walkouts after the government rejected a proposal for discussions to address requests for wage hikes of 5% over inflation, according to Reuters. Pat Cullen, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), declared that nursing staff had had enough of being taken advantage of, poor pay, and hazardous staffing levels, as well as having to compromise on providing patients with the care they deserved.
This will be the country’s most recent strike. Numerous employees in the public and private sectors, including lawyers and airport ground staff, have protested this year. Due to decades-high inflation and a cost-of-living issue, workers in a variety of industries in the UK have been calling for pay increases to keep up with rising prices. According to AFP, the nurses’ strike coincides with the first of a series of two-day railroad worker walkouts and additional postal worker stoppages in the lead-up to Christmas.
The health minister for the UK, Steve Barclay, voiced his worry about the strikes and his immense admiration for the ‘hard work and devotion’ of nurses. He said that the NHS had ‘tried and tested strategies’ to minimise inconvenience and ensure the maintenance of emergency services. Nearly a million NHS employees will receive rises of at least £1,400 ($1,590) this year, the government claims, after it adopted independent pay suggestions.
The RCN’s proposals, which based on current data would need a 19.2% wage increase and cost £10 billion annually, are not feasible given the economic conditions, he added. NHS reported in September that nurses were missing meals in order to feed and clothe their kids and were finding it difficult to pay for rising transportation costs. British inflation has been on the increase and reached a 41-year high of 11.1 percent in October as a result of rising energy and food prices.
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