Nurses hold new walkout over pay
LONDON: UK nurses yesterday staged a second unprecedented strike amid an increasingly acrimonious fight with the government for better wages and warnings that patient safety could be jeopardised.
Up to 100,000 members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland held the latest one-day stoppage after walking out last Thursday for the first time in the union’s 106-year history.
They are demanding an inflationbusting pay increase to make up for years of real-terms salary cuts, but the government insists recession-hit Britain cannot afford anything above a roughly 4-5% rise.
The striking nurses were just one of numerous UK public and private sector workers taking industrial action over pay and working conditions, as they grapple with a cost-of-living crisis worsened by decades-high inflation. The UK consumer prices index is currently running at nearly 11%.
Ambulance workers, including paramedics and call handlers, are set to strike today.
A second such walkout is scheduled for Dec 28, while others, including postal, railway and Border Force staff are staging stoppages over the
Christmas period.
The RCN has criticised Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government for refusing to discuss pay as part of stalled negotiations to end the dispute.
“The only reason we’re entrenched is because we’ve got no one to talk to about what the issue is,” the union’s director in England, Patricia Marquis, told Times Radio on Monday.
“Sadly, if there is no resolution, then our members have taken a vote to take strike action and the mandate that lasts for six months.”
The union has also accused Health Secretary Steve Barclay of adopting a “macho” negotiating style during brief meetings held recently.
“The RCN’s demands are unaffordable during these challenging times and would take money away from frontline services while they are still recovering from the impact of the pandemic,” Mr Barclay said Monday.
He and other ministers have reiterated that they can only accept the recommendations of an independent pay review body. The governmentappointed body, comprised of economists and human resources experts, urged hiking healthcare sector pay at least £1,400 (about 60,000 baht) on top of a 3% increase last year.