By Oyintari Ben
On December 15 and 20, hundreds of British nurses are scheduled to join a number of other employees in the UK who are conducting industrial action over pay in what will be their largest-ever strike action.
After the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union claimed that the government had refused to satisfy demands for salary hikes of 5% over inflation, workers throughout the UK, with the exception of Scotland, will strike.
According to RCN General Secretary Pat Cullen, “nursing personnel have had enough of being taken for granted, of low pay and hazardous staffing levels, and of not being able to provide our patients with the care they deserve.”
Since the union originally stated that nurses would go on strike, two weeks ago, Cullen said that the government had rejected formal negotiations.
The head of the RCN stated, “Ministers have had more than two weeks since we confirmed that our members felt such injustice that they would go on their first strike.
“They have the ability and means to halt this by starting sincere negotiations that resolve our conflict.”
The National Health Service (NHS) nurses’ strikes, the first of probably several walkouts, are unprecedented in the 106-year history of the British nursing union.
The UK is facing a cost-of-living crisis and an impending economic recession, and the industrial action will put additional pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Last month, inflation in the UK hit a 41-year high of 11.1%.
