Britain’s main nurses’ union has declared a strike for December 15 and 20, which will be the first such halt in the history of the UK healthcare system.
The British Royal College of Nursing (RCN) have indicated they have no choice following failed talks with government ministers, in which they called for a wage increase of 5% above the inflation rate, so that workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will stop two days in the month December for 12 hours.
The Secretary General of the RCN, Pat Cullen, has indicated that “the ministers who voted to strike”: “They have the power and the means to stop this by opening serious talks addressing our disputes.”
“Nurses are fed up with staff who are taken for granted, underpaid, and unsafe, with us unable to provide the care our patients deserve,” Cullen said. as compiled by the BBC.
The announcement of the health strike adds to those of Scottish postal workers, university staff and school teachers, as well as workers in the rail sector.
Although unions have signaled there are no plans for a general strike, some have spoken of coordinating action to maximize disruption and political impact.
The economic impact of strikes remains uncertain, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), whose growth figures previously estimated the impact of lockdowns such as Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in September, reported ‘The Guardian’.
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