Thousands of scheduled consultations and surgeries within the UK’s public health system will be canceled this Tuesday (20/12/2022) due to a new strike by nurses, who had halted activities last Thursday to demand better wages.

This group of professionals, made up of 90% women, are demanding a 19% increase, while the UK Government rejected a pay increase above the 4.75% recommended in July by an independent public health body that evaluates pay conditions.

The Secretary General of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN, in English), Pat Cullen, has stated that they will call for more strikes in January if the Executive continues to refuse to sit at the table to discuss further pay increases.

“Of course, we are always happy to sit down and talk and work to solve difficult challenges like this,” said British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of the Conservative Party.

“Well, as for wages, there is an independent process (to set them) precisely because these things are difficult,” added the head of government, who assured that inflation “makes life difficult for everyone in Great Britain”.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay will meet a number of unions in the health sector today, including representatives of ambulance drivers, who will go on strike on Wednesday, although he has so far ruled out talk of a pay rise over the existing one. established.

The British government has been under pressure due to a wave of strikes called before and during the Christmas holidays, a period during which railway employees, border agents, baggage carriers at Heathrow, Eurostar security officers and postmen from former companies also protested against the country’s Royal Mail, among other professionals. . (ef)