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HealthUnited Kingdom

UK nurses begin unprecedented strike

December 15, 2022

Up to 100,000 members of the country's major nurses' union are taking part in the one-day walkout. The group is asking for better pay and working conditions amid a cost of living crisis.

https://p.dw.com/p/4KxYK
Members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) are striking outside St. Thomas' Hospital in London, where nurses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are taking industrial action for better pay.
Members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) are striking for the first time in over a centuryImage: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire/dpa

UK nurses began an unprecedented strike on Thursday as part of their fight for better wages and working conditions, despite government warnings it could put patients at risk.

The strike, which is the first in the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union's 106-year history, comes amid a bitter dispute with the government over pay at the Nationa Health Service (NHS).

Up to 100,000 members of the RCN in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are holding the one-day stoppage after rejecting the latest terms offered by the government. Emergency and life-saving care would not be affected, the union said.

The two sides remain divided after the NHS Pay Review Body recommended a pay increase of at least 1,400 pounds (€1,625, $1,740) on top of a 3% pay rise last year.

The walkouts conducted at 76 hospitals and health centers has meant the cancellation of thousands of non-urgent operations and tens of thousands of outpatient appointments in Britain's state-funded NHS.

UK Health Secretary Steve Barclay described the industrial action as "deeply regrettable" adding he was "concerned about the risk that strikes pose to patients."

'Tragic day' for nurses

The unprecedented strike marked a "tragic day' for nurses, patients and the NHS, RCN general secretary Pat Cullen said, regretting that such an action was necessary.

Some 50,000 nursing posts were currently vacant, the French AFP news agency cited her as saying, as more and more staff abandoned the profession for better-paying jobs in supermarkets and retail.

"It's up to the government. They have a responsibility to address those vacant nursing posts and stop the drain out of our profession," said Cullen. She said this could only be done by paying nurses "a decent wage."

NHS nurses hold placards during a strike, amid a dispute with the government over pay, outside St Thomas' Hospital.
Nurses formed a picket line outside St. Thomas Hospital in LondonImage: Henry Nicholls/REUTERS

One staff nurse on a picket line outside St. Thomas Hospital in London, Kelly Hopkins, told AFP on Thursday that more and more nurses had started resorting to food banks to make ends meet amid the biting cost-of-living crisis.

"They're coming in cold, they're going without good food to feed their children. It's just crazy," Hopkins said.

Wave of industrial action

Spiraling inflation while wage growth stutters has resulted in a cost-of-living crisis in the UK.

Earlier this week, a study from the New Economics Foundation think tank suggested that within two years 43% of households in the UK will lack the resources to put food on the table.

NHS nurses strike, amid a dispute with the government over pay, outside St Thomas' Hospital in London, Britain December 15, 2022.
The nurses' strike is only one of several to hit the UK this yearImage: Henry Nicholls/REUTERS

Britain is facing a wave of industrial action, with strikes hitting the rail network and postal service. Meanwhile, airports may also see action during the Christmas period.

Inflation running at more than 10%, trailed by pay offers of around 4%, is stoking tensions between unions and employers.

jsi/es (Reuters, AFP, dpa)