Nurses In England Begin Strike Over Pay
Category: World News
Nurses across England today began two days of strike over pay,
threatening fresh disruption for patients in the creaking state-run health
service, as new figures showed inflation still surging.
The
walkout comes after nurses held their union’s first stoppage in more than a
century last month, joining a wave of industrial action by UK public sector
workers hit by a cost-of-living crisis driven by spiraling prices.
The latest annual inflation statistics, released early Wednesday,
showed they remained close to historically record levels, with rates easing
slightly in December to 10.5 percent, compared with 10.7 percent the previous
month.
READ: UK Teachers Announce Strike Over Salary
The main nursing union accuses the government of failing to negotiate
seriously on improving their pay deal for the current year, which they say is
crucial given the economic situation.
“We take strike action with
a heavy heavy heart but a clear mind about what we want to achieve,” said
nurse Anna Swift before joining a picket line in central London.
“It’s
time to take some action to say we need better pay, we need better
conditions,” she told Sky News.
The latest walkout piles further
pressure on the National Health Service (NHS) at a time of peak demand due to
winter illnesses and lengthening waiting lists for treatment caused by Covid
cancellations and under-staffing.
Further strikes are planned for
February 6 and 7 by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union, which has said
they will “be at the highest intensity” in its history.
Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has insisted recession-hit
Britain cannot afford to reopen public sector pay already set for this fiscal
year, which ends on March 31.
He has hinted at the possibility of
more flexibility in agreeing upcoming salary deals, handled by pay review
bodies whose independence from government has been questioned.
“Unaffordable pay hikes will mean cutting patient care and stoking
the inflation that would make us all poorer,” health minister Steve Barclay
wrote in an op-ed Wednesday in The Independent.
He added that
salary increases would “take billions of pounds away from where we need it
most”.
Barclay said two days of strikes by nurses in England and
Wales in December led to the cancellation of some 30,000 elective procedures
and outpatient appointments.
But Pat Cullen, head of the RCN, said
nurses are “the voice of the patient” and has repeatedly urged the government
to negotiate over pay to retain beleaguered staff and attract new recruits.
“Let’s all get into a room and sit down and have realistic
conversations about how we’re going to address the crisis within the health
service,” she told ITV.
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