An estimated 100,000 nurses working in 76 hospitals and medical centers will strike today
Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) nurses are today holding their first national strike to demand pay rises.
An estimated 100,000 nurses working in 76 hospitals and medical centers will go on strike today in the first strike by their Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union since it was founded 106 years ago. The strike will resume on December 20 and affects nurses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Britain is facing a strike wave this winter, with strikes paralyzing the railways and post office and airports bracing for disruptions over the Christmas period.
Inflation in Britain has topped 10%, while proposals for wage rises of around 4% are causing tension between employers and workers.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s conservative government is tough on unions and has vowed to legislate to limit their room for manoeuvre.
Nurses are asking for a pay rise of just over 19% to compensate for their reduced purchasing power, which the RCN says has been reduced by 20% since 2010. They also note that low wages mean staff shortages and discounts on patient care. Their request has been described as “out of reach” by the government, which has stressed that it cannot offer an increase of more than 4% to 5%.
The Scottish Government avoided strike action after agreeing to negotiate pay with the RCN, something the union had hoped would happen in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. However, British Health Secretary Steve Barclay does not seem willing to back down.
“Horrible workload”
Praising the “amazing dedication” of the nurses, Barclay called it “deeply regrettable” that a section of union members were “going ahead with the strike”.
“I am working with the government and with doctors outside the public system to guarantee that there will be safe levels of staff (in hospitals), but I am still concerned about the risk that strikes pose to patients,” he said.
The Health Secretary also assured that “my first priority” is patient safety and that the NHS will remain open, especially for emergencies.
Amid economic crisis in Britain, with inflation and food prices soaring, nurses’ representatives complain that their members are skipping meals, struggling to feed and clothe their families and eventually leaving the NHS in droves.
“The workload is horrendous. Nurses are suffocating, they cannot provide safe services to patients,” explained Mark Boothroyd, who works as a nurse in the emergency department at St Thomas’ Hospital in London, recently.
As he complained, many young nurses leave the profession after only a year or two because of the low wages, putting those who remain under great pressure.
According to the Royal College of Nursing, some services – chemotherapy, dialysis, emergency – will operate as normal.
Polls taken before the strike show that the majority of Britons support the nurses’ strike, but when the strikes start politicians are expected to closely monitor public opinion.
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