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UK nurses on Tuesday staged a second unprecedented strike amid an increasingly acrimonious fight with the government for better wages and warnings that patient safety could be jeopardised.
Up to 100,000 members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are holding the latest one-day stoppage after walking out last Thursday for the first time in the union’s 106-year history.
They are demanding an inflation-busting pay increase to make up for years of real-terms salary cuts, but the government insists recession-hit Britain cannot afford anything above a roughly 4-5 percent rise.
“We need more money, we need more staff, we need patient safety,” said Lucy Savage, 21, on a picket line outside Aintree University Hospital in the northwestern city of Liverpool.
“We’re overworked and underpaid, the NHS (National Health Service) is just a shambles.”
Suni George, 45, said his pay had hardly changed in his 17 years working as a nurse.
“We get a lot of tax so even when the annual income looks like it’s gone up, we don’t have more money,” he said outside the same hospital.
The striking nurses are just some of numerous UK public and private sector workers taking industrial action over pay and working conditions, as they grapple with a cost-of-living crisis worsened by decades-high inflation.
The UK consumer prices index is currently running at nearly 11 percent.
Ambulance workers, including paramedics and call handlers, are set to strike on Wednesday.
A second such walkout is scheduled for December 28, while others, including postal, railway and Border Force staff, are staging stoppages over the Christmas period.
– ‘Unaffordable’ –
The RCN has criticised Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government for refusing to discuss pay as part of stalled negotiations.
RCN chief Pat Cullen said nurses would take wider industrial action next month if the dispute was not resolved.
“If this government keeps giving our nursing staff the cold shoulder as they have to date then, it’s really unfortunate, that come January, we will see more hospitals being involved and striking and that means more nursing staff involved,” she said.
The union has also accused Health Secretary Steve Barclay of adopting a “macho” negotiating style during brief meetings held recently.
“The RCN’s demands are unaffordable during these challenging times and would take money away from frontline services while they are still recovering from the impact of the pandemic,” Barclay said Monday.
He and other ministers have reiterated that they can only accept the recommendations of an independent pay review body.
The government-appointed body, comprised of economists and human resources experts, urged hiking healthcare sector pay at least £1,400 ($1,740) on top of a 3.0 percent increase last year.
But critics argue it is constrained by government-imposed budget limits and that its assessment, published in July, predates current higher inflation rates.
– ‘Responsible and fair’ –
Sunak is set to be quizzed by a cross-party watchdog panel of lawmakers on Tuesday, with the issue of strikes likely to feature.
On the eve of the nurses’ latest strike, he insisted the government has adopted a “responsible and fair approach” to public sector pay.
“When it comes to pay, it’s because these things are difficult that we have an independent process,” he said while on a visit to Latvia.
Ministers plan to draft in 750 military personnel to drive ambulances and perform logistics roles to mitigate the impact of the strikes.
Despite the government’s dogged insistence that it will not negotiate over pay, polls indicate the majority of people support the nurses’ stance, and to a lesser extent other workers walking out.
YouGov polling during December reported by The Sunday Times showed nearly two-thirds back the nurses, while half are supportive of ambulance staff stoppages.
However, after a year of strikes on the railways, only 37 percent backed its workers amid their ongoing dispute over pay and conditions.
