Faced with the crisis in the cost of living and the public health system, British nurses went on strike on Thursday, December 15, an unprecedented movement that reflects the extent of discontent in the United Kingdom.
Up to 100,000 nurses are due to take part in the strike on Thursday, the first in the 106-year history of their union, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), as well as on December 20.
The movement concerns England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
It comes after a new movement which hit the railways hard on Tuesday and Wednesday and marked the start of social tensions of a rare intensity for the holidays.
From railway workers to border police, many professional categories will be on strike at the end of the year, upsetting the plans of some Britons.
Employees of the Royal Mail, the British post office, are on Wednesday and Thursday, during a period of numerous gift orders.
The workload is horrible.
The nurses are burnt out, they cannot provide safe service to patients.
»
Mark Boothroyd, emergency nurse at St. Thomas's Hospital, London
The Conservative government, struggling in the polls, maintains a very firm position against the unions and promises to legislate to reduce their room for manoeuvre.
The nurses are asking for a salary increase representing just over 19% to make up for years of shortage which have resulted, for the RCN, in a drop in their purchasing power of 20% since 2010 and the arrival of the Conservatives in power.
A request deemed
“unaffordable”
by the government.
Welcoming
the “incredible dedication”
of the profession, the Minister of Health Steve Barclay judged
“deeply regrettable”
that part of the members of the unions maintain the movement, after the failure of the last discussions.
He assured in a press release that his
“N°1 priority”
was patient safety, recalling that the public health service, the NHS, is open, in particular for urgent care.
Read alsoUnited Kingdom: nurses vote for an unprecedented national strike
In a UK in the midst of a cost of living crisis, with inflation above 10% and food prices soaring, nurse representatives say their members are skipping meals, struggling to feed and clothe their families and end up leaving the NHS en masse.
“The workload is horrible.
The nurses are burnt out, they cannot provide safe service to patients,”
Mark Boothroyd, an emergency nurse at St. Thomas' Hospital in London, told AFP recently.
According to him, many newcomers to the profession leave after only a year or two due to low salaries, putting those who remain under intense pressure.
According to the Royal College of Nursing, certain services - chemotherapy, dialysis, intensive care and units for very dependent patients - will be spared.
But others will see their numbers comparable to those of a Christmas day.
Ahead of the strike, bitter exchanges emerged over the effects of the strike, with NHS England cancer officer Cally Palmer urging in a letter revealed by Sky News the union to ensure the strike does not affect "life-
saving"
treatments , to help cure the disease or prolong the lives of patients.
"Badge of Shame"
A union spokesman slammed a
'politically motivated will to smear, on the part of a government that is failing cancer patients'
, insisting there is
'no doubt'
that the sick would benefit from this urgent care.
"Patient safety is everyone's top priority
," the spokesperson said, with the union pointing out that it had agreed on Tuesday to expand services that would not be affected by the move.
During the weekly question time in Parliament on Wednesday, Labor opposition leader Keir Starmer called the strike a
“badge of shame”
, calling on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to negotiate for it to be called off, which would allow
“the whole country to breathe a sigh of relief”
.
To which Rishi Sunak retorted that the Conservative government was following the recommendations of the independent body in its proposals for increases, describing the strikes as a
“nightmare before Christmas”
attributable to Labor because of its links with the unions.
