British nurses vote to strike in first ever national action
British nurses have voted for the first time to go on industrial action before Christmas, as increase in the inflation rate has plunged many Brits into dire economic straits.
Union officials say nurses in “large swathes of the country” working in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland voted for industrial action after strike ballots were recommended to 300,000 members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN).
The RCN is due to unveil the final results of its ballot, in the next few days as counting continues.
The union said its members have faced a decade of real-terms pay cuts, and it is campaigning for a pay rise of five percent above the soaring inflation which stands at a record high of ten percent.
"Our strike action will be as much for patients as it is for nurses – we have their support in doing this," Pat Cullen, RCN general secretary and chief executive, said in a statement on Saturday.
"Huge numbers of staff - both experienced and newer recruits - are deciding they cannot see a future in a nursing profession that is not valued nor treated fairly.”
Although the 7 million people who are waiting for hospital treatment in England are now likely to see operations and appointments delayed or cancelled, nurses in critical care units and A&E departments will be exempt from taking part.
An analysis by the Nuffield Trust published earlier this year reported one in nine nurses had quit the British National Health Service (NHS) by June 2022, marking more than 46,000 nursing, midwifery, and health visitor vacancies in the NHS in England alone.
Tens of thousands of staff in various industries, postal railway workers have also gone on strike across Britain since the summer, as a cost-of-living crisis has pushed workers to step out and demand pay hikes par with inflation.
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