Some UK Nurses End Strikes But Others Vow More Walkouts

LONDON, England – A British nurses union rejected the government’s pay offer on Friday, ending a months-long wave of public-sector strikes that affected schools, hospitals, and services.

However, another major healthcare union voted to approve the agreement.

The Royal College of Nursing has announced that its members will strike again later this month. After 54% voted against a lump sum payout for 2022-23 and a 5% rise this year.

General Secretary Pat Cullen announced a 48-hour strike beginning April 30. For the first time, nurses working in intensive care, emergency departments, and cancer wards will join the strike.

“What has been offered to date is simply not enough,” she said, adding, “Until there is a significantly improved offer, we are forced back to the picket line.”

In contrast, Unison, which represents ambulance crews, hospital porters, and some nurses, said that 74% of its members accepted the offer.

“Health workers would have wanted more, but this was the best that could be achieved through negotiation,” explained Sara Gorton, Unison’s head of health. “Over the last few weeks, health workers have examined the options.” “Nurses chose the assurance of having the extra money in their pockets quickly.”

For months, Nurses’ strikes have interrupted Britons.

For months, Nurses strikes have interrupted Britons’ lives as workers demand pay increases to keep up with surging inflation, which reached 10.4% in February.

Firefighters and London bus drivers have reached an agreement to continue working. However, many other professions are still embroiled in salary disputes. Ambulance drivers, teachers, border guards, driving examiners, bus drivers, postal workers, doctors, and nurses have all walked off the job to demand more compensation.

According to unions, incomes have decreased in real terms over the last decade, particularly in the public sector, and a cost-of-living problem caused by dramatically rising food and energy prices has left many unable to pay their bills.

On Friday, thousands of junior doctors in the state-funded National Health Service completed a four-day walkout. The administration considers the early-career medics’ demand for a 35% salary increase unacceptable.

Civil servants announced a second walkout on Friday after rejecting the government’s offer of a 4.5% to 5% pay increase. The Prospect union has announced that its members, which include weather service workers and health inspectors, will go on strike on May 10 and June 7.

SOURCE – (AP)