Nurses from England, Wales, and Northern Ireland are planning to strike on the 15th and 20th of December. At least 177 NHS trusts will be taking part in the strikes. But the only East London hospital to be affected will be Guy’s.
The union is calling for a pay rise of five per cent above inflation. But votes from members of Royal College of Nursing at East London’s hospital trusts did not meet the legally ‘required threshold’ for the strike, so most of East London will not be affected.
Some of the major hospitals that will be impacted are King’s College Hospital in London and the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh.
Nurses did receive a pay rise earlier this year but have said they are struggling because their wages did not keep up with the rising rate of inflation. They are not the only public sector striking; Royal Mail workers and teachers are doing the same.
Nahim Zahawi, Chairman of the Conservative party, has urged nurses to call off their strikes to ‘send a very clear message to Mr Putin.’ He believes the cost of living and energy prices stems from the war between Russia and Ukraine.
The majority of the UK public sympathise with the health sector because of the cost-of-living crisis and lack of financial support from the government. Many feel that more needs to be done to protect our workers so that strike action isn’t necessary.
Here are some of the responses to the strikes.
People aren't waiting 40 hours for an ambulance because of industrial action by the RCN. They're waiting 40 hours for an ambulance because the Tories are underfunding the NHS.
— David__Osland (@David__Osland) December 4, 2022
Whilst others argue that these actions by the NHS are “selfishly” motivated, and their “unrealistic demands” will not be met since they are heavily relied on by the
UK public.
https://twitter.com/wastingmytime59/status/1600270647141322768?s=20&t=w-GQMSja4n23FXej3_ZFUQ
Edited by Nadrine Narku