Britain’s nurses’ union issued an ultimatum to the government on Tuesday to respond to its pay demands or face further strike action in January as staff walked out for the second time in a week, piling pressure on ministers to act.
Ambulance staff in England and Wales are set to follow suit on Wednesday and Dec. 28, leaving those with all but the most life-threatening conditions to make their own way to hospital.
The industrial action by up to 100,000 nurses is unprecedented in the British nursing union’s 106-year history, but it says it has no choice as the soaring cost of living leaves workers struggling to make ends meet.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union, which says its members’ real-term earnings have fallen by 6% in the last decade, has called for a pay rise of 5% above the RPI rate of inflation, which stood at 14% in November.
The government has offered nurses around 4% on average, on the recommendation of an independent pay review body, and has declined to discuss pay further. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says the nurses’ demands are unaffordable.
“I will negotiate with him at any point to stop nursing staff and patients going into the new year facing such uncertainty,” RCN head Pat Cullen said.
“But if this government isn’t prepared to do the right thing, we’ll have no choice but to continue in January.”
The RCN gave the government 48 hours from the end of Tuesday’s strike to respond before it announces further dates.
“Our door is open to discuss with the unions anything relating to working conditions. What we can’t do is go back into reopening the pay award,” junior health minister Will Quince told Sky News.
