MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th November, 2022) The United Kingdom's largest nursing union, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), announced on Friday that it will hold two strikes in December - the first strikes in the union's more than 100-year history.
"RCN members will strike on 15 and 20 December at employers across England, Northern Ireland and Wales after the UK government rejected our offer of formal negotiations," the RCN said on the website.
According to the union, strike actions were spurred by the UK government's decision to turn down the RCN's "offer of formal, detailed negotiations as an alternative to strikes."
The union said the strikes in December could be "just the beginning of a longer period of strike action," adding that strike action will happen in phases and dates of other strikes could be announced later, "if governments fail to enter into formal negotiations."
"They have the power and means to stop strikes at any point but have chosen to go down this route," the union said.
The RCN also noted that plans for strikes in Scotland have been "paused" as the Scottish government had decided to return to the negotiating table.
"The dispute is over pay, but also patient safety. Staffing levels are so low that patient care is being compromised. Only by paying nursing staff fairly will we recruit and retain people in our profession," the statement read.
On November 9, the RCN said that its members had voted to strike over insufficient pay, with the mandate for industrial action running until early May. The union said results of the ballot showed that record numbers of nursing staff were prepared to join picket lines this winter. It insisted that the action was as much for patients as it was for medical staff because of a sharp drop in standards caused by chronic underfunding.
