A strike movement which would last until Christmas is envisaged among nurses in England, announced Sunday the head of the main union of the profession, with the approach of a hardening of the movement which is looming at the end of the month. Engaged since December in a strike movement unprecedented since the creation of their union, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), more than a century ago, nurses rejected on Friday the salary increase proposed by the government – 5% increase and an exceptional single payment of at least 1,250 pounds (1,425 euros).
The RCN has also announced a new 48-hour strike which will begin on April 30 and which for the first time will not spare emergency services or intensive care or cancer units. In the absence of an agreement by the expiry of the mandate for the current strike movement, which concerns wage demands in a United Kingdom where inflation exceeds 10%, a new vote will have to be organised. “If this vote is successful, we will have strikes until Christmas,” Pat Cullen, general secretary of the RCN, told the BBC on Sunday.
On Friday, a government spokesman called the rejection of the executive’s proposals “extremely disappointing” and called the “escalation” in the movement “extremely concerning for patients”. The cost of living crisis in the United Kingdom has led to a cascade of social movements for several months demanding wage increases, both in public services and in the private sector.