After a widely publicized first day of strikes last Thursday, the first in 106 years, nurses are continuing their movement.
British nurses are leading their second day of an unprecedented nationwide strike on Tuesday December 20 to win better wages and threaten to prolong their movement in the face of an inflexible government despite the scale of the social crisis. After a widespread first day of strikes last Thursday, the first in 106 years, nurses are continuing their movement to try to fund a sizeable pay rise after years of belt tightening in a chronically underserved public health system (NHS). And in a UK bowed to over 10% inflation, they have become a symbol of a population suffering from the cost of living crisis and feeling under-supported by government.
Employees in railways, logistics, paramedics, border police, airports, etc., many sectors have decided to go on strike at the end of the year, and for many also at the beginning of January. When Britons criticize some of these movements, which sometimes mess up their Christmas plans, nurses enjoy strong popular support. Because they have been on the front lines during the Covid-19 pandemic and are going through a crisis that has been affecting the highly respected public and free healthcare system for years. According to a YouGov poll published in the Sunday Times on Sunday, almost two-thirds of Brits support nurses and half support the ambulance strike, versus 37% for the rail workers’ strike.
They don’t want to talk to us about the taboo subject of compensation
Christina McAnea, general secretary of the Unison union
That endorsement is putting pressure on the government, which has so far proved inflexible, refusing to increase the roughly 4% increase planned for this year, in line with the recommendation of a panel of experts charged with advising the government. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who traveled to Latvia on Monday, once again defended his government’s “responsible and fair” approach. “In terms of salary, we have an independent process because this issue is difficult,” he added. Granting more would be unsustainable for Britain’s public finances, Health Secretary Steve Barclay, who has been accused by a trade union of behaving like a macho during negotiations, has repeatedly reiterated.
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“They don’t want to talk to us about the taboo subject of pay,” Christina McAnea, general secretary of the Unison union, told the BBC on Monday. “The only reason we (the movement) are going on is because we don’t have anyone to talk to about what’s really the problem,” Patricia Marquis, the UK director of the largest union, told Times Radio. with around 100,000 members. “Unfortunately, if there is no progress, our members have voted to go on strike and this mandate is for six months,” she added, confirming the nurses’ determination to extend the strike if necessary.
The unity among the Conservatives is broken
But with the threat of a further deterioration in patient care and the popularity of the movement, unity among Conservatives has shattered in recent days. Some MPs from the prime minister’s camp have called on the government to let go or in any case engage in a more constructive dialogue with the nurses. Several avenues have been mentioned, such as the call for a new recommendation from the expert group, without the government seeming to want to put up with it for the time being. The government is trying to limit the scope of the strikes for the population. It is planned to mobilize 750 soldiers on Wednesday to replace striking paramedics and 625 will be deployed to replace border police officers.