Nurses urged to strike for first time over pay
Nurses are being urged to strike for the first time over pay. The Royal College of Nursing is balloting all its UK members to join the strike action for the first time in it’s 106 year history.
The union recommends its 300,000 members walk out over pay. The results of the ballot are due next month.
If members do vote to strike, the RCN said it would not effect emergency care only non-urgent care. The government is urging nurses to “carefully consider” the impact on patients.
The union has been calling for a rise of 5 per cent about the RPI inflation rate of 12 per cent, but no UK nation has offered close to that.
NHS nurses in England and Wales are being given an average of 4.7 per cent more, with extra for the lowest paid, whilst in Scotland, 5 per cent has been given. In Northern Ireland, nurses are yet to receive a pay award.
The RCN said it had commissioned research showing average pay had fallen by 6 per cent between 2011 and 2021 – once inflation had been taken into account – compared with the 4.6 per cent average for the whole economy.