Nurses and ambulance staff raised their demands for better pay Monday to fight Britain’s cost-of-living crisis by launching the biggest ever health service strike.
The stoppages – part of a wave of industrial action across the UK economy – saw nurses and paramedics strike on the same day for the first time on Monday.
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Shocked staff outside St Thomas’ Hospital in central London waved placards saying “Safer staff save lives” and “Claps don’t pay the bills”, a reference to the daily national applause received from the public during the coronavirus pandemic.
The health worker stopped
Health workers say their salaries have failed to keep pace with inflation over the past decade, leaving them unable to pay their bills amid rising fuel, food and housing costs.
He warned that qualified nurses would be left behind due to financial pressures resulting in staff shortages that are jeopardizing patient care.
“We’re running 24/7, breaking our backs doing the work of three people,” says nurse trainer Victoria Busk, who works in the trauma ward at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, central England.
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“I love my job, I love the work I do, making a difference for patients. But I can’t imagine doing this until I’m 60,” he said.
Last week, half a million people including teachers, transport workers and Border Force staff in the air and ports of England also stopped working through pay.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union said Monday’s strike was affecting nurses at around a third of hospital trusts in England and most of Wales.
– ‘Work for peanuts’ –
The ambulance staff strike only affected England, however, after paramedics in Wales rejected planned action following an offer of better pay.
“Every time you go on a shift, it’s dangerous because you’re understaffed,” Angela Unufe said on a picket line outside the Queen’s Health Center in Nottingham, also in central England.
A former nurse with the state-funded National Health Service now works as a ward manager at a private mental health clinic.
“There are situations where managers have to fill in for nurses who don’t have shifts, because they can’t get nurses because there are no nurses, because nobody wants to work for the nuts,” he said.
Health Minister Maria Caulfield, who is also a nurse, said she sympathized with the beleaguered health service staff but said the huge pay rise was unacceptable.
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“I’m a member of the RCN myself, so I sit in both camps, if you like. Indeed, I have a lot of sympathy,” he told GB News.
“But we also have a responsibility to the taxpayers … we simply cannot afford the inflationary wage increases that the unions are now demanding.”
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has called for salary increases to be “adequate” and affordable, warning that large pay prizes will jeopardize attempts to tame inflation.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay called on the union to refrain from Monday’s action.
“The governor of the Bank of England warned that if we try to beat inflation with high pay rises, it will get worse and people will not get better,” he said.