The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) announced it will go on a two-day strike starting April 30, rejecting the government’s pay raise proposal in order to end the strike.
The government “needs to increase what has already been offered and we will be highly critical of any move to reduce it,” RCN general secretary Pat Cullen was quoted by the BBC as saying on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the NHS junior doctors in England noted it may organize another strike alongside the upcoming nurses’ strike, to pressure the health ministry into providing decent salary raise for everyone.
Most health unions refused a proposed raise of five percent and a 1,655 sterling (USD 2,000) as reward for last year.
The announcement came only hours after the junior doctors four-day strike ended. The strike led to the cancellation of tens of thousands of appointments and surgeries across England’s hospitals.
The UK had been suffering a series of strikes in different sectors since 2022, an unprecedented strike rate since the 70s.
Workers unions are demanding a raise higher than the inflation rate, which is still above ten percent since last September, the highest in over 40 years.
Source: Kuwait News Agency
