UK nurses join wave of strike action to demand better pay
Thousands of nurses have walked off their jobs in England, joining ambulance and postal workers, bus drivers and airport baggage handlers who have staged strikes or planned them this month
LONDON (AP) — Thousands of nurses walked off their jobs in England on Thursday, escalating a wave of industrial unrest in the U.K. this month as ambulance and postal workers, bus drivers and airport baggage handlers all stage strikes to demand better pay amid a cost-of-living crisis.
Emergency hospital care will continue as normal, and nurses will still staff chemotherapy and neonatal and pediatric intensive care units, the Royal College of Nursing said. But many less urgent hospital treatments were expected to be affected across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Although nurses did not plan to strike in Scotland, Thursday's action was described as the biggest by nurses since the U.K.'s National Health Service was established in 1948.
The Royal College of Nursing has called for a pay rise at 5% above inflation, though it has indicated it would accept a lower offer. The government has said the demand was unaffordable, and talks between the two sides collapsed Monday.
