Health Ultimatum – UK Nurses promise to walk out

By Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer

#UnitedKingdom, December 12, 2022 – If Health Secretary Steve Barclay doesn’t meet union leaders in the Royal College of Nursing to hammer out a deal for nurses salaries by Thursday, December 15 the UK will experience one of its biggest nursing walkouts ever.

The notice for industrial action came in early November after the RCN held a massive multi-nation strike vote over what the College described as ‘chronic staff shortages’ which were putting patients at risk.

RCN General Secretary & Chief Executive Pat Cullen, who had previously said nurses could no longer tolerate the ‘financial knife’s edge’ they were on, told the BBC she was willing to negotiate. Strike action is set for 15 December and then 20 December across the entirety of the United Kingdom.

The strike comes as the UK experiences its first genuine taste of winter this year with temperatures expected to drop near freezing and flu season begins in earnest.

Barclay has shown no indication that he will come to the negotiating table. The RCN had said strikes could continue until mid-2023 as the nurses seek a pay raise that is five per cent above inflation.