30 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The British nursing staff will begin a 28-hour break this Sunday after the failure of the last salary negotiation with the Government.
The strike, which will last until midnight from Monday to Tuesday, has taken place after talks failed at the last minute as organizers guarantee minimum services so as not to affect patients.
“Our staff, as I have said time and time again, will never leave their patients unsafe or create more risks that already exist in the system at this time,” Royal College of Nursing Secretary General Pat Cullen told Sky News.
Nursing staff make up a quarter of the entire workforce in the public health system and represent the largest proportion of the workforce. Workers in the National Health Service (NHS), it should be recalled, have gone on strike several times in recent months over pay and condition disputes.
On this occasion, unions such as Unison and GMB voted in favor of a government wage offer to end the strikes, while Unite and RCN voted against and bet on starting the strike.
The NHS has warned that staffing levels for some areas of the country will be “exceptionally low, even lower than on previous strike days” and has added that the number of appointments rescheduled due to the strike will reach half a million next week.
