In order to demand a salary increase that keeps pace with skyrocketing inflation, well over 300,000 members of Britain’s largest nurses union will start voting on a strike.
The state-funded National Health Service (NHS), according to the Royal College of Nursing, was forced into the change after years of real-terms salary cutbacks discouraged individuals from entering the organization; creating enormous staffing gaps throughout the system.
To make up for real-term wage decreases as its members battle to keep up with the skyrocketing cost of living; the union requested a salary increase of 5% over inflation. The head of the union claimed that due to thousands of empty nursing positions nationwide, workers could neither afford to continue in the field; nor enter it due to below-inflation compensation.
The NHS is experiencing its largest staffing crisis ever as a result of a backlog in care; while still recuperating from the damage done to its services during the COVID-19 epidemic.