The threat of further walkouts by nurses in England dissipated on Tuesday after a vote organized by the profession’s main union failed to secure sufficient votes for the continuation of a social movement started at the end of 2022.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) announced that only 43% of its more than 100,000 members took part in this vote, less than the legal threshold of 50% necessary to validate the result.
Among those who spoke out, 84% said they were in favor of further strikes.
The union had engaged last December in a social movement unprecedented since its creation more than a century ago, to demand wage increases in the face of inflation and better working conditions.
The members of the RCN voted on the continuation of this movement after having rejected a proposal from the government to increase their remuneration by 5%.
Union general secretary Pat Cullen said on Tuesday the result would be “disappointing” for many RCN members, but said “the fight for fair wages and sufficient staff […] is far from over”.
In addition to nurses, many professions such as railway workers, ambulance attendants or public officials, have gone on strike in recent months in the United Kingdom to demand wage increases, against a backdrop of inflation and the cost of living crisis.
Hospital doctors last week announced a five-day July walkout in the longest strike in the history of the public health service, the NHS, already under pressure after years of underfunding and the COVID-19 pandemic. 19.
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