Fresh strike by British nurses piles pressure on govt to act

Union issues ultimatum on pay demands as other sectors also plan work stoppages

LONDON Britain's nurses' union issued an ultimatum to the government on Tuesday to respond to its pay demands or face further strike action in January as staff walked out for the second time in a week, piling pressure on ministers to act.

Ambulance staff in England and Wales are set to follow suit on Wednesday and Dec 28, leaving those with all but the most life-threatening conditions to make their own way to hospital. Other workers, including postal, railway and Border Force staff, are also staging stoppages over the Christmas period.

The industrial action by up to 100,000 nurses is unprecedented in the British nursing union's 106-year history, but it says it has no choice as the soaring cost of living leaves workers struggling to make ends meet.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union, which says its members' real-term earnings have fallen by 6 per cent in the last decade, has called for a pay rise of 5 per cent above the retail price index rate of inflation, which stood at 14 per cent in November.

The government has offered nurses around 4 per cent on average, on the recommendation of an independent pay review body, and has declined to discuss pay further.