British nurses launch unprecedented strikes
They are the first in the Royal College of Nursing’s 106-year history
Only the River Thames separates St Thomas’s hospital in London from the Houses of Parliament. Yet for the nurses who picketed outside the hospital, it might have been an ocean. On December 15th around 100,000 nurses across England, Northern Ireland and Wales went on strike for 12 hours. Another strike in England and Wales took place on December 20th. Pat Cullen, the general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing (rcn), has warned that the walkouts—the first in the organisation’s 106-year history—may continue into January and beyond.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Nursing a grievance”
From the December 24th 2022 edition
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