Britain is seeing a wave of strikes as nurses, postal workers and others walk out

British nurses picket outside St. Thomas' Hospital in London on Thursday. The nurses' union is asking for a 19% pay raise. Nurses, as well as postal workers, rail workers and some airport immigration officers, are staging walkouts over the holiday season. They are asking for pay increases as the U.K. faces nearly 11% inflation. (Frank Langfitt/NPR)

LONDON — Across the River Thames from Big Ben last Thursday morning, a couple hundred nurses formed a picket line in front of St. Thomas' Hospital. One waved a sign that read, "Can anyone find my friends? They all quit."

"Currently nursing my inadequate pay," read another.