Hospitals across Wales face major disruption on Thursday as nurses in Wales walk out for the first time in history in a row over pay. Union members of the Royal College of Nurses in Wales will be striking on Thursday December 15 and on December 20 after voting in November to strike for the first time in history.
Nurses in all but one health board in Wales will be striking on Thursday. Aneurin Bevan University Health Board members voted to strike but did not reach the 50% turnout threshold needed for industrial action. The historic strikes will see hospitals, ambulance services and other nursing services such as home care severely impacted with thousands of outpatient and routine surgeries and appointments set to be cancelled. Urgent care such as cancer treatment will go ahead as normal.
Welsh health minister Eluned Morgan met with union officials on Monday in a bid to stave off strike action but no agreement was reached. The union claims an experienced nurse has seen their pay decline by at least 20% in real terms due to successive below-inflation awards since 2010 and has asked for 5% above the RPI rate of inflation which stands at over 12%. Welsh Government claims it cannot afford to increase pay without the UK government putting more money on the table.
.jpg?w=600)
