Nurses last night asked the public to support their first ever strike tomorrow as they fight to protect the NHS for all.
Royal College of Nursing boss Pat Cullen said staff had been backed into a corner over No10’s refusal to boost their paltry pay rises.
She said at a Mirror summit of trade union leaders: “I want the public to realise this is for them. Stick with us. We are desperately trying to change the health service for you. Please don’t turn against us.
“I just want the public to know that this has been very difficult for nurses and I’m dreading Thursday.
“Because leading my brilliant profession on to picket lines because they have been left in this position has been very hard.”
Ms Cullen accused Health Secretary Steve Barclay of being “disrespectful and disingenuous” after she revealed he refused to even discuss pay at crunch talks on Monday.
She added: “It’s the first time in 106 years we are having a strike because this government has turned its back on nurses. And when you turn your back on nurses you turn your back on patients. “These people held us together through the pandemic and kept
us alive.
“I’ve travelled the length and breadth of the country and nurses have taken me to the foodbanks. My God, what have we reduced these people to?”
The Mirror brought together seven leaders of major trade unions, including the RMT’s Mick Lynch and TUC boss Frances O’Grady, to our London HQ to discuss why the country faces the biggest industrial unrest in more than three decades.
Mr Lynch, who is leading a series of rail strikes, said his wife had been a nurse for 38 years.
