In their biggest ever strike action, thousands of British nurses are set to go on strike on December 15 and 20, joining a host of other workers in the UK who are taking industrial action over pay.

Staff across the UK —  including in England, Wales, Northern Ireland but barring Scotland — will walk out after the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union said that the government had refused to meet demands for salary hikes of 5% above inflation.

"Nursing staff have had enough of being taken for granted, enough of low pay and unsafe staffing levels, enough of not being able to give our patients the care they deserve," RCN General Secretary Pat Cullen said on Friday.

RCN: Government rejects negotiations

Cullen said the government had turned down formal negotiations in the two weeks since the union first announced that nurses would go on strike.

"Ministers have had more than two weeks since we confirmed that our members felt such injustice that they would strike for the first time," the RCN head said.

"They have the power and the means to stop this by opening serious talks that address our dispute."

Record inflation, recession looming

The strikes  — unprecedented in the British nursing union's 106-year history— are the first of possibly several walkouts by National Health Service (NHS) nurses.

The industrial action will put further pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as the UK faces a looming economic recession and a cost-of-living crisis with inflation reaching a 41-year-high of 11.1% last month.

dvv/jsi (AFP, Reuters)