Nurses Strike Sheffield: First ever walkout today by Royal College of Nursing - but not in the Steel City

Members of the Royal College of Nursing has voted nationwide to strike both today (December 15) and on December 20 over pay and working conditions, with unions saying healthcare staff are 20 per cent worse off in real terms since 2010.

However, despite three of Sheffield’s trusts voting to strike, there will be no walkouts in the Steel City today.

An RCN spokesperson told The Star there are no picket lines organised in South Yorkshire at all today. Instead it is believed staff are likely to take their first day of industrial action in January.

Members at Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust all voted to join strike action. Up to 100,000 members nationwide will walk out for 12 hours at a time.

A&E services and maternity services will also face disruption, Trust leaders have warned. Cancer, dialysis patients and sick babies will be among those “protected” from action.

The RCN says it voted to strike after the UK Government refused to come to the table for negotiations. It comes amid record nursing vacancies, with 25,000 staff leaving in the past year. They are asking for a five per cent pay rise above inflation and better working conditions.

RCN general secretary Pat Cullen said: “Anger has become action – our members are saying enough is enough. The voice of nursing in the UK is strong and I will make sure it is heard. Our members will no longer tolerate a financial knife-edge at home and a raw deal at work.”

Hundreds of thousands of workers – not just nurses – are set to strike across England in the coming weeks in disputes over pay, pensions, jobs and conditions. It comes as inflation reached a 40-year-old high of 11.1 per cent in November while multinational company profits are at an all-time high.

Rail staff, bus drivers, postal workers, train operators and civil servants are among those planning to walk out in the weeks leading up to Christmas and into the New Year.

In Sheffield, The Star this week spoke to workers from housing crisis charity Shelter, who are at the end of a two-week strike over pay.