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☆ UK officials meet with unions in bid to end strikes by nurses and ambulance drivers
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

London CNN —Senior UK government officials are meeting with labor unions on Monday in a last-ditch effort to avert another wave of strikes affecting vital public services such as health care and transport. On Monday, the education minister will meet with teaching unions, the transport minister will meet with rail unions and the health minister will meet with unions representing nurses and ambulance drivers. Workers are demanding higher pay and better working conditions in the face of record inflation and a sharp fall in living standards. Ambulance workers will strike on January 19 in Wales and on January 23 in England. Teacher unions are balloting members over a possible strike, while the British Medical Association started balloting junior doctors on Monday.

☆ UK strike law will make it harder for key workers to strike
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

London CNN —The UK government is planning to introduce a new law forcing workers in key public sectors such as ambulance services to maintain a basic level of service during strike action or risk dismissal. Workers who strike after they have been told to report to work by their employer and union could face dismissal. Critical care was exempt from the nurses’ strike, and unions pledged to cover life-threatening emergencies during recent walkouts by ambulance workers. The government said that it will impose minimum safety levels in these areas only if “voluntary agreements” cannot be reached. “Trade unions will fight this every step of the way,” the Trades Union Congress, which represents 48 UK unions, said on Twitter.

☆ British nurses walk out again, threaten further strikes in pay dispute
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The industrial action by up to 100,000 nurses is unprecedented in the British nursing union's 106-year history, but it says it has no choice as workers struggle to make ends meet with inflation running at more than 10%. The government has offered nurses around 4% and declined to discuss pay further, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak saying the nurses' demand for a pay rise of 5% plus inflation would equate to a 19% hike and is unaffordable. I will negotiate with him at any point to stop nursing staff and patients going into the new year facing such uncertainty," the head of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union Pat Cullen said. The RCN said it was giving the government 48 hours from the end of Tuesday's walk out to respond, before it announces further strike dates. What we can't do is go back into reopening the pay award," junior health minister Will Quince told Sky News.

☆ Britain is 'resolute' on nurses' pay, senior minister says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Dec 18 (Reuters) - The British government is "resolute" it will not budge on nurses' pay, senior minister Oliver Dowden said on Sunday, ahead of a planned second nationwide walkout by the profession over an average pay offer of 4% while inflation runs at more than 10%. Its leader Pat Cullen said on Friday that unless ministers "start playing ball by taking part in meaningful negotiations" over pay, nurses would continue to take action. "Governments have had every chance to act but they have chosen to turn their backs on us," she said. Dowden said nurses' pay was recommended by an independent pay review body, which had determined that nurses would receive a minimum rise of 1,400 pounds, equating to about 4% on average. Britain is facing a wave of industrial action this winter, including rail and postal services as well as healthcare.

☆ 'What a tragic day': British nurses strike in bitter pay dispute
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Farouq Suleiman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/6] NHS nurses take part in a strike, during a dispute with the government over pay, outside St Thomas' Hospital in London, Britain December 15, 2022. An estimated 100,000 nurses will strike at 76 hospitals and health centres, cancelling an estimated 70,000 appointments, procedures and surgeries in Britain's state-funded NHS. "What a tragic day. This is a tragic day for nursing, it is a tragic day for patients, patients in hospitals like this, and it is a tragic day for people of this society and for our NHS," Pat Cullen, the head of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union, said to the BBC on a picket line on Thursday. Polling ahead of the nursing strike showed that a majority of Britons support the action, but once the walk-outs are underway politicians will be closely monitoring public opinion.

☆ British nurses launch historic strike, as pay and staffing crises threaten the NHS
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Rob Picheta | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

“The reality is, every day, nurses across the UK are walking into understaffed hospitals,” Mackay said. “I feel really sorry for the young girls who are now trying to get into the profession, they have to pay for their training. Nurses’ pay dropped 1.2% every year between 2010 and 2017 once inflation was taken into account, according to the Health Foundation, a UK charity that campaigns for better health and health care. Christopher Furlong/Getty ImagesEarlier this year, the RCN rejected an offer by the government to increase nurses’ pay by a minimum of £1,400 ($1,707) a year, which amounted to an average rise of 4.3%, well below the rate of inflation. Members of Britain’s armed forces were being trained to drive ambulances and firefight in the event of strike action, ministers said earlier this month.

☆ Premarket stocks: How the Fed could do a smaller rate hike and still upset markets
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

That will mark its seventh and final painful hike of the year, albeit a smaller one than the last four historically high three-quarter point increases. Investors will be paying close attention to these forecasts for clues about the path of rate hikes in the new year and beyond. Now the opposite is true, the dots have become a signal that interest rates will remain elevated into the future — spooking investors and Fed watchers alike. Back in December 2021, the Fed was only expecting rates to finish this year at about 0.9%. What else: Wednesday will also bring the Fed’s latest forecasts for the unemployment rate and gross domestic product (GDP) growth.

☆ Britain braces for winter of strike action as nurses walk out
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Sarah Young | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Unions are seeking double-digit pay rises to keep pace with inflation that hit 11.1% in October, the highest in 41 years. Union estimates forecast more than 1 million working days will be lost in December, making it the worst month for disruption since July 1989. Walk-outs in rail by RMT members, which started in June, are the union's biggest action for over 30 years, while for nurses, it is the first ever national strike action in the Royal College of Nursing's (RCN) 106-year-old history. MORE PROMINENT UNIONSThe walk-outs end decades of relatively stable industrial relations in Britain, compared to European neighbours such as France and Spain. "I think the world that we're in is one where we get more prominent union activity," Pickering said.

☆ UK strikes set to escalate as nurses prepare for ‘unprecedented’ walkout
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

“It is pretty unprecedented,” Billy Palmer, senior fellow at Nuffield Trust, a health research firm, told CNN. While small pockets of nursing staff have walked out before, the country’s National Health Service has seen “nothing of this scale until now,” he added. ‘Enough is enough’Earlier this year, the RCN rejected an offer by the government to increase nurses’ pay by a minimum of £1,400 ($1,707) a year. Each additional 1% pay rise for nursing staff would cost the government around £700 million ($854 million), he added. Internationally, it is hard to compare UK nurses’ pay, given health care systems differ significantly between countries, but it falls somewhere in the middle of the range of comparable economies, Palmer said.

☆ UK health unions offer to pause NHS strikes if government joins pay talks
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Dec 10 (Reuters) - British health unions have offered to suspend a wave of planned strikes in health services over Christmas and the New Year if the government agrees to open serious discussions over pay. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and Unison said they would consider calling off the strikes if Britain's health and social care minister Steve Barclay agrees to host serious negotiations. "I will press pause on it when the health secretary says he will negotiate seriously on our dispute this year," RCN General Secretary Pat Cullen said in a statement. "Rather than scare the public about the consequences of strikes, the health secretary should table genuine plans for improving wages," said Unison general secretary Christina McAnea in a statement. "Ministers have had constructive talks with unions, including the RCN and Unison," a Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said in a statement.

☆ UK strikes to hit ambulance services, hospitals and trains in the run up to Christmas
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

More than 10,000 ambulance workers represented by the GMB Union will strike again on December 28. Ambulance workers, like others in the UK National Health Service (NHS), “are on their knees,” according to GMB national secretary Rachel Harrison. According to The Times, one million UK workers are set to strike in December and January. The union said that critical care will be exempt from strike action but non-critical services will have lower staffing levels. The Communication Workers Union (CWU), which represents 115,000 postal workers, has notified Royal Mail of additional walkouts on December 9, 11, 14 and 15.

☆ UK public sector pay won't keep up with inflation: transport minister
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( David Milliken | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Dylan MartinezLONDON, Nov 27 (Reuters) - British public-sector pay will not be able to keep up with soaring inflation, transport minister Mark Harper said on Sunday, as the country faces a wave of industrial disputes. British consumer price inflation hit a 41-year high of 11.1% in October, but the latest official wage data, for July-September, showed public sector pay rose by an annual 2.4%, while average private sector wages increased by 6.8%. "We want to try and give all the workers in the public sector who work very hard decent pay rises. We haven't seen those in the private sector either," Harper told Sky News. Harper said he wanted changes to employment practices in the rail sector - where Sunday working is optional - before agreeing more public funding.

☆ UK strikes: Nearly 200,000 British workers are striking on Black Friday
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Postal workers are planning further strike action for November 30 and December 1, following walkouts in August and September. “Customers should expect delays to items posted just before, during or just after strike action,” Royal Mail said in a statement. Amid worker strikes, Royal Mail vehicles remain parked at the Tonbridge Delivery Office in Kent, England on November 24, 2022. Strike action will also add to losses facing companies and could prompt further job cuts. Royal Mail says it has not yet been formally notified of these dates.

☆ British nurses to stage first strikes on Dec. 15, 20
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Jacob King/Pool via REUTERS/File PhotoLONDON, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Thousands of British nurses will go on strike on Dec. 15 and 20 for more pay, their union said on Friday, adding to a winter of industrial action and putting further pressure on the state-run health system. The strikes are the first of possibly several walkouts by National Health Service (NHS) nurses, which come after the government refused to meet demands for pay rises of 5% above inflation. He said the NHS had plans in place to minimise any disruption from the strikes and ensure continuity for emergency services. "Why on Earth is the Health Secretary refusing to negotiate with nurses?" "Patients already can’t get treated on time, strike action is the last thing they need, yet the Government is letting this happen."

Patricia Marquis, director of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union in England, said the government must listen. "This is not something that nurses do at the drop of a hat," she told Reuters. But the RCN's Marquis said that without higher pay, staff would continue to leave the profession, increasing the pressure on those who remain and ultimately damaging patient care. "But each time I've had the chance, I sort of had to pause for a minute and say 'I can't leave my patients. I can't leave my colleagues to suffer alone'," he said.

LONDON, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of British nurses will go on strike for the first time over demands for better pay, their trade union said on Wednesday, adding to pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during an economic crisis. "Anger has become action – our members are saying enough is enough," RCN General Secretary Pat Cullen said in a statement. "This action will be as much for patients as it is for nurses. NHS nurses have seen their salaries cut by up to 20% in real terms over the last ten years, the RCN has said. Sunak's spokesperson told reporters earlier on Wednesday the government wanted to strike a balance between the "crucial role" played by nurses and its fiscal challenges.

☆ Nurses in Britain to strike, nursing college says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Nurses in Britain will go on strike, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said on Saturday, an action that will add to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's challenges during an economic crisis. School workers are also going to vote on strike action. "Our strike action will be as much for patients as it is for nurses – we have their support in doing this," RCN general secretary and chief executive Pat Cullen said in a statement on Saturday. The nurses would strike before Christmas, the Observer newspaper reported. The walkout would be the first national strike in the history of the RCN, said the newspaper, which cited union officials.

☆ Strikes, possible blackouts and a plunging currency: Brits are being hit by a wave of bad news
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Elliot Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

'The recession has begun' The U.K. is the only G-7 economy not to have re-attained its pre-pandemic GDP level by the second quarter of 2022, Citibank Chief U.K. The ONS said GDP was only just returning to its pre-pandemic level, highlighting the challenge facing Prime Minister Liz Truss' "growth, growth, growth" agenda. "We now believe the recession in the U.K. has begun in the third quarter of 2022 and will likely last for three quarters. "The cost of living crisis is having a detrimental effect on individuals, not only financially, but physically and mentally too." Members of the CWU (Communication Workers Union) also continue to strike, including 115,000 postal employees of former state monopoly Royal Mail.

☆ The Parental Burnout Test
▼ + stars: | 2022-06-06 | by ( Catherine Pearson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The past two-plus years have been relentless for working parents, who have frequently been placed in the impossible position of doing their jobs and parenting simultaneously. And a recent survey, by researchers with Ohio State University, suggests they have paid a steep emotional price. In 2021, 66 percent of working parents met the criteria for parental burnout — a nonclinical term that basically means they were so physically and mentally depleted that they may feel like bad parents or emotionally pull away from their children. The researchers based their findings on an online survey of 1,285 working parents who responded to their 10-question “Working Parent Burnout Scale.” The test is a tool that moms and dads can use to assess whether their burnout goes beyond the fatigue that all parents feel at some point — and just how serious it is. “It’s this constant feeling of having to be on, 24/7,” said Kate Gawlik, an associate professor of clinical nursing at the Ohio State University College of Nursing and a co-author of the report.

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