Towards the biggest strike in the public health system on February 6

Already historic, the strike movement in the British health system is not weakening. And the day of February 6 could be that of the biggest strike in the history of the NHS, the British public health system. In a United Kingdom where strikes have been multiplying for months in many sectors in the face of the cost of living crisis, the pace of mobilization does not seem to be slowing down.

Thousands of nurses plan to go on strike again on February 6 and 7. And the GMB union announced on Wednesday that thousands of paramedics would join the movement on February 6. The Unite union announced on Friday that the paramedics it represents would also go on strike on February 6 in England and Wales.

“Rather than act to protect the NHS and negotiate an end to the conflict, the government has shamefully chosen to demonize paramedics,” said Sharon Graham, chief executive of Unite, in a statement. The government accuses the strikers of putting patients in danger and wants to establish a minimum service in certain sectors. “It is not the unions failing to provide minimum service levels: it is this government’s disastrous management of the NHS that has brought it to breaking point,” she said.

Stalled talks

In all, Unite announced Friday ten new days of mobilization of paramedics on both sides of the country between the end of January and the end of March. Many will be on Monday for two days.

The NHS is stretched thin after years of underfunding under successive Conservative governments. Exhausted carers are leaving the sector in droves and vacancies number in the tens of thousands. After a historic first strike in December, thousands of nurses again stopped work on Wednesday and Thursday in England. However, discussions have stalled between the Conservative government of Rishi Sunak and the main nurses’ union, the Royal College of Nursing.

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