UK government taking legal action against upcoming nurses' strike

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - The British government is taking legal action against a planned 48-hour strike by nurses, the health secretary announced Monday.

In a statement posted on Twitter, Steve Barclay said he had "no choice but to proceed with legal action" against the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union.

"Following a request from NHS employers, I am regretfully applying to the High Court to declare the Royal College of Nursing’s planned strike action on May 2 unlawful," he noted.

"Despite attempts by my officials to resolve the situation with the RCN over the weekend, I have been left with no choice but to proceed with legal action.”

Barclay also wrote a letter to Pat Cullen, the general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, calling on the union to hold talks with NHS England about ensuring patient safety.

"What has been offered to date is simply not enough. The government needs to increase what has already been offered and we will be highly critical of any move to reduce it," Cullen had said in a letter to Barclay last week.

The union members' strike will take place from the start of the night shift at 8 p.m. on Sunday until 8 p.m. on Tuesday amid an ongoing dispute over pay as the government offered a 5% pay rise from April and a one-off payment of at least £1,655 ($2,065) which was rejected by the RCN.

"This 48 hours of round-the-clock strike action is a significant escalation in our fight for fair pay for nursing, which follows a vote to reject the latest pay offer from the UK government," the RCN said previously.