UK nurses fail to hold new strike after insufficient turnout

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - A strike by nurses in England will not continue as a ballot by unions did not reach the 50% threshold required to take action, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union said Tuesday.

Although the majority of nurses voted in favor of the industrial action, the numbers were insufficient as more than 43% took part in the vote.

"To clear the turnout threshold, approximately 140,000 ballot papers needed to be returned in the post and only 122,000 were received by the closing date of Friday 23 June," RCN said in a statement. "With an overall turnout of 43%, the ballot didn’t reach the required threshold dictated by the 2016 Trade Union Act for a strike mandate to be achieved.”

RCN General Secretary Pat Cullen vowed "to fight for the fair pay and safe staffing our profession."

"We have started something special - the voice of nursing has never been stronger and we’re going to keep using it," she said.

Union members rejected a deal in April which would have given them a one-off payment of 2% of their salary, plus a coronavirus recovery bonus of 4% for the current financial year and 5% for next year.