British nurses will have to cut short their next strike after the High Court in London ruled on Thursday that their planned walkout on May 2 was "illegal".
The profession's main union, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), has been leading since December an unprecedented protest movement and recently announced a new 48-hour strike, starting at 20:00 on 30 April, for pay rises.
For the first time, the new strike includes emergency departments, intensive care and cancer units. The strike was declared after the RCN rejected the government's latest proposal: a 5% increase and a one-off payout of at least €1,425.
The High Court has ruled that the six-month period during which the RCN can stage strikes, decided by a vote of the union’s members last year, expires at midnight on 1 May, making the strike on 2 May illegal.
RCN General-Secretary Pat Cullen confirmed that nurses would not strike on 2 May but would walk out on the evening of April 30 and May 1, as planned.
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Inflation, which is running at more than 10% in the UK, has led to a cascade of industrial actions over the past several months of workers demanding pay rises in both the public and private sectors.
Train workers announced further days of strike action on Thursday. Tens of thousands of teachers also walked out in England on Thursday.
Chief economist at the Bank of England, Huw Pill, sparked an outrage this week by telling Britons they "need to accept" they are poorer, and stop seeking pay increases and pushing prices higher.
