Post offices, ambulances, teachers, railway workers and, for the first time in history, nurses. The UK is facing the biggest strike in 40 years. “Wages here have been stagnant for years, people here earn as much as they did before the 2008 financial crisis, but costs have risen enormously,” says correspondent Lia van Bekhoven.
Low wages are increasingly grabbing the British by the throat, says Van Bekhoven. “People can’t get away with it anymore. The average wage is 12,000 euros lower than in the Netherlands, people can earn more in a supermarket than in a hospital.’
Emergency in hospitals
As in the Netherlands, many sectors are faced with a large number of vacancies, including hospitals. And this has important consequences. “Staff leave and hospitals can no longer guarantee patient safety.”
The need in hospitals is clearly visible. ‘When you pass a hospital, you see a long line of ambulances because there is nobody inside the hospital to receive the patient. Those ambulances are sometimes there for 24 hours. More and more food banks are also appearing in hospitals. For staff.”
Uninhabitable houses
A poignant example of the situation in the British healthcare system is a coroner’s story about a child who died of a fungus. ‘More and more people are living in houses that are actually uninhabitable and where the walls are mouldy. This refers to the lungs.”
The UK is grappling with massive inflation and sharp price hikes. Prime Minister Sunak has announced major tax cuts and hikes to jump-start the economy, but the big question is whether low wages can be offset. “Ministers say they cannot afford to meet wage demands, for example, of nursing staff.”
Source: BNR
Sharon Rock is an author and journalist who writes for 24 News Globe. She has a passion for learning about different cultures and understanding the complexities of the world. With a talent for explaining complex global issues in an accessible and engaging way, Sharon has become a respected voice in the field of world news journalism.
