“There is a crisis in the UK about nurses. The number of nurses on the wards is at critical levels. If we strike, what will happen to the people who go to the hospitals, the people in the community – it scares me because the risk is already there .” Patricia Marquis, the RCN’s director for England, told BBC Breakfast that current NHS services were “not safe” and the government “didn’t listen” to what nursing staff were saying. Meanwhile, UK Border Force officers, passport officers and driving examiners were among 100,000 civil servants who voted to leave. As the ballot results were released on Thursday, members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union accused ministers of treating their members “with contempt” as they vowed to “stop the country”. The strike, which is for pay, pensions and jobs, involves workers from 124 Whitehall departments and agencies. The union warned that if the government “fails to listen” to their demands, then “we will have no choice but to embark on a protracted program of industrial action that will reach into every corner of public life”. Mark Servotka, PCS general secretary, said he would see other unions on Monday for a crucial meeting to discuss coordinating strike action over the coming months. “If you don’t have 100,000 workers on strike in one day, but you have a million, it creates a different political pressure on the government that is harder for them to ignore,” he said. Mr Serwotka said if the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union and Aslef, the train drivers’ union, went on further strikes, he would attempt to synchronize the dates with those working for the Highways Agency and the Department for Transport to to “maximize impact”. Similarly, he said that if industrial action at airports went ahead, the PCS could “amplify” the impact, also forcing baggage handlers and UK border officials who control passports to strike on the same day.
