MOSCOW, October 13 (RIA Novosti) – Over 450,000 National Health Service (NHS) workers are expected to strike over pay in England Monday.
"NHS staff across England are on strike for fair pay from 7am to 11am [06:00-10:00 GMT] on Monday 13 October," UNISON, one of UK's largest trade unions, reported on its website Monday, also saying that "UNISON members working in the NHS in England will go on strike on Monday 13 October from 7am to 11 am and will be taking action short of strike action from 14 to 17 October".
A total of five British unions, including UNISON and Unite, will take part in the protest.
The four-hour strike, which is the first protest held by British healthcare workers in over 30 years, comes after an expected 1 percent pay rise for NHS staff was blocked in the United Kingdom.
According to UK Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, NHS cannot afford to raise the salaries of its entire staff by 1 percent while at the same time meeting the cost of annual pay increments, which half of all NHS staff gets for extra duties and length of service.
