ABSTRACT
In 2010 the UK government announced a cap of 1% on pay rises to public sector staff. The cap lasted until 2017. During these seven years, inflation continued at an average of 2.26%, hitting a maximum of 4.4% in 2011. In other words, nurses and their fellow public sector workers had their pay cut in real terms over this time. Nurses rarely go on strike. Though the nurses marched and protested on this issue, handing in a petition to the government to ‘scrap the cap’, the Royal College of Nursing did not call a strike. This chapter presents the story of a nurse who stood out and went on strike. Junior doctors took part in a general strike across the National Health Service (NHS) in England. The strike came after protracted negotiations between the British Medical Association and NHS Employers, the body that negotiates healthcare employment on behalf of the government, over a new contract for junior doctors.
