Page 3 - Nurses Strike News Today

NHS staff continue to strike in the UK, while thousands leave for better working conditions in Australia.

A candlelight vigil was held Tuesday night in New Brunswick by striking nurses at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Jersey.

The nurses’ main demands are increased staffing levels and a ratio of one nurse to every five patients, instead of the current one to six.

The union says this is a not a step members take lightly, but they have reached a breaking point, with short staffing their top concern.

The date for the strike was timed to coincide with the Coast Guard Festival — when resources come under pressure as 350,000 tourists are added to the city's typical population of 10,000.

Nurses at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital say they are overstretched and are demanding better nurse-to-patient ratios and higher pay.

Nurses were set to hit picket lines Friday morning outside Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick.

The nurses have for weeks blamed hospital administrators for unsafe working conditions and threatened to strike if change wasn't enacted.

Royal College of Nursing (RCN) members will begin a new ballot for strike action on May 23.

The nurses’ association says the protest will not disrupt the premier hospital’s functioning.