Gas prices are high, health workers in the UK pretend to be sick so they don’t have to go to work

According to the Guardian, the largest union in the UK – Unison has warned about the situation of medical and nursing staff constantly pretending to take sick leave, when the real cause is they don’t want to. move to work because gas prices have risen too high.

Data company Experian Catalist said that the current average price of petrol in the UK has reached a record of 1.82 pounds / liter (52,000 VND / liter). Thus, to fill the tank for a regular car, British people have to pay an average of £ 100.27 (VND 2,900,000).

“The increase in gas prices has a big impact on people who often have to travel by personal vehicle because of the nature of their work. Therefore, medical workers, health care workers, nursing staff. , social service workers,… are having difficulty continuing their work.

More importantly, we are seeing a number of medical workers calling fake sick to ask for leave just because they can’t afford to refuel their vehicles. More and more community health workers are leaving their jobs, even state hospitals are facing this situation. It is not difficult to see a lot of recruitment information from state health facilities recently,” said Christina McAnea – Secretary General of Unison.

If inflation and petrol prices in the UK are not controlled, the prospect of thousands of people organizing strikes is inevitable. According to Unison, if the British Government adjusts to increase wages by 2-3% but inflation is at 10%, medical and nursing staff cannot afford the cost of living and are forced to find another job. This affects the whole society because the shortage of human resources in the health sector is a serious problem.

Earlier, Prime Minister Boris Johnson had made pledges to turn the UK into “a high-paying economy”, but he also warned that a rise in wages in line with inflation could lead to a recession. “wage price spiral” like the 1970s.

In the near future, the Treasury and the UK Department of Health are expected to announce a series of new pay arrangements for healthcare workers, including nurses. But with inflation unabated and economic growth stagnating, filling the fuel tanks of UK healthcare workers will still be a challenge.

According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), UK growth is forecast to slow down in 2023, becoming the country with the lowest growth rate outside of Russia, while inflation remains high.

Viet Dung