Second day of nurses striking on the Yorkshire Coast

Picket lines are taking place at Scarborough and Bridlington hospitals

Author: Karen LiuPublished 19th Jan 2023

It is the second day of nurses striking here on the Yorkshire Coast.

Picket lines are taking place at Scarborough and Bridlington hospitals.

But with many walkouts planned not only in the health sector, what does the public think of it all?

Carmel O'Toole came to show her support at the picket line in Scarborough and said: "I'm absolutely 100 percent behind the action they're taking. It's absolutely brilliant and we should be treasuring our nurses, treasuring our NHS and instead it's underfunded. Good luck to the nurses and I'm here with others from different trade unions to show our support.

"We all lose a day's pay if we go on strike and people seem to forget that people don't want to go on strike but it's absolutely the end of the road when everything else has failed. The nurses must have got to the point of desperation to withdraw their labour. They're absolutely dedicated to looking after our sick and vulnerable.

"Here they are out in a very cold morning on a picket line trying to get their point across to a Government who's not listening. You can hear the support from the cars and the people going past. Everybody supports the nurses. We clapped them during the pandemic but that clapping is not enough. They need decent pay and they need to be treasured and looked after.

"Pay has just not kept pace with inflation and then the cost of living is just off the clock. The strikes are happening because people are desperate, they've run out of options and the Conservative Government should be looking after our core services, looking after people, paying people properly and then we can all get back to normal and enjoy the quality of life that we should all enjoy."

Adam Gill is also showing his support and said: "I try to come down to the picket lines whenever I can. I've done the CWU and a couple of the RMT ones. I just think it's important that we, as members of the public, show our support to those of us who are all in the same boat with everything we're struggling with at the moment, when nurses are looking for fairer conditions and better pay in order to pay their bills. I think we need to show support for that.

"We all know, striking or not, how difficult it is at the moment with the price of everything going up. Everyone's really struggling with their bills and people are driven to it. These people want to work and they want to be doing their jobs but they have to pay their bills as well. If that means striking to get better conditions and pay then that's what we need to do. We need to support them doing it.

"The RMT strikes have hit me a couple of times when I've been travelling. It's difficult but I understand people's frustrations particularly with things like travel when you get stuck somewhere but regardless, we still need to show support and it's a last resort. If people are striking, they haven't taken the decision lightly and even if they're doing things that makes our lives a bit more difficult, we should stand by them."

First for all the latest news from across the UK every hour on Hits Radio on DAB, at hitsradio.co.uk and on the Rayo app.