News analysis

Troubles from workers’ strikes far from over, despite British PM Sunak’s tactical retreat

Demonstrators take part in a protest amid a dispute with the government over pay, in Trafalgar Square, London, on March 15, 2023. PHOTO: AFP
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LONDON – British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ended months of bitter deadlock with his country’s health workers after persuading hundreds of thousands of striking nurses, ambulance workers and other medical staff to return to work in exchange for promises of higher pay and bonuses.

The agreement, which trade union leaders are now urging their members to accept, ends the biggest work dispute since Britain’s National Health Service was established more than 70 years ago.

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