WORKER anger “has become action,” the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) warned today as the union confirmed that a majority of its 300,000 members will launch their biggest-ever strike over pay and worsening patient safety.

The union urged the public to “show you are with us” and said Tory ministers must “look in the mirror” after workers across Britain and Northern Ireland backed RCN’s first statutory ballot on widespread industrial action in its more than century long history.

The walkouts, which could start before Christmas and last until at least May, follow the decision to give most staff across England and Wales an average wage boost of just 4.75 per cent earlier this year — less than half the rate of soaring double-digit inflation.