If progress is not made in negotiations by the end of January, February will see the most widespread strike so far by National Health Service (NHS) nursing staff, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said on Monday, Xinhua reported.
The planned strikes follow walkouts in December and January.
"We are doing this in a desperate bid to get ministers to rescue the NHS. The only credible solution is to address the tens of thousands of unfilled jobs -- patient care is suffering like never before," said RCN General Secretary Pat Cullen.
In all, 23,400 schools in England and Wales will be impacted by the school strikes. Teachers in Scotland have already held strikes, which have closed many schools.
Meanwhile, nurses in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland are also due to resume strikes on Wednesday and Thursday. Thousands of the nurses staged their biggest-ever strike action in the profession's 106-year-old history on December 15 and 20 after the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) announced that the government had refused to meet its demands for salary hikes of five percent above the inflation.
Earlier this month, the UK government introduced proposals to make "minimum safety levels" compulsory during strikes, prompting angry unions to accuse ministers of "criminalizing" industrial action.
RHM/PR