Hundreds of thousands of nurses across Britain will vote to go on strike that risks disrupting the National Health Service (NHS) this winter, The Guardian reports.

For the first time in its 106-year history, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is voting to strike 300,000 of its members and recommending that they vote as well.

The vote is in protest of the government's decision in July to raise the salaries of most NHS employees by 5 percent. But nurses should get a 5% raise above inflation, which is currently 10.1%, RCN says.

“This is a once in a generation chance to improve your pay and combat the staff shortages that put patients at risk,” said Pat Cullen, the union’s general secretary and chief executive, in a message to members who are due to receive a ballot paper. “Governments have repeatedly neglected the NHS and the value of nursing. We can change this if together we say ‘enough is enough’.