Status: 04/11/2023 3:39 p.m
Residents in England have gone on a four-day strike. Your union wants a wage increase of 35 percent. The minister responsible spoke of an “unreasonable” requirement.
It is said to be the longest strike in the history of the British health system: Assistant doctors in the public health system in England want to stop working for four days. According to the health service, up to 350,000 appointments and planned surgeries might be canceled during the strike.
The assistant doctors demand 35 percent more salary. They also complain regarding the need to catch up and the lack of staff due to the pandemic. This increased her workload significantly. Resident doctor Katrina Forsyth said outside St Thomas’s Hospital in London: “We’ve had massive (wage) cuts and we’re filling in more gaps as people are leaving.” The situation for patients is becoming “less safe,” she warned.
Only around 14 pounds an hour?
The British Medical Association (BMA) doctors’ union argues that newly qualified medical workers were only being paid £14.09 an hour. The UK minimum wage is just under £10 an hour. According to the BMA, junior doctors have lost 26 percent of their salaries in real terms since 2008. The government dismissed the demands as unpayable.
Health Secretary Steve Barley said he had hoped that collective bargaining would officially start in March, but called the wage demand “unreasonable”. For some doctors, they would result in a salary increase of 20,000 pounds (almost 23,000 euros) a year. The union must “significantly” change its position and call off the strikes so that “we can resume confidential talks,” Barley said.
The National Health Service (NHS) is organized by the state in Great Britain and, in contrast to the German health system, is financed from taxes.
Strikes in several industries
Thousands of doctors across the UK went on strike for three days in March. In Great Britain, strikes have been going on in numerous sectors for months. In view of the high inflation and higher energy prices, workers are mostly concerned with strong wage increases. In addition to the health sector, the railways, the post office and the border police are also affected.
Last week, Barclay agreed with healthcare unions on a 5 percent pay rise. The members are currently voting on this. However, the agreement does not apply to junior doctors, who make up around half of all medics in the National Health Service (NHS). The latest strike is only taking place in England and does not affect the rest of the UK.
