Around 60,000 junior doctors in the England have gone on strike for the second time this year. The 96-hour walkout began on Tuesday, April 11, demanding pay restoration. Junior doctors affiliated to the British Medical Association (BMA) marched in Trafalgar Square, London, on Tuesday and are likely to continue the strike and picketing outside hospitals till April 15.
The striking doctors are demanding a salary hike to compensate for the 26% cut, since 2008, in take-home wages for the highly qualified workforce. Doctors called on the Tory government to come to the negotiating table and try to solve the grievances of doctors and hospitals which have remained unresolved for long.
MorningStar reported that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has ruled out talks with the junior doctors until they call off the strike and abandon their starting negotiating position for a 35% salary increase.
Junior doctors in the country, like other workers of the National Health Service (NHS), have complained of low wages, overwork, and soaring inflation. They had earlier gone on a 72-hour –strike on March 13, demanding a 30% wage hike, when the government failed to come up with a good enough offer to compensate for the fall in their real wages since 2008. They are also demanding investments in the NHS, which would make working conditions bearable and address the high rates of burnout and emigration.
On April 12, British Medical Association (BMA) Chair of Council Professor Philip Banfield said that “in the face of a constant refusal from the Health Secretary Steve Barclay to agree to further talks and put forward a credible offer which could bring an end to the dispute, we believe that working with the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) provides the most realistic chance of a successful outcome to the negotiations.
“We have always said we will get round the table for talks with Mr Barclay any time; a credible offer from him could result in strike action being called off, but despite months of trying, he remains seemingly intransigent and inflexible to all our attempts to reach a settlement.”
On April 11, Member of Parliament Jeremy Corbyn expressed his solidarity with the junior doctors and tweeted, “when you stand by striking healthcare workers, you stand up for the future of our NHS.”
