Latest news with #pay dispute
Daily Mail
5 hours ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
BREAKING NEWS Caitlin Clark and WNBA stars make stunning protest against their pay before All-Star game
Caitlin Clark and her fellow WNBA players wore T-shirts telling league bosses to 'pay us what you owe us' as talks over a new collective bargaining agreement stalled during All-Star week. Negotiations have been ongoing between the WNBA and Women's National Basketball Players Association during All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis but they have failed to reach a deal and erase the friction between the two sides. In fact, many WNBA players were disappointed in the lack of progress of an in- person session conducted Thursday. The negotiations certainly didn't narrow the gap between the two sides. 'I think (Thursday's) meeting was good for the fact that we could be in the same room as the league and the Board of Governors,' said Liberty star Breanna Stewart, a union vice president. 'But, I think, to be frank, it was a wasted opportunity.' The dispute began when the players union announced after the 2024 season that they would opt out of the CBA on Oct. 31, 2025. With television revenues on the rise - largely due to the presence of Clark - the players want a larger piece of the financial pie. 'Rev sharing is truly transformational,' Los Angeles Sparks guard Kelsey Plum told reporters. 'We want a piece of the entire pie. Not a piece of part of the pie. We're a resilient group. We know the unity it takes to be able to get the outcome desired.' Chicago Sky second-year forward Angel Reese termed the negotiations as 'disrespectful.' 'Obviously, women's basketball is skyrocketing,' Reese told reporters. 'And it's important for us to get what we want now, not just now, but for the future as well. ... 'It was an eye-opener for me ... hearing the language of things, not things that I was happy to hear. It was disrespectful -- the proposal that we were sent back.' The deadline to reach a new agreement is just three-and-a-half months away. 'We're on a time crunch. No one wants a lockout,' said Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier, another vice president of the WNBPA. 'But at the end of the day, we have to stand firm, and we're not going to be moved on certain topics. So hopefully the league comes back quickly so that we can get have more dialog, more conversations and can get the ball rolling.' Collier and Stewart were co-founders of Unrivaled, a 3-on-3 league that debuted last offseason. The fact that both players are part of the WNBPA negotiating party while having significant financial investments in a rival league would appear to be a conflict of interest, though Collier has fought back against that narrative. That also is part of the discussions as the WNBA wants its league to be prioritized among the players, some of whom play overseas. Players point out that Unrivaled's pay scale was better for most players than what they receive in WNBA salary. WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert described the negotiations as 'very constructive dialog.' Engelbert said she remains optimistic that a deal with get done. More to follow.
The Independent
3 days ago
- Health
- The Independent
Labour voters back doctors over five-day strike and think Wes Streeting should meet pay demands
Labour voters support junior doctors' plans to stage a five-day walkout next week, even as public support for the strike collapses, according to a new poll. Overall people oppose the industrial action due to start next Friday by a margin of 44 per cent to 34 per cent, pollsters More in Common found. However, Labour voters support the strikes, with 47 per cent in favour and 35 per cent against, in a major challenge to the stance taken by the health secretary Wes Streeting who has vociferously pressed doctors' leaders to ditch their plans. Green voters also back the strike with 49 per cent in support, while others oppose it. Some 69 per cent of Tory voters are against the walkouts, followed by Reform voters (63 per cent) and Lib Dem voters (55 per cent). Mr Streeting is set to hold last-ditch talks with doctors ' union leaders on Thursday in an effort to avoid the action, which he has warned could break the NHS. Resident doctors, previously known as junior doctors, in England are set to strike from 7am on 25 July as part of a pay dispute with the government. Professor Robert Winston, a Labour peer who became a household name through his documentaries on child development, has warned that the 'highly dangerous' industrial action risks harming the public's trust in the profession. But the new leader of the British Medical Association (BMA), whose members voted in favour of strike action, has said that the doctors' 29 per cent pay demand is 'non-negotiable' and warned strikes could go on for years if the dispute is not resolved. Mr Streeting has previously told the union that, after junior doctors received a 28.9 per cent pay rise last year when Labour entered government, the public would not understand why 'you would still walk out on strike, and neither do I'. The More in Common poll of more than 3,000 adults conducted between July 11 and 14, also found that many voters feel resident doctors are not paid enough, yet most think the pay rises in recent years have been fair. The survey found 38 per cent think junior doctors are paid too little, 34 per cent think the right amount, and only 10 per cent think they are paid too much. However, asked about the pay rises awarded over the past three years, overall 45 per cent said they have increased by the right amount, compared to 23 per cent who said they have not been generous enough. Some 19 per cent of people said they had been too generous. However, such is the level of concern about the health service, the public may accept a further increase in junior doctors' pay in order to prevent strikes. The majority of voters (58 per cent) of the public believes that preventing strikes later this month should be prioritised, even if it means spending more on doctors' pay. Luke Tryl, from More in Common, said: 'When it comes to the prospect of resident doctor strikes, it looks to be lose-lose for everyone involved. 'The public tend to oppose the strikes, though trickily for the government, Labour's own voters are far more supportive. 'Britons also tend to think the settlement the doctors have received is fair, and they risk ending up on the wrong side of a public who are themselves still struggling with the cost of living. But above all, the public don't want strikes to further disrupt the NHS and grow waiting lists.'
Daily Mail
12-07-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Junior doctors planning to strike AGAIN over pay 'are now earning as much as £100,000 a year' - as new poll shows slump in public support and leading medics urge union to call off walkout
Some of the junior doctors preparing to strike for five-days this month over pay could be earning upwards of £100,000 a year, according to new calculations. Rebranded as 'resident doctors' in September last year, those working a 40-hour week plus a full on-call rota may be making six-figure annual salaries, The Telegraph reported. Earlier this week, the British Medical Association (BMA) announced that up to 50,000 resident doctors in England would walk out for five consecutive days from 7am on July 25, in a dispute over pay. However, new polling suggests that the strike does not have the support of the British public. Only just over a third (36 per cent) of those surveyed supported the mass industrial action, which would see a large number of routine care appointments postponed in order to keep A&E fully staffed. The poll, conducted by YouGov on behalf of The Times, found that nearly half (49 per cent) of the population opposes the walkout. The survey also found that 43 per cent would support legislation that made it illegal for doctors to go on strike while 54 per cent of respondents said that the pay rise sought by the BMA was unaffordable. That is a dramatic decrease in support compared to the previous round of industrial action by doctors, who staged a five-day strike between June 27 and June 2 last year. Adding to the crescendo of voices discouraging the strike, two of the nation's most well-known doctors have also joined calls for the BMA to reconsider its plans as they warned walkouts could cause irreparable harm to public trust in the profession. Lord Ara Darzi, 65, a former health minister and surgeon, followed calls made by Professor Robert Winston, a Labour peer, who told the Times the 'highly dangerous' walkout could damage the public's trust in doctors. Professor Winston said: 'Strike action completely ignores the vulnerability of people in front of you. 'Doctors need to be reminded that every time they have a patient in front of them, they have someone who is frightened and in pain. It's important that doctors consider their own responsibility much more seriously.' Lord Darzi, 65, told the same newspaper: 'Doctors have a special place in society. The public's trust in doctors is earned, not guaranteed. 'I fear it will never recover if the BMA go ahead with strikes that are plainly unjustifiable.' Meanwhile, Professor Sir Stephen Powis, who is set to leave his post as NHS England national medical director imminently, warned the BMA to 'think really hard' about whether the industrial action is justified. In his final interview before retiring, Sir Stephen, 64, told the newspaper the walkout would cause 'tens of thousands of appointments and procedures' to be cancelled. Resident doctors in England and Wales have dismissed a suggestion from health secretary Wes Streeting (pictured) that their pensions could be trimmed to fund pay demands The pair's calls echoed those made by Prof Winston, 84, who said he resigned from the BMA on Thursday. In a statement on Friday, a BMA spokesman said it is 'disappointing' when any of its 195,000 members resign, but said resident doctors are beginning their careers 'more than 20% worse off in real terms than their counterparts in 2008'. The spokesman added: 'We're sure that doctors who dedicated their lives to the health of the nation want to safeguard the profession and the NHS for the future. 'This means improving pay and conditions so that resident doctors stay in the health service and the UK to become expert clinical leaders, running entire services and innovating treatments. 'Doctors take their professional obligations incredibly seriously, and the decision to strike is not made lightly. 'But with nine out of 10 of our resident doctor members who voted backing industrial, it's clear that there is support for doing what is necessary to fight to restore pay. 'Of course, no strikes have to happen, and no care needs to be disrupted, if the Health Secretary meets with us to discuss the 'journey' to pay restoration as he so often called it in opposition.' The BMA is demanding a 29 per cent increase in wages for its resident doctors in order to stave off strikes, although that figure is controversial. They say that is necessary since in real terms pay for junior doctors has dropped by 21 per cent over the last 17 years - the same as if they worked for free for a fifth of their time. However, the professional body based that number on the retail price index measure of inflation, a statistic jettisoned by the UK government in 2013. Junior doctors start on £38,831 a year following the government's decision to award them an above-inflation rise in May this year. But once residents are in ST8, their final training stage, annual wages can be as high as £73,992 a year. That means if a junior doctor works a regular 40-hour week but also does significant amounts of 'on-call' locum work then they can rake in as much as £100,000. Health secretary Wes Streeting posted about the forthcoming strike action on X, calling it 'unreasonable' and 'unnecessary'. Hewrote: 'We negotiated and delivered pay rises worth 28.9 per cent. This year's pay award was the highest in the entire public sector. 'We cannot afford to re-open that pay award. I have offered talks without any preconditions. The BMA is refusing. Unreasonable. Unnecessary.'
The Independent
11-07-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Unite votes to suspend Angela Rayner's membership over Birmingham bins dispute
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has been suspended from membership of Unite over the Government's handling of the Birmingham bin strikes, the union said following a vote of its membership. Despite the union's vote, a source close to Ms Rayner said she had already resigned membership of Unite some months ago. But in a sign of a growing divide between the major union and Labour, Unite also voted to 're-examine its relationship' with the party. The move comes after Unite members debated a motion at their conference in Brighton, where they condemned the Labour-run council in Birmingham, and the Government, for their approach to the bin workers. The union said fire and rehire tactics had 'effectively' been deployed against striking workers, who are taking industrial action in a dispute over pay and job conditions. Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: 'Unite is crystal clear it will call out bad employers regardless of the colour of their rosette. 'Angela Rayner has had every opportunity to intervene and resolve this dispute but has instead backed a rogue council that has peddled lies and smeared its workers fighting huge pay cuts.' She added: 'The disgraceful actions of the Government and a so-called Labour council is essentially fire and rehire and makes a joke of the Employment Relations Act promises. 'People up and down the country are asking whose side is the Labour Government on and coming up with the answer not workers.' A Downing Street spokesman said the Government's priority throughout the dispute had 'always' been Birmingham's residents. The No 10 spokesman also told reporters: 'As you know, Unite's industrial action caused disruption to waste collection. 'We have worked intensively with the council to tackle the backlog and clean up the streets for the residents for public health. 'We remain in close contact with the council and continue to monitor the situation as we support its recovery and transformation 'I think it's important to look back to the context of this dispute: Unite is in dispute against Birmingham City Council's decision to reform unfair staff structures, which were a major cause of unequal pay claims and left the council liable to hundreds of millions of pounds in claims, and that was a key factor cited in the council section 114 notice in 2023, declaring bankruptcy.'
The Independent
11-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Angela Rayner stripped of Unite union membership over Birmingham bins dispute
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has been suspended from membership of the union Unite over the Government's handling of the Birmingham bin strikes. Unite has also voted to 're-examine its relationship with Labour', in a sign of a growing divide between the major union and the Labour Party. The move comes after a vote by Unite members at their conference in Brighton, where they condemned the Labour-run council in Birmingham, and the Government, for their approach to the bin workers. The union said fire and rehire tactics had 'effectively' been deployed against striking workers, who are taking industrial action in a dispute over pay and job conditions. Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: 'Unite is crystal clear it will call out bad employers regardless of the colour of their rosette. 'Angela Rayner has had every opportunity to intervene and resolve this dispute but has instead backed a rogue council that has peddled lies and smeared its workers fighting huge pay cuts.'
