Latest news with #payrestoration
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Health
- The Guardian
Wes Streeting's divide and rule tactics may have won against the doctors – but more strikes are coming
When thousands of ambulance workers went on strike on 21 December 2022 to demand better pay and conditions, the then shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, wasn't shy in pointing out who was responsible. In their refusal to negotiate, he tweeted, Rishi Sunak and Steve Barclay had driven NHS staff to strike, leaving patients 'in no doubt who is to blame for this chaos'. Three years and one general election later, the surgical slipper is firmly on the other foot. Resident doctors – formerly known as junior doctors – have just finished a five-day strike, demanding a 29% pay rise over the next few years. Among placards on picket lines calling for 'pay restoration' and an end to 'cuts so deep that even a surgeon couldn't fix it' were printed copies of Streeting's tweet. Gone is the relaxed attitude displayed by the health secretary towards the British Medical Association (BMA) in 2024, when he agreed a deal with doctors that set them on a 'journey to pay restoration'. He has called this latest strike a 'gift to Nigel Farage' and urged resident doctors to cross picket lines and join their colleagues still 'turning up to work'. He has described the strike not only as 'reckless', but as an action that 'enormously undermines the entire trade union movement'. Union general secretaries have been quick to shoot back, with Dave Ward of the Communication Workers Union calling Streeting's comments 'shameful', and the Public and Commercial Services Union's Fran Heathcote accusing the health secretary of 'carping in the Murdoch press' instead of negotiating a settlement. For a government whose relationship with organised labour has so far been largely harmonious – apart from Unite's suspension of Angela Rayner over the Birmingham bin strikes – Streeting's denouncement of the BMA is the closest Labour has come to picking a fight with the unions. Is this the government's industrial shot across the bows? While on the face of it, the row might seem like the first real sign of confrontation between Labour and the unions, it's worth taking a closer look at what is happening. Underlying Streeting's intervention are a number of factors that make the BMA an easy target for a government that's keen to display that it can be tough on unions and not in the pocket of its 'union paymasters'. The BMA is not affiliated to Labour, nor is it part of the Trades Union Congress, making Labour's institutional link to it much weaker. There's also the fact that resistance to the strike isn't coming only from the government's side: other healthcare unions have expressed unease over existing discrepancies in NHS pay offers. Last month, the Royal College of Nursing called the government's decision to award resident doctors a 5.4% pay increase while offering nursing staff 3.6% 'grotesque'. In a video posted on X about the strike, Streeting plays into those divisions within the movement, stoking tension between resident doctors and other NHS workers. He talks about 'working hard with … staff that aren't paid as much as doctors to make sure that your pay and your career progression and the conditions that you work in are also good for you'. Add to that the older consultants and medical professionals who have been having their say: that a strike would 'further diminish the ability of the NHS to deliver', that 'it is too soon to go again', or simply that resident doctors are being 'very greedy'. Then there's the drastic lurch by the Tories – both in government and opposition – to the right on industrial matters, with Kemi Badenoch proposing this week to ban doctors from taking strike action, putting them under the same rules that apply to police, prison officers and soldiers. This approach gives Streeting more room to present himself as tough but reasonable. This isn't to defend Streeting, who is probably more than happy to use strike action to justify further NHS privatisation. Nor is it to undermine how galling his comments are for those standing out on the picket lines. One doctor has called them a 'slap in the face', while another asked where the Streeting of 2022 had gone: 'He was making some good points.' But government condemnation of the strike does not necessarily reflect a wider shift in its strategy towards unions. Amid frenzied attacks by Tories and their media allies on Labour's link with the unions, the reality of the relationship is all too often drowned out. That makes it harder to understand key dynamics: it's likely to be transport unions that the government hopes to take on, not only industrially but politically. It also makes it harder to spot how unions' different industrial priorities inform their relationship with the government. With so much of Labour's employment rights bill left to secondary legislation, general secretaries still have eyes on the prize of getting their sectoral needs met, whether that's Unison pushing for fair pay agreements or the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers for zero-hours contract reform. Then there's the fact that there are those in Labour who are itching to embrace the spirit of the 1980s and launch a full-frontal attack on the movement. The country is once again facing the prospect of widespread public sector industrial action, with nurses and teachers potentially set to join the strike action. A decade of suppressed public sector pay, inflation and increases in the cost of living has challenged the idea that certain professions' wages are always guarantees of a good life. On a basic starting salary of £38,831 and saddled with as much as £100,000 of student debt, it's no longer enough for new resident doctor recruits to simply wait to earn more at some distant point in the future. While there are grievances specific to the resident doctors' strikes – a shortage of speciality training posts and having to spend thousands of pounds on exam fees, courses and equipment such as stethoscopes – many of their concerns are felt deeply across the movement. Stubborn mountains of student debt, housing costs that utterly eclipse wages and crumbling public services that drive down working conditions are not unique to the BMA. For this dispute, Labour has used inter-union tensions over NHS pay – as well as the outdated idea that all resident doctors are middle-class professionals – as a political opportunity to dodge blame for the strike. But that strategy won't work for all strikes. As public sector unrest continues to unfold, the government's battle with the unions might well begin in earnest. Polly Smythe is labour movement correspondent at Novara Media
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
'No one wants to be on strike but what I do want is to not be paid less than doctors were in 2008'
Outside Manchester Royal Infirmary a few dozen doctors in orange baseball caps and tabards are waving placards as passing drivers beep their horns in support. 'Overworked, underpaid, undervalued,' reads one hand-drawn sign. 'Pay restoration for doctors,' demand several others A five-day walkout by resident doctors in England got under way today, with members of the British Medical Association manning picket lines across the country. The BMA has argued that real-terms pay has fallen by around 20% since 2008, and is pushing for full 'pay restoration'. READ MORE: LIVE M6 and M56 traffic updates as crashes cause severe delays on both motorways as holiday getaway begins READ MORE: Family of teenager killed in alleged e-bike crash murder call for 'peace' as they issue tribute The union took out national newspaper adverts on Friday, saying it wanted to 'make clear that while a newly qualified doctor's assistant is taking home over £24 per hour, a newly qualified doctor with years of medical school experience is on just £18.62 per hour'. Never miss a story with the MEN's daily Catch Up newsletter - get it in your inbox by signing up here Ross Nieuwoudt, co-chair of the BMA resident doctors committee, was among those manning the MRI picket line today. The 29-year-old, who has been a resident doctor for going on five years, said: "Morale among doctors is mixed. If we didn't have hope that there could be change, we wouldn't be here on strike at all, we would be voting with our feet and leaving the country. "The truth is many doctors are leaving. 7,000 to 9,000 applied to leave the country last year - many have left and the majority of those don't return. Unless something is done about pay and conditions, that is going to continue happening. "There has been a huge amount of support coming by, people coming by to say they support us, reports of patients coming out of hospital to picket lines today to show support. I think support is there but I also fully sympathise with the patients that are worried or concerned or don't support. "No one wants to be on strike - I don't want to - but what I do want is to feel valued and respected and not paid less than doctors were in 2008. All we need is for [Health and Social Care Secretary] Wes Streeting to come to us with a credible offer and a credible next step to restore our pay. Then it can stop right now - that's all we're asking for." Join the Manchester Evening News WhatsApp group HERE Mr Streeting said: "This government is doing all it can over this strike period to minimise patient harm and disruption. Working with NHS leaders, we've put in measures to keep as much urgent and planned care available and safe as we possibly can. "The truth is that patients and NHS staff did not need to be in this position today. Despite a 28.9% pay rise for their members over the last three years, and constructive talks on range of measures to improve the working lives of resident doctors, the BMA leadership chose to walk away from talks and lay the damage at the NHS's door. "There is no getting around the fact that these strikes will hit the progress we are making in turning the NHS around. But I am determined to keep disruption to patients at a minimum and continue with the recovery we have begun delivering in the last 12 months after a decade and a half of neglect. We will not be knocked off course."
The Independent
22-07-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Junior doctors' strike to go ahead after government talks fail
Resident doctors' strikes are set to proceed for five days from Friday at 7am after last-ditch talks between the British Medical Association (BMA) and Health Secretary Wes Streeting failed. The BMA confirmed the industrial action, stating that Mr Streeting's offers "did not go far enough to warrant calling off strikes," with the dispute primarily centred on pay restoration. Health Secretary Wes Streeting criticised the BMA's decision as "reckless" and "unjustified," asserting that the government cannot offer further pay increases following a 28.9 per cent rise over the last three years. The BMA resident doctors committee co-chairs highlighted that while non-pay issues were discussed, the core issue remains pay, which they say has eroded by over a fifth since 2008. NHS leaders expressed concern over the "crushing blow" to patients and the NHS, urging resident doctors to minimise harm by notifying trusts of their strike plans.
Malay Mail
09-07-2025
- Health
- Malay Mail
‘We have no choice': Hospital doctors in England set to strike again over pay disputes
LONDON, July 9 — Hospital doctors in England will walk out for five days later this month, their union said yesterday, ten months after they settled a long-running wave of strikes. The move comes after the doctors accepted a pay rise offer totalling 22.3 per cent over two years last September, soon after Prime Minister Keir Starmer's new Labour government took power. Announcing the fresh industrial action by resident doctors — those below consultant level — the UK doctors' union, the British Medical Association, said the government had left them 'no choice'. 'We met (Health Secretary) Wes Streeting yesterday and made every attempt to avoid strike action by opening negotiations for pay restoration,' said the BMA's Melissa Ryan and Ross Nieuwoudt, co-chairs of the resident doctors committee. 'Without a credible offer to keep us on the path to restore our pay, we have no choice but to call strikes,' they added. The BMA doctors said the government had refused to negotiate on pay, 'wanting to focus on non-pay elements without suggesting what these might be'. Accepting the government's pay offer last September, the BMA's resident doctors' committee hailed the deal as 'the end of 15 years of pay erosion with the beginning of two years of modest above-inflation pay rises'. But they added: 'There is still a long way to go, with doctors remaining 20.8 per cent in real terms behind where we were in 2008.' The doctors' strikes, which saw appointments cancelled and treatment delayed, were among a series of public and private sector walk-outs over pay and conditions as inflation soared. The previous Conservative government had resisted the BMA's demands for a 35 per cent 'pay restoration' to reflect real-term inflation over the last decade. But Labour moved quickly to draw a line under the disputes with a series of pay offers to public sector workers including teachers and train drivers. Those included a 15 per cent pay deal over three years for train drivers which was heavily criticised by the Conservative opposition. The strike is due to take place for five days from 7.00am (2pm Malaysia time) on July 25. — AFP
BBC News
09-07-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Resident doctors in England to strike for five days in July
Resident doctors in England have said they will strike for five days from 25 July after voting in favour of fresh action over known as junior doctors, the medics will stage a walkout from 07:00 on 25 July until 07:00 on 30 July - giving ministers two weeks to agree to negotiate their pay British Medical Association (BMA) said it had met with the health secretary to try and "avoid strike action" on Tuesday, but that the government had "stated that it will not negotiate on pay".It comes after Wes Streeting told the Times newspaper the public would "not forgive strike action in these circumstances and nor will I". Health Secretary Streeting said the walkouts would be "a disaster for their members and a disaster for patients".Resident doctors have been awarded a 5.4% pay rise for this financial year - which will go into pay packets from August - following a 22% increase over the previous two the BMA says wages are still around 20% lower in real terms than in the strike dates, the BMA said it had "made every attempt to avoid strike action by opening negotiations for pay restoration" in talks with the government on statement said the government had wanted to "focus on non-pay elements without suggesting what these might be".It said it had "no choice" but to strike without a "credible offer to keep us on the path to restore our pay"."No doctor wants to strike, and these strikes don't have to go ahead. "If Mr Streeting can seriously come to the table in the next two weeks we can ensure that no disruption is caused. The government knows what is needed to avert strikes. The choice is theirs."
