The United Kingdom doctors begin the 5 -day strike

Thousands of junior doctors throughout the United Kingdom began a five -day strike on Friday after last minute negotiations with the Labor government have not managed to produce a new remuneration agreement.

The doctors presided over the lines of pickets outside the main national hospitals in a renewed protest on what they describe as years of “erosion to pay”. The strike was confirmed after the talks with government officials extended late on Thursday night without a turning point.

The industrial action arrives despite the doctors have accepted an increase in wages of 22.3% in two years in September 2024, shortly after the power of Prime Minister Keir Starmer. However, the British Medical Association (BMA), representing Junior doctors, insists that the salary agreement is not yet up to dealing with the losses of real time dating back to 2008.

Junior doctors – those not yet at the level of consultant – claim to have remained without “choice” but to hit again, claiming that their salary has decreased by over 21% in real terms in the last two decades. “We are not working at 21 % less hard, so why should our pay suffer?” He declared that the BMMa Melissa Ryan and Ross Nieuwoudt committee in a joint declaration.

Prime Minister Starmer, writing on time, appealed directly to the doctors, warning that the strike would have “real damage” to an already too close national health service (NHS). “The launch of a strike will mean that everyone lose,” said Starmer. “Our NH and your patients need you.”

The health secretary Wes Streeting echoed to the prime minister’s concerns in a letter published in the Telegraph, urged the doctors to reconsider. He stressed that the government “cannot afford to go further on the salary this year”.

Last year strikes by doctors, part of a wider wave of industrial actions in an increase in inflation, led to tens of thousands of canceled events and delayed treatments. The former conservative government had rejected the previous demand for the BMA for a “paid restoration” of 35%.

Since it came into office, the Labor Government has achieved numerous salary agreements with the unions of the public sector, including teachers and training drivers. In particular, a remuneration agreement of 15% in three years for trains drivers raised criticism from conservative parliamentarians.

At the beginning of the strike, concerns remain for its impact on patients and NHS assistance operations, with government officials and trade union leaders who face the growing pressure to return to the negotiation table.

BBC