British hospital doctors on Monday began a three-day strike over pay at the start of the week that will also see teachers, railway staff and civil servants walk out, in the latest wave of industrial action.
Doctors say their below-inflation pay rises mean they have taken a 26 per cent pay cut since 2008.
Ahead of the stoppage, the body that represents people, the British Medical Association (BMA), launched an advertising campaign admitting newly qualified doctors earn less than some coffee shop staff.
“Pret a Manger has announced it will pay up to £14.10 ($17.13) per hour,” the ad said.
“Junior doctors only earn £14.09. Thanks to this government you can make more coffee than save patients. This week junior doctors will take strike action to be paid what they are worth.
On Wednesday, hundreds of thousands of workers are expected to walk out, including teachers, London Underground train drivers, BBC journalists, and university staff.
Since last year, Britain has seen an economic hit from nurses and ambulance staff to lawyers and dock workers driven by rising food, energy and housing costs.
All have clashed with the government, which insists the country cannot afford wage increases that reduce inflation.
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The strike by so-called junior doctors – a category of doctors who are not senior specialists but can still have decades of experience – is the longest ever.
The BMA said that junior doctors in England, who mostly work in hospitals but also in some cases in general practitioner surgeries, have seen a 26 per cent cut in their pay since 2008-09.
– Doctors ask for public support –
“For my youngest colleagues, the problem is that debt and income don’t allow them to have the security they want,” Vincent McCaughen, 37, who is training to become a specialist cardiologist, told AFP. .
“People who feel more financially secure, who have a better standard of living, will have more emotional energy in their patients,” he said on a picket line outside St Bartholomew’s Hospital in central London.
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Doctors and nurses leaders have repeatedly warned that poor pay and conditions are driving UK-trained medical and nursing staff abroad as waiting lists are extended by the backlog of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Is it surprising that junior doctors are looking for work abroad or in other fields when the government tells us that the price is less than a quarter of what it was in 2008?” said Robert Laurenson and Vivek Trivedi, chairmen of the BMA’s junior doctors committee, in a joint statement.
‘Claps don’t pay the bills’
Around 80 doctors and supporters joined a picket line outside Leeds General Infirmary in the northern city.
A steady stream of motorbikes signaled their support by honking their car horns as doctors sang “Claps don’t pay the bills”, referring to the country’s weekly routine of clapping for healthcare workers during the pandemic.
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“It’s great when members of the public pass by honking, giving a message of support. It reaffirms why we do this,” said Chris Morris, a doctor and BMA representative.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay said the BMA’s decision to go ahead with the strike was “deeply disappointing”.
He said the body refused to enter into formal salary negotiations on the condition that the strikes stop.
Other unions representing nurses and ambulance workers have put strike action on hold to allow negotiations to continue this week, he added.