LONDON: Rejecting pay deal, senior doctors in England have announced to hold two days of strikes in August.
Doctors’ union, the British Medical Association (BMA) confirmed this Monday, dismissing a six percent pay rise announced by the government last week as a “savage” real-terms wage cut.
Consultant-level doctors in Britain’s publicly-funded National Health Service (NHS) will go on strike on August 24 and 25, in addition to the previously announced strikes on July 20 and 21. The strikes would underscore the failure of PM Rishi Sunak’s bid to fully end months of industrial action across public services.
Last week, PM Sunak called recent public sector pay increases as final settlement, warning they would cost billions, require budget cuts elsewhere, and would not be subject to further negotiation.
While the teaching unions put off strikes and sought to accept their deal, doctors’ unions were unimpressed after what they say have been years of pay erosion for their members.
“The government has once again imposed a savage real terms pay cut on consultants,” said Vishal Sharma, the BMA’s consultants committee chair.
“In the face of a government intent on devaluing consultants’ expertise and their lack of regard for the impact this is having on the NHS, we have been left with no choice.”
The July strikes will be the first by consultants in the current pay row and are likely to put the National Health Service under serious pressure. The strikes will lead to the termination of most routine and elective services but emergency cover will remain intact.
Separately, junior doctors in England who are qualified physicians and make up nearly half of the medical workforce, are in the middle of a five-day walkout. The British Medical Association has described the strike as the longest single in their history.
