July 26 (UPI) — British junior doctors will strike for the fifth time in August as they seek a 35% increase in compensation to match what they earned in 2008. The British Medical Association junior doctors committee said the walkout will occur Aug. 11-15.
Tens of thousands of junior doctors walked out at hospitals across England July 13 for a five-day strike over pay followed by 20,000 senior doctors going on a 2-day strike July 20.
The striking doctors will still deliver emergency medical care during the strikes.
These actions are happening as the government insists it has already made its final pay offer equivalent to between 8.1% and 10.3% for junior doctors. The government’s pay offer includes a 6% raise this year plus a cash bonus.
But the union wants 35% to make up for lost ground after a series of below-inflation pay increases for doctors in the National Health Service.
“We will not negotiate again on this year’s settlements, and no amount of strikes will change our decision,” Sunak said.
“The Prime Minister has told us that talks are over,” Junior Doctor Committee co-chairs Dr. Robert Laurenson and Dr. Vivek Trivedi said in a statement. “But it is not for Rishi Sunak to decide that negotiations are over before he has even stepped in the room. This dispute will end only at the negotiating table. If the PM was hoping to demoralize and divide our profession with his actions, he will be disappointed.”
The British Medical Association is a union representing all doctors in Britain.
The union called on the British government to “act like a responsible government, come to the table to negotiate with us in good faith, and with a credible offer these strikes need not go ahead at all.”
Matthew Taylor, head of the British National Health Service Confederation told The Guardian the cost of the strikes is “eye-watering” and could be billions of pounds.
Doctors vow that the “mutual solidarity” on the picket lines means doctors nationwide are united in their refusal “to accept another pay cut.”
