[News]
Resident doctors in England have said they will strike for five days from 25 July after voting in favour of fresh action over pay.
Previously 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 instead.
The 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 cirblockstances 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 years.
But the BMA says wages are still around 20% lower in real terms than in 2008.
Its resident doctors committee co-chairs, Dr Melissa Ryan and Dr Ross Nieuwoudt, said they had “made every attempt to avoid strike action by opening negotiations for pay restoration” in talks with the government on Tuesday.
But they said the government had wanted to “focus on non-pay elements without suggesting what these might be”.
They said they 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.”
The government said on Tuesday that it would not reopen pay negotiations and that it could not “be more generous than we already have” after doctors had been awarded a pay rise of 28.9% over the last three years.
A Downing Street spokesperson added that the medics had “received the highest pay award across the public sector for two years in a row”.
Resident doctors’ basic salaries in England range from £37,000 to £70,000 a year for a 40-hour week, depending on experience, with extra payments for working nightshifts and weekends.
That does not include the latest 5.4% average pay award for this year which will start to be paid into wage packets from August.
Resident doctors took part in 11 separate strikes during 2023 and 2024.
[English News]
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