Junior doctors and other NHS workers and campaigners outside Homerton hospital in Hackney, east London (Picture: Guy Smallman)
Junior doctors picketed in large numbers across England and Wales on Tuesday, the second day of their 72-hour strike over pay.
The strikes by around 60,000 BMA union members are a focus for other NHS workers who also want to see a fight over pay, but aren’t out this week. And there is a real energy about the action this week which will carry over into the strikes by half a million workers on Wednesday.
At Homerton hospital in east London, about 150 people joined a lunch time rally. Unison union member Diana told Socialist Worker, “It was great to see so many people out. As well as the junior doctors there were nurses, occupational therapists, speech therapists, admin workers and many others. We had ambulance workers and patients as well.
“A group of Extinction Rebellion supporters, the local Unison local government and NEU school workers’ union branches, and the Hackney trade council came to show solidarity. And our local MP Diane Abbott was there as well. We should all be out fighting for pay and defending the NHS.”
Anaesthetist Imran Sharieff reported from south east London, “I was a little concerned that the cold, wet, miserable weather would diminish the zest of day two of the strike at Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Fears unfounded. Numbers and energy were amazing.”
Sethina A Watson from Bristol said, “The picket line is strong today. Feelings are powerful. Compared to 2016 strikes the level of public support is very high. Support from other unions is high.”
In Lancaster there were twice as many strikers picketing than on day one. In Newham, east London, NewVic college teachers—also on strike—joined pickets at the hospital.
Members of the BMA council, its national executive, visited pickets at University College Hospital in central London. Emma Runswick, deputy chair of the BMA Council, said, “We must continue to organise, so tomorrow is better—and next time too because the government has given no indication that there won’t need to be a next time.”
Many of the junior doctor activists remember their 2016 strikes. Eight solid walkouts culminated in the BMA leaders recommending strikers accept a deal. But they rejected it. But the BMA cancelled further action after health secretary Jeremy Hunt imposed the contract. There must be no repeat of such retreats.
Doctors’ unions are demanding a 26 percent “full pay restoration” to make up for the decline in the real-terms value of their salaries since 2008-9. The government has refused to begin serious talks. Rightly the BMA refused to cancel its action when there wasn’t even an offer on the table.
The BMA said ministers’ preconditions for talks “include wanting to keep discussions to future pay and limiting talks over 15 years of pay erosion to just a one-off bonus payment.” The NHS is where the government is weakest over pay. There’s massive public support for striking health workers, but it needs to be turned into united action.
The government may hope to split the NHS unions and reach deals with some while leaving others isolated. That’s what it is doing with teachers.
As hundreds of thousands of NEU union members were set to strike on Wednesday and Thursday, the NASUWT union leaders were holding talks with ministers. And they were enthusiastically reporting progress.
The government said the NEU would have to call off action for there to be negotiations. Dr Patrick Roach, NASUWT general secretary, said, “Today’s meeting with the secretary of state has given us the assurances we have been seeking.
“Avoiding further escalation of this dispute will not only require all sides to commit the time needed, but also to be willing to find solutions.”
That’s effectively a strike-breaking call on the NEU to cancel its walkouts. Instead of following that disgraceful advice, the NEU should escalate its action.
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