Doctor’s union membership hits record high as strike continues
Today
LEFT FOOT FORWARD
17,000 doctors joined the union since the start of this year
The British Medical Association (BMA) now has more than 184,000 doctors in their union, a record figure as 17,000 doctors joined since the start of 2023.
This comes as junior doctors enter their third day of a 72-hour strike.
Junior doctors are calling for a pay restoration to make up for 15 years of pay erosion, having experienced a pay cut of 25% since 2008/09, and on top of burdening workloads and burnout.
BMA is now calling on the Health Secretary Steve Barclay to drop his pre-conditions to entering talks with junior doctors in England.
On Monday, Steve Barclay said the government was ready to have negotiations but only if a number of pre-conditions were agreed, including wanting to keep the discussion about future pay.
The union also believes that the Health Secretary is looking for the union to commit to send any offers the government makes to members with a recommendation to accept them, which is not something they would do.
Co-Chairs of the Junior Doctor Committee, Dr Rob Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, said strike action was ‘100% the fault of Steve Barclay’, who they accused of showing ‘no real commitment to resolving the dispute’.
In a joint statement, they said: “We remain open to entering talks with the Government anytime and anywhere to bring this dispute to a swift resolution and restore the pay that junior doctors have lost.
“If the Health Secretary is truly committed to this, then he needs to drop these unreasonable pre-conditions and begin proper negotiations with us.
“It is Steve Barclay who is stopping talks happening by putting up barriers he knows our members cannot accept.
“The preconditions go against the very thing junior doctors are in dispute over.
“It begs the question; does he even understand why doctors are so angry?
“Over several years this Government has broken trust with junior doctors, imposed changes to our work contracts without agreement and excluded junior doctors from pay awards.
“So, it is really no surprise that we want to see more from the Secretary of State than a vague last-minute letter with impossible preconditions.”
17,000 doctors joined the union since the start of this year
The British Medical Association (BMA) now has more than 184,000 doctors in their union, a record figure as 17,000 doctors joined since the start of 2023.
This comes as junior doctors enter their third day of a 72-hour strike.
Junior doctors are calling for a pay restoration to make up for 15 years of pay erosion, having experienced a pay cut of 25% since 2008/09, and on top of burdening workloads and burnout.
BMA is now calling on the Health Secretary Steve Barclay to drop his pre-conditions to entering talks with junior doctors in England.
On Monday, Steve Barclay said the government was ready to have negotiations but only if a number of pre-conditions were agreed, including wanting to keep the discussion about future pay.
The union also believes that the Health Secretary is looking for the union to commit to send any offers the government makes to members with a recommendation to accept them, which is not something they would do.
Co-Chairs of the Junior Doctor Committee, Dr Rob Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, said strike action was ‘100% the fault of Steve Barclay’, who they accused of showing ‘no real commitment to resolving the dispute’.
In a joint statement, they said: “We remain open to entering talks with the Government anytime and anywhere to bring this dispute to a swift resolution and restore the pay that junior doctors have lost.
“If the Health Secretary is truly committed to this, then he needs to drop these unreasonable pre-conditions and begin proper negotiations with us.
“It is Steve Barclay who is stopping talks happening by putting up barriers he knows our members cannot accept.
“The preconditions go against the very thing junior doctors are in dispute over.
“It begs the question; does he even understand why doctors are so angry?
“Over several years this Government has broken trust with junior doctors, imposed changes to our work contracts without agreement and excluded junior doctors from pay awards.
“So, it is really no surprise that we want to see more from the Secretary of State than a vague last-minute letter with impossible preconditions.”
Why are tube workers on strike?
Hannah Davenport Today
'The fundemental issue is government failure to properly fund transport for London'
London Underground was brought to a halt this morning as tube workers from the ASLEF and RMT unions walk out in an ongoing dispute over working conditions.
Over 10,000 RMT members joined ASLEF tube drivers in the 24-hour strike today, which is not about pay, but about fighting to retain existing working conditions and staff pensions.
Talking to LFF this morning, Finn Brennan, ASLEF District Organiser, said the fundamental issue is government ‘failure’ to properly fund transport in London.
He said workers were not prepared to pay the price of the financial deficit in public services caused by the government, and are making a unified stand today to fight to retain their rights.
“London transport has been left with a huge hole in its budget post-pandemic and the government are trying to fill that hole by attacking staff conditions and staff pensions and cutting staff numbers,” said Brennan.
“Our members are rightly saying we’re not going to pay the costs of the pandemic, when workers delivered a vital public service.
“It’s not right or fair to ask them now to accept cuts in their working conditions and pensions because the government refused to properly fund London Underground.”
The government are looking to cut £100 million a year from pension costs, meaning people’s pensions would be reduced by up to a third, according to Brennan.
“That’s simply not acceptable. People aren’t prepared to see their working conditions and their pension slashed.
“TFL management want to rip up all existing working conditions and impose huge changes.
“We’re always happy to discuss and negotiate change but change has to come about by agreement.”
ASLEF tube train drivers voted by 99% in favour of strike action today, as Brennan said members are willing to take action for ‘as long as it takes’ to protect their conditions, with predictions that strike action will continue into summer.
He added: “We don’t want to be in a position where we’re causing disruption to people, but the London Underground isn’t just important today, it’s important every day of the year.
“We need a properly funded transport system, just like we need properly funded schools and hospitals.”
London transport workers have already seen cuts to services, such as ticket office closures, and are making a stand now in order to safeguard the service for the future.
Planned job cuts are also a major concern for striking workers, with the RMT writing to the London Mayor yesterday calling for the end to job cuts on the London Underground and for the prioritisation of public safety.
Commenting on the strike action, RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch said: “Attacks on pensions, conditions and job losses will not be tolerated and the travelling public needs to understand that understaffed and unstaffed stations are unsafe.
“We will continue our industrial campaign for as long as it takes.”
Tube workers join junior doctors, teachers, civil servants, university staff, BBC radio journalists and Amazon workers all on strike today in one of the biggest days of strike action in decades.
'The fundemental issue is government failure to properly fund transport for London'
London Underground was brought to a halt this morning as tube workers from the ASLEF and RMT unions walk out in an ongoing dispute over working conditions.
Over 10,000 RMT members joined ASLEF tube drivers in the 24-hour strike today, which is not about pay, but about fighting to retain existing working conditions and staff pensions.
Talking to LFF this morning, Finn Brennan, ASLEF District Organiser, said the fundamental issue is government ‘failure’ to properly fund transport in London.
He said workers were not prepared to pay the price of the financial deficit in public services caused by the government, and are making a unified stand today to fight to retain their rights.
“London transport has been left with a huge hole in its budget post-pandemic and the government are trying to fill that hole by attacking staff conditions and staff pensions and cutting staff numbers,” said Brennan.
“Our members are rightly saying we’re not going to pay the costs of the pandemic, when workers delivered a vital public service.
“It’s not right or fair to ask them now to accept cuts in their working conditions and pensions because the government refused to properly fund London Underground.”
The government are looking to cut £100 million a year from pension costs, meaning people’s pensions would be reduced by up to a third, according to Brennan.
“That’s simply not acceptable. People aren’t prepared to see their working conditions and their pension slashed.
“TFL management want to rip up all existing working conditions and impose huge changes.
“We’re always happy to discuss and negotiate change but change has to come about by agreement.”
ASLEF tube train drivers voted by 99% in favour of strike action today, as Brennan said members are willing to take action for ‘as long as it takes’ to protect their conditions, with predictions that strike action will continue into summer.
He added: “We don’t want to be in a position where we’re causing disruption to people, but the London Underground isn’t just important today, it’s important every day of the year.
“We need a properly funded transport system, just like we need properly funded schools and hospitals.”
London transport workers have already seen cuts to services, such as ticket office closures, and are making a stand now in order to safeguard the service for the future.
Planned job cuts are also a major concern for striking workers, with the RMT writing to the London Mayor yesterday calling for the end to job cuts on the London Underground and for the prioritisation of public safety.
Commenting on the strike action, RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch said: “Attacks on pensions, conditions and job losses will not be tolerated and the travelling public needs to understand that understaffed and unstaffed stations are unsafe.
“We will continue our industrial campaign for as long as it takes.”
Tube workers join junior doctors, teachers, civil servants, university staff, BBC radio journalists and Amazon workers all on strike today in one of the biggest days of strike action in decades.
Amazon workers in Coventry begin historic week-long strike
Amazon workers in Coventry began another round of historic strike action on Monday, starting their week-long strike.
In response to a ‘disgraceful’ 50p pay rise, more than 450 staff at the West Midlands distribution centre will be walking out until Friday, 17 March as more workers join the industrial action.
Amazon workers have shared their stories of colleagues having to take second jobs, pawning their goods to make ends-meat and going to food banks due to poor pay.
Marie, an Amazon worker featured in a video by the GMB union, who is representing Coventry Amazon workers, said: “I just want better treatment, I want them to realise we are people, we’re not just numbers.”
Other staff have shared accounts of working 60 hours a week just to earn enough to pay the bills and afford to feed their family.
Workers are asking for a £4.50 rise for low paid workers, to bring their pay up to £15 an hour.
This is from a company which took $225.153 billion in profit last year.
Amanda Gearing, GMB Senior Organiser, said it was ‘sickening’ that Amazon workers in Coventry will earn just 8 pence above the National Minimum Wage come April 2023.
She said it was ‘crunch time’ for the ‘Amazon top brass’, as the unprecedented week-long strike shows the anger among Amazon workers in Coventry.
“They work for one of the richest companies in the world, yet they have to work round the clock to keep themselves afloat,” said Gearing.
“Amazon bosses can stop this industrial action by doing the right thing and negotiating a proper pay rise with workers.”
The strike action will cost the company over £2 million, according to GMB figures.
The ‘David and Goliath’ battle against one of the world’s biggest companies has seen support come in from around the world and moral on the picket line has been ‘sky high’, as workers in Coventry received a flurry of support.
Amazon have continued to not recognise the union and instead ‘rule by fear’, according to Coventry worker Conor Geraghty who referred to it as a ‘corporate dictatorship’.
However, union membership at the Coventry warehouse rose from 1 in 50, to 1 in 5 as more workers joined the fight for better pay and workplace treatment.
Commenting on the first day of strike action so far, Stuart Richards, GMB Union Official, said: “It’s been brilliant having workers talk to workers on the picket line and it seems to be having an impact.”
Hannah Davenport is trade union reporter at Left Foot Forward
(Photo credit: Stuart Richards / Twitter)
Left Foot Forward’s trade union reporting is supported by the Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust
Yesterday
Amazon workers in Coventry escalate strike action against 'disgraceful' 50p pay rise
Amazon workers in Coventry escalate strike action against 'disgraceful' 50p pay rise
Amazon workers in Coventry began another round of historic strike action on Monday, starting their week-long strike.
In response to a ‘disgraceful’ 50p pay rise, more than 450 staff at the West Midlands distribution centre will be walking out until Friday, 17 March as more workers join the industrial action.
Amazon workers have shared their stories of colleagues having to take second jobs, pawning their goods to make ends-meat and going to food banks due to poor pay.
Marie, an Amazon worker featured in a video by the GMB union, who is representing Coventry Amazon workers, said: “I just want better treatment, I want them to realise we are people, we’re not just numbers.”
Other staff have shared accounts of working 60 hours a week just to earn enough to pay the bills and afford to feed their family.
Workers are asking for a £4.50 rise for low paid workers, to bring their pay up to £15 an hour.
This is from a company which took $225.153 billion in profit last year.
Amanda Gearing, GMB Senior Organiser, said it was ‘sickening’ that Amazon workers in Coventry will earn just 8 pence above the National Minimum Wage come April 2023.
She said it was ‘crunch time’ for the ‘Amazon top brass’, as the unprecedented week-long strike shows the anger among Amazon workers in Coventry.
“They work for one of the richest companies in the world, yet they have to work round the clock to keep themselves afloat,” said Gearing.
“Amazon bosses can stop this industrial action by doing the right thing and negotiating a proper pay rise with workers.”
The strike action will cost the company over £2 million, according to GMB figures.
The ‘David and Goliath’ battle against one of the world’s biggest companies has seen support come in from around the world and moral on the picket line has been ‘sky high’, as workers in Coventry received a flurry of support.
Amazon have continued to not recognise the union and instead ‘rule by fear’, according to Coventry worker Conor Geraghty who referred to it as a ‘corporate dictatorship’.
However, union membership at the Coventry warehouse rose from 1 in 50, to 1 in 5 as more workers joined the fight for better pay and workplace treatment.
Commenting on the first day of strike action so far, Stuart Richards, GMB Union Official, said: “It’s been brilliant having workers talk to workers on the picket line and it seems to be having an impact.”
Hannah Davenport is trade union reporter at Left Foot Forward
(Photo credit: Stuart Richards / Twitter)
Left Foot Forward’s trade union reporting is supported by the Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust
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