THE British Medical Association (BMA) announced yesterday that it is consulting its members over the latest government offer to settle the resident doctors dispute, with a five-day strike set to commence at 7am next Wednesday.
Labour Health Secretary Streeting hurled more abuse at the union and its members, calling resident doctors ‘juvenile delinquents’ and describing the dispute as ‘one of the most shameful episodes’ in the long history of the BMA.
Along the same lines, PM Starmer accused the BMA of being ‘irresponsible’.
The BMA reported that the government has put forward an offer on ending the jobs crisis for doctors in England. The offer includes:
- Emergency legislation in the New Year to prioritise UK medical graduates and other doctors with significant experience working in the NHS for specialty training role.
- The increase of specialty training posts over the next three years from the 1,000 announced in the 10-Year Health Plan, to 4,000. These posts will be repurposed from ‘locally employed’ roles already present in the health service.
- Bringing forward 1,000 of those training posts to start in 2026.
- Funding mandatory Royal College examination and membership fees for resident doctors.
The BMA will consult resident doctor members in England on whether this offer would be sufficient to call off the next period of strikes from the 17th December. A survey of members will run online, closing on Monday 15th December.
If members indicate it is enough to call off these strikes, a formal referendum of resident doctors would follow, giving members time to consider the details of the offer and whether to accept it and end the current dispute.
If the survey of members decides it is not enough to call off strikes, they will go ahead as planned next week.
BMA resident doctors committee chair Dr Jack Fletcher said: ‘This offer is the result of thousands of resident doctors showing that they are prepared to stand up for their profession and its future.
‘It should not have taken strike action, but make no mistake: it was strike action that got us this far.
‘We have forced the government to recognise the scale of the problems and to respond with measures on training numbers and prioritisation.
‘However, this offer does not increase the overall number of doctors working in England and does nothing to restore pay for doctors, which remains well within the government’s power to do.
‘After their strike action succeeded in moving the government from offering 1,000 training jobs to 4,000, as well as a plan on prioritisation for UK graduates and those who have worked in the NHS for some time, as a member-led organisation we are giving resident doctors their say.
‘If members believe this is enough to call off strike action then we will hold a referendum to end the dispute.
‘But if they give us a clear message that it is not, the government will have to go further to end industrial action.’
RMT-FBU back British Library strike
BRITISH Library PCS strikers held a lively picket line on the fourth day of their current five-day strike yesterday, after management sent them an insulting news letter earlier this week suggesting that the low paid librarians should not buy Xmas presents to save money.
PCS Branch Chair Nick Alen told News Line: ‘The strike is going well. All week we’ve had hundreds of people on the picket line and also support from other unions – the RMT and FBU visited the picket line, brought food and spoke, expressing solidarity.
‘We’re still waiting for the employer to realise we’re not going anywhere. The Reading Rooms are closed. Prospect accepted what we consider an inferior offer for the managers. We are determined to win a better offer for fair pay.
‘Our members are determined to win an above-RPI inflation rise. One of our red lines is we need for our security officers to be put onto the AWP (Alternative Working Pattern) allowance.
‘We are going to continue until we win. Our current strike ends tomorrow and we are prepared to call further action if we have to.’
PCS member Khader Aideed said: ‘We’re striking because the living cost is going up. The salary we are getting here is not enough to keep us and feed our families. I have three kids and a wife. I need a pay increase. One of my sons is going to college and the other two are at primary school.
‘It’s difficult to provide for their needs. The living cost is going up, the rent is going up. I am here particularly because the new anti-social hours allowance does not apply to security staff.
‘We want equal rights and decent pay. The Labour government has let workers down. Workers should all strike together – have one voice. We need a government of the workers, end the cuts and especially look after the low income workers.’
