ON THE FIRST day of the four-day strike by 47,600 junior doctors they held a mass rally in central London.
From 2pm onwards Trafalgar Square filled up with junior doctors wearing orange BMA hats and waving placards.
One handwritten placard read: ‘An apple a day is not the only thing keeping your doctor away. Pay Restoration – On your bike Barclay!’ There was a huge lorry acting as a stage with a large sound system.
Andrew Gordon, a junior doctor from West Midlands, spoke first; ‘We’ve come a long way in 12 months. We talked of pay erosion then and now we have developed the energy through this wonderful turbo-charged Junior Doctors Committee (JDC) that has led the way.
‘They have organised workplace meetings, ward walks and delivered this historic ballot result of 77.49% turn-out, and an unheard of 98.1% “Yes” vote.
‘You’ve taken the BMA to its highest ever membership levels (said to be an extra 17,000 members.)
‘Through amazing strength and determination, this generation has been mobilised by the JDC, that is determined to see the change we need.
‘We have suffered a real-term pay cut. We suffered massive student loans, we often have to cancel our leave. Interest rates are excessive. Pensions are reduced compared to previous generations.
‘According to the ONS, inflation has gone up by 13% in the last year. You have a 2% pay award. What choice do we have but to do this?
‘No more paying the price for political and economic failures. No more subsidising profit-driven inflation. We will win this dispute.’
This was followed by chants and singing: ‘Pay Restoration’ and ‘Cuts don’t pay the bills.’
The deputy general secretary of the National Education Union Amanda Brown spoke next.
She brought a solidarity greeting from the NEU. ‘Thank you for standing with us when you took your action (referring to the joint march and rally on 15 March by NEU and BMA and other unions).
‘We look after your children. It’s not an easy decision to strike. You did that in conjunction with the 50,000 members of the NEU on that day.
‘We have suffered 12 years of austerity, overwork, and underfunding. Like teachers, you do so much unpaid overtime.’
She outlined the massive cuts to educations and said that teachers were facing the biggest recruitment and retention crisis ever. Education and health services faced the same problems.
‘It is not strike action that is causing the disruption in education or in health.
‘We have the largest class sizes since records began. One in eight teachers are not specialised in their subject. It takes years for CAMS referrals. Our children face all the problems of poverty, hunger and poor housing.’
‘That is why the NEU and other unions have voted for more strike action.
‘We need a government which cares for those who work in public services. We must fight to save our NHS and to save public education.’ There was a huge roar from the audience for the teachers.
Consultant Kevin O’Kane from South Thames and Chair of BMA London Regional Council spoke next. ‘Now, you’ve no idea how good you look from up here,’ he said surveying the huge crowd filling Trafalgar square. ‘50,000 junior doctors sticking to their collective action together would be invincible.
‘Doctors have come from Yorkshire, Lancashire, the Midlands, the South Coast and London. No one wants to be here. We have no dispute with patients or hospitals.
‘But government won’t agree we’re working as much as we were in 2008. Barclay thinks you’ll drift off and go back to work. You are very hardworking. Are you ready to give up the fight for pay restoration? (Huge roar of “No“)
‘This government had better realise there will always be a need for doctors; juniors, staff and specialist grades, consultants and GPs.
‘I want to thank you on behalf of the consultants. Doctors are not going to subject themselves to more moral blackmail anymore for a 26% pay cut. The consultants have lost 40% over the same period. Now is the time to extend the fight to all doctors.
‘There will likely be a consultant ballot in May. You’ve had plenty of warning. Fair play gives doctors fair pay!
‘Colleagues, this is about keeping patients safe. We’ll do this as long as it takes, till you get pay restoration. We’re at your back. Stay firm and united and we will win. This country needs its junior doctors.’
Junior doctor Alex Ridgeway performed his own song with keyboard backing about ‘absentee’ Barclay, with the audience joining in.
Dr Arjan Singh continued: ‘Doctors from the bottom of our hearts, thank you for attending this historic rally with people coming from all four quarters of the country.
‘This is a momentous occasion, 11 April, a day when doctors started to take back control of our profession.
‘We risked our lives working in intensive care units, when they topped up champagne glasses in illegal parties.
‘They called us heroes while we are now struggling to pay the rent or get into the housing market or have children.
‘We have sacrificed the best years of life to this country. We see patients coming to avoidable harm every day, because of the cuts.
‘The government must realise that you can’t perpetually run the health service on “goodwill”. We have to provide a certain level of care. There are 500 deaths a month due to delays. The NHS has become a national disgrace.
‘We need pay restoration – from £14 an hour to £19 an hour, as they do in other countries.
‘We will not sell you out. This is a new BMA and this not 2016. The BMA is unashamedly for you. If we fail now, it is forever. We have a 98% mandate.
‘Don’t waste this moment. Restoration is beyond pounds and pence. We have to regain our reputation and self-respect and for future junior doctors. Thank you for attending and stick with us.’
Dr Vivek Trivedi, from Manchester and co-chair of the BMA Junior Doctors Committee (JDC), spoke finally, saying: ‘We are here today to stand up for our pay to directly reflect our worth.
‘You’ve been robbed of common decencies, often leave denied, having to sit on bins and unfair rotas. We’ve watched our profession being degraded. We have to regain our respect and value as professionals.
‘The government imposed a wage freeze on us, imposed a contract on us and imposed so-called independent pay review bodies on us. We have to take back our power.
‘Is your work 26% easier? Do you put in 26% less effort? Are you worth 26% less? You have given so much already.
‘You have debts of £80,000 or more, you have to keep shifting across the country away from family and friends. You miss birthdays and funerals.
‘To strike is not selfishness, it’s self-respect. We are responsible highly trained professionals.
‘Their gameplan is to divide and conquer. Our strength is in collective action. Give us strength to continue this fight.
‘For the FY1 posted 100 miles away, and for the ST8 (trained for10 years) still on £28 an hour. We must fight for our pay and conditions.
‘This won’t be the last time we meet. Stand tall and hold true. Fight together. Win together.’
The huge crowd then marched down Whitehall, angrily shouting as it passed Downing Street, and then on to the Department of Health building in Victoria Street.
