Junior doctors vote to strike in December
The first strike would see junior doctors only staff emergency care
On Thursday it was announced that junior doctors had voted overwhelmingly to take action against proposed contract changes, with 98% voting to take strike action and 99.4% in favour of industrial action short of striking.
The first proposed strike is scheduled for Tuesday 1st December and would see junior doctors only staff emergency care. The two subsequent strikes proposed would take place on Tuesday 8th December and Wednesday 16th December, and would be full junior doctor walkouts. Medical students have been warned by ICSM that due to strike action laws it would be illegal for them to join the picket lines.
The BMA have stated that the strike dates are only provisional and that they are “keen to avert the need for industrial action” and to this end have approached the arbritration service ACAS to act as an intermediate between them and Hunt.
The BMA balloted almost 38,000 of its members, representative of two-thirds of junior doctors in the UK, and 76% of these decided to voice their opinion on the government’s proposed plans to alter which times in the working week classify as “unsociable” and hence qualify for increased pay.
Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has attempted to counteract this by giving an 11% increase in basic pay but this still means that the doctors working extra hours will actually be paid less due to the reclassification.
Doctors also argue the measures will increase risk to patients as they will be obligated to work longer hours atop an already demanding schedule, causing the chance of mistakes occurring to increase.
Med Harris, the ICSMSU President told FELIX, “As medical students we cannot strike with the doctors but we will be showing our support for the junior doctors on the day!”
Imperial College Union’s Deputy President for Welfare, Jennie Watson, who is also a medic, said she was “thrilled to see such a large turn out” and that the union “extends its full solidarity with junior doctors and we will do everything possible to support our medic membership”.
“Personally, I plan to leave after I finish medical school if these contract changes are forced upon us,” she added.
