Junior doctors in England will strike again for five days from 24 to 28 February, the tenth round of strikes in their fight for “pay restoration” — a real-terms pay rise and clear timetable to restore the real value of their pay to its 2008 level.
AsSolidarity went to press, junior doctors in Wales were due to strike 21-24 February. Junior doctors in Northern Ireland will strike, for the first time in this dispute, 6-7 March.
The British Medical Association (BMA) is reballoting its junior doctor members in England to extend its legal strike mandate under the anti-trade union laws for another six months. That vote runs to 15 April. This time the ballot includes the right to take “Action Short of a Strike”, which is not affected by the new Minimum Service Levels (MSL) law — though BMA leaders are also implying they will not shy away from further strikes too.
Unlike on the railways and in the fire service, no official regulations under the MSL law have yet been announced for the NHS, so the law cannot yet been used. The BMA is being pressured for voluntary local arrangements, and discussing how to respond to the situation. Already some hospital trusts and NHS England itself have sought to abuse the system for “derogations” — union-agreed strike exemptions for some doctors — in order to undermine the strike.
Junior doctors’ strikes already have emergency cover inbuilt, with consultants (senior doctors) covering their junior colleagues’ work. There is a possibility the government will seek to go well beyond that to include elective — pre-planned, non-urgent operations, appointments and tests — in the minimum service requirement.
Junior doctors’ fighting spirit remains high: the recent Northern Ireland ballot registered a 97.6% yes vote on a 63.7% turnout.
The wider movement must start rallying to support them with similar determination.
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