Thousands of doctors began a three-day strike in British hospitals on Monday to demand higher wages, kicking off a week marked by social unrest.
Strikes have affected many professions in recent months in the UK, with inflation exceeding 10%. Railway workers, nurses, border police, teachers, etc. They started a strike to demand an increase in food and energy prices.
The government entered into negotiations with nurses and railway workers in particular.
But Wednesday, the day the government presents its budget, is expected to be one of the biggest labor days in several years. Civil servants, teachers, London Underground drivers and BBC journalists in particular will stop working. A demonstration must be held in London, in the Westminster district.
Doctors launched the movement on Monday. Members of the British Medical Association (BMA) have erected barriers to hospitals. Their movement is expected to last three days.
According to the Doctors Syndicate, these doctors have lost 26% of their wages, in real terms, since 2008, when an austerity treatment was imposed on health services.
This union launched a campaign that claimed that waiters in cafes were paid more than doctors at the start of their careers. According to the Bahrain Monetary Agency, the latter earn around £14 (€15.8) per hour.
According to the BMA’s motto, “Thanks to this government, you can earn more by serving coffee than saving the sick.”
“I thought that by becoming a doctor I would be financially independent, but I’m not,” said Becky Bates, a recent graduate from Central England.
“Through tuition and personal loans, I was left with over £100,000 in debt from medical school. Today, my salary doesn’t even allow me to get my car fixed if there is a problem.
Leaders of the NHS, the public health service, are concerned about the consequences for patients of this strike.
The NHS is in a deep crisis, weakened by austerity policies and the consequences of the pandemic. On February 6, it faced its largest strike since its inception in 1948, when nurses and paramedics stopped work for the first time on the same day.
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