HIBAPRESS
Strikes by doctors began on Friday in England for five days, protesting the failure to raise salaries and demanding more training opportunities, in the third strike by doctors since March 2023.
Some resident doctors are participating in the strike, who make up about half of the medical workforce in hospitals. Minister of Health in the Labour Party government, Wes Streeting, denounced the strike, considering that the doctors' union, the British Medical Association (BMA), "chose confrontation." He added in an article in the Daily Telegraph: "The strike is no longer for fairness, but for a political stance," noting that the government has increased doctors' salaries by 28.9% over the past three years and granted them the highest bonus in the public sector during the last two years. For its part, the British Medical Association says that doctors' salaries should increase by 26% to restore their real value compared to what it was two decades ago, and also demands an increase in available training opportunities. More than 30,000 doctors face competition for only 10,000 training opportunities, leaving many of them without permanent jobs after years of practice. These strikes come in the context of the ongoing cost of living crisis in Britain, which has prompted several unions to organize strikes during the past three and a half years, including teachers, nurses, ambulance workers, lawyers, and train and border employees.
