NHS real-terms pay cuts not ‘accepted’
Tatyana Sarnecki, a doctor at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London, says: “The NHS is crumbling in front of our eyes.”
“And added to that pressure, doctors are affected by the cost-of-living crisis as well.
“The demand is simple. Pay us enough, so we can at least stay afloat, so we can give all we have to the NHS.
“We’re more militant than before, we’re more angry. Because people who know nothing about what we’re going through are making the decisions, and are belittling us and treating us like children.
“Our demands are clear and they are possible. They can increase the budget without affecting working-class or middle-class people. The money is there, but the current government is refusing to do it because it goes against their ideals.”
Junior doctors and consultants in the BMA are striking together for the first time on Wednesday 20 September. On 13 September, workers at four London NHS trusts in Unite the Union will strike over fair pay and dangerous understaffing. Action will also take place on 14 September, and from 16-22 at Barts health trust.
The fight for fully funded fair pay and decent services in the NHS is not over. The Tories’ real-terms pay cut has not been ‘accepted’. Of those who voted in the June strike ballot, 84% of Royal College of Nursing members voted to continue striking – stopped from doing so by the Tories’ undemocratic anti-union laws.
The hated Tories are on their way out. Our NHS needs serious funds and an immediate end to privatisation sucking it dry – that is not on offer from ‘fiscally responsible’ pro-privatisation Labour. That’s why the Socialist Party is fighting for a trade union-backed workers’ list of candidates to contest the general election, as a step forward in the development of a new mass workers’ party.
- Consultants will also take strike action on 19 September, and junior doctors on 21 and 22. Unless a deal is made, both sets of workers will strike together again on 2,3 and 4 October
