Britain faces fresh strikes at hospitals, where thousands of specialist doctors are out of work for the first time in a decade, and on the railways as train drivers strike again.
Faced with a severe cost-of-living crisis, the country has been experiencing months of strikes in health, transport, education, postal and other sectors.
Workers are calling for pay rises to counter inflation, which is slowing but still high in G7 countries, registering 7.9 percent in June on an annual basis.
After nurses, ambulance crews and “junior doctors”, it is the turn of “consultants”, i.e. more experienced doctors, to stop working in English hospitals this week.
The doctors began a 48-hour strike at 7:00 local time (6:00 GMT) on Thursday. Hospital dentists also joined them.
The National Health Service (NHS) system is under enormous pressure. After years of austerity and the COVID-19 pandemic, access to care has become increasingly complex.
According to an investigation published by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on Wednesday, children must wait up to 18 months to receive dental treatment that requires anaesthetic, including tooth extractions.
The “junior doctors” strike, which lasted five days until last Tuesday, led to the postponement of more than 100,000 appointments. And the health insurance organization, the “NHS,” warned that a strike by professionals could cause further unrest.
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According to NHS chief medical officer Stephen Boyce, more than 600,000 medical appointments have been affected during the eight-month strikes.
“It becomes more and more difficult to restore services after each strike,” Boyce said.
“The strike is not a celebration. It’s a sad day,” said intensive care specialist Dr Philip Kelly at a sit-in outside a hospital in London. “By the end of this year, in real terms we will be paid 40% less than what we were paid in 2008.”
The government has proposed to raise the salaries of specialist doctors by 6% this year.
But according to the British Medical Association (BMA), the scheme equates to a pay cut in real terms.
“My door is always open to discuss non-pay issues and this proposal is final, so I am calling on the British Medical Association to call off the strikes immediately,” Health Secretary Steve Barclay said in a statement.
On 13 July, Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak urged public sector unions to end strikes and accept the government’s final offer of a 5% to 7% wage increase.
In light of this, the teachers announced a suspension of their strike following a 6.5% hike in their salaries.
In this regard, the train drivers belonging to the “RMD” trade union, which intensified their protest for a year, have gone on strike after the school holidays began.
On Thursday and July 22 and 29, rail services warned there would be “limited or no service across a large part of the network”.
Workers of the “Asleaf” trade union started the strike on July 17, which is expected to end on Saturday.
“These strikes are part of a campaign that started over a year ago,” RMT general secretary Mick Lynch told Sky News.
He said the strikes were affecting trains “from the south west of England to Scotland”.
“We are really facing difficulties. Employees need to get an acceptable salary,” he added.
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