WORLD WORLDWIDE UK ENGLAND News Journal Update - (en) UK, ACG: Junior Doctors Out on Strike but United Action Needed in NHS (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 

Junior doctors in England pursued their demands for a 35% pay rise by
coming out on the longest strike in NHS history, starting on January 4th
and due to end on January 9th. From the start picket lines have been
supported by other workers in the NHS, coming out in their breaks. ----
Meanwhile Rishi Sunak and other ministers queued up to condemn the
strike, whilst the government refused to have talks with the junior
doctors whilst strikes were on. Former Health Secretary and now
Environment Secretary Steve Barclay brought out the old chestnut of the
strike being "politically motivated," an old standby for politicians,
going back to Harold Wilson's condemnation of striking seafarers in the
1960s.

  Junior doctors in Wales are set to join the strike movement for a 72
hour strike on January 15th, with 3,000 due to come out after a massive
vote in favour of strike action. Senior doctors in Wales are also
balloting for strike action.

Junior doctors work extremely long hours, meaning they are working at
below the basic minimum wage. They have seen their pay cut but almost a
third in the last ten years.

The strike is more than about doctors' salaries. There is widespread
dissatisfaction at conditions in the NHS, rightly seen as at crisis
point. Many junior doctors are forced to work extra overtime hours, and
then have to chase management to actually get paid for these extra
hours. These hours are often worked in hospitals where the quota of
junior doctors is often half or more what it should be, putting extreme
pressure on already overworked doctors. There is widespread contempt for
senior managers in human resources and staffing, most of whom have no
experience of clinical healthcare. There is also a widespread feeling
that junior doctors should have more input in the running of the NHS and
that widespread reforms need to be carried out within it.

The strike is also extremely important in indicating the increasing
proletarianisation of groups of workers who have traditionally seen
themselves as professionals and distinct from the mass of the working
class. Worsening conditions, longer hours, and factory style management,
more obsessed with targets and management of budgets, are beginning to
change this, not just in the health service but in other sectors like
education.

In Wales, the fight is not just with the Tory government in Westminster,
but with the Labour government in Wales, who have offered a derisory
rise of 5%. In both England and Wales, there is cynicism among some
junior doctors that Labour, if elected, will be any different. They
remember  the moves to privatisation with previous Labour governments,
the cutting of beds and the PFI schemes.

The worsening situation for junior doctors means that there is less
access to the job for those of working class origin. The long hours and
low pay mean that only those with access to financing  can get into the
profession. This at a time when more junior doctors are needed. In
addition, the strict immigration rules mean that it is harder to recruit
from abroad, putting even more pressure on the health service.

Much of the press are frothing at the mouth about the strike. For
example, the London Evening Standard  alleged that 337,000 appointments
and operations in London had been cancelled because of the strike and
that the pay demand was 'unrealistic'. Meanwhile it carried a cartoon
from the dire Christian Adams, depicting a crashed plane with the
insignia NHS and the caption " I know what will help- let's go on
strike." This at a time when MPs are in line to receive a 7.1 pay
increase, and when decades of austerity, cuts and privatisation have
brought about the near-collapse of the NHS. The low pay, long hours,
nasty management, and bad conditions have caused many working in the NHS
to leave.  The crisis in the NHS is caused, not by strikes, but by the
many years of cuts and privatisation imposed by both Tory and Labour
governments. The so called 'winter crisis' that happens every year is
not caused by strikes but by these policies.

Workers in the NHS need to seriously look towards constructing
committees in each hospital and clinic that includes all workers-
whether they be doctors, radiographers, nurses, midwives, ambulance
staff, porters, and other so-called ancillary or support staff. These
committees need to include those who are in unions and those who are
not, and to go beyond the false divisions between workers imposed by the
unions. These committees should then look towards coordinated action in
the health service, including united strike action. The hour is getting
late, the NHS is on life support, and it is this kind of imaginative
organisation and action that is now vitally necessary.

https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/2024/01/08/junior-doctors-out-on-strike-but-united-action-needed-in-nhs/
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