New strikes in hospitals and rail in Britain

The United Kingdom faces new strikes on Thursday, affecting both hospitals, where thousands of specialist doctors have walked off work for the first time in ten years, and the railways, where train drivers have once again walked out.

The country, facing a serious crisis in the cost of living, has been hit by strikes for several months in various sectors: health, transport, education or the post office… Workers are demanding wage increases in the face of inflation that is slowing but remains the highest among the G7 countries, at 7.9% in a year to June.

Following nurses, paramedics, the “junior doctors” who are the equivalent of interns, it is this week the most experienced doctors “consultants” to stop work in English hospitals. They began the 48-hour strike at 7 a.m. local time (6 a.m. GMT) on Thursday.

Hospital dentists have joined the movement.

The public health service, the NHS, is weak. After years of austerity treatment and the COVID-19 pandemic, access to care is becoming increasingly complex.

Children are waiting up to 18 months to have dental treatment requiring anaesthesia, including tooth extractions, according to a BBC investigation published on Wednesday.

As of last Tuesday, a five-day strike by “junior doctors” led to the postponement of over 100,000 appointments. The NHS has warned experts there could be even more disruption.

In total, more than 600,000 medical appointments have been affected over the eight months of the strike, according to NHS Chief Medical Officer Stephen Powis. “It becomes more and more difficult to get services back on track after each strike,” he lamented.

– “a sad day” –

Philip Kelly, a specialist in acute medicine, told a protest outside a London hospital: “No strike is no party. It’s a sad day.” But “at the end of the year, we will be paid 40% less than in 2008 in real terms”, he lamented.

The government has proposed a 6% hike this year for medical specialists.

Health Minister Steve Barclay said in a statement: “My door is always open to discuss non-pay issues, but this offer is final and so I call on the BMA (British Medical Association Union) to end their strike immediately.”

“We are very committed (in our work), we are highly qualified, we do extremely important work (…) Of course it is a business but we have to pay the bills, pay for our accommodation, and we have to educate our children”, insisted radiologist Rosie Jalan in front of the BMA headquarters when questioned by AFP.

But ophthalmologist Christopher Leek also highlights the “degradation of working conditions” more broadly.

He adds, “It is not just about wages, it is generally because we are being asked to work too hard.”

On 13 July, Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak urged the civil service unions to end the strike and accept the government’s final pay rise offer of 5% to 7%, depending on the region. In such a situation, the teachers have announced to suspend their agitation after the offer of 6.5%.

Train drivers of the RMT union, which has intensified the strike for a year, also walked out on Thursday as the school holidays begin.

Rail services warned that “there will be little or no service across the vast majority of the network” on Thursday and again on 22 and 29 July. Railway union Eslef started the strike on 17 July, which is supposed to end on Saturday.

“These attacks are part of a campaign that began more than a year ago,” RMT general secretary Mick Lynch told Sky News. They are disrupting trains “from the south west of England to Scotland”, he said.

“We are really in trouble. People should get decent wages,” he said.

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