JUNIOR DOCTORS IN ENGLAND ARE ON THE THIRD DAY OF THEIR SIX-DAY WALK OUT

JUNIOR DOCTORS IN ENGLAND ARE ON THE THIRD DAY OF THEIR SIX-DAY WALK OUT –  Junior doctors in England were subjected to a 26.1% real terms pay cut 

Junior doctors in England are on the third day of their six-day walk out, which will formally end at 7am on Tuesday. Health service executives have said the strike could mean “one of the most difficult starts to the year the NHS has ever faced”.

But the British Medical Association (BMA) has said it was forced to take action and reject the government’s December pay offer as it fails to compensate for real-terms pay cuts going as far back as 2008.

The government gave junior doctors an 8.8% pay rise last summer, with an extra 3% offered during the last round of negotiations towards the end of the year.

The BMA said it rejected the 3% offer because it does not make up for a real-terms pay cut of nearly a quarter for junior doctors since 2008.

Instead, they are calling for: Full pay “restoration” to reverse real-term cuts in pay since 2008/9; A new pay mechanism to prevent any future pay decreases against inflation and the cost of living;