by Junior doctors will begin a three-day strike on Monday ahead of a week of strikes that will include one of the biggest days of industrial action in years.
Members of the British Medical Association (BMA) in England will form queues outside hospitals across the country in the longest period of strikes ever by junior doctors.
The BMA launched an advertising campaign that said junior doctors could earn more money “serving coffee than saving patients”.
Members of several unions will strike on Budget Day in one of the biggest single days of industrial action for years.
Workers taking action include civil servants, teachers, university staff, London Underground drivers and BBC journalists.
There will be rallies and demonstrations across the country, including a large protest in Westminster.
Public sector unions have criticized the government for its handling of the pay dispute, which has been escalating for months.
Progress has been made in Wales and Scotland after negotiations with ministers, but unions say the Westminster government is taking a completely different approach.
The BMA said entry-level doctors earn £14.09 an hour, less than a cafe barista, adding that junior doctors in England will have seen a 26% real-terms cut in their pay since 2008/09.
An advertising campaign launched by the union says: “Pret a Manger has announced it will pay up to £14.10 an hour. A junior doctor earns just £14.09. Thanks to this government you can make more coffee than save patients. This week the junior doctors will be on strike so that they are paid what they deserve.”
Dr Becky Bates, a first-year doctor at Midlands, said: “I thought being a doctor would give me financial independence, but instead I’m still completely dependent on others.
“With tuition fees, credit cards and personal loans, I left medical school with over £100,000 in debt and now my wages aren’t even enough to allow me to fix my car when something goes wrong.
I don’t come from money, but at 28 I’m counting on my mother to run up credit card debt so I can cover these expenses. It’s humiliating to me and not fair to her
Dr. Becky Bates
“I come from a single-parent family. I don’t come from money, but at 28 I’m counting on my mother to run up credit card debt so I can cover these expenses. It’s humiliating to me and not fair to her.
“As a junior doctor, I can be responsible for over 400 patients overnight – assessing them, prescribing medication, having very difficult conversations with families about end-of-life care and being the first port of call should anything go wrong wrong. . However, our skills and responsibilities are completely devalued.
“My situation is far from unique and that is why I and the vast majority of my colleagues have been forced to take to the picket line this week.”
Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, co-chairs of the BMA’s junior doctors committee, said: “Are all junior doctors really worth £14.09 an hour? These are people who can provide life-saving care, have trained intensively in medical school and run up around £100,000 in debt in the process.
“We fully support increasing any worker’s pay in line with inflation and it’s worth thinking about the fact that the government has cut the salaries of junior doctors so much so they can earn more coffee.
“Is it any surprise that young doctors are looking for work overseas or in other fields when the government tells them they are worth more than a quarter less than they were in 2008?
“Losing such valuable clinicians to other countries and professions when waiting lists are at record highs means patients will suffer even more than they already do.
“That’s why the doctors are on strike. We are fighting to get our pay back. We struggle to restore our worth. We are fighting to restore our workforce to make the NHS an effective healthcare system again.”
We are working closely with NHS England on contingency plans to help protect patient safety during strikes, prioritizing urgent, urgent and critical care – but there will inevitably be some disruption for patients
Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told reporters on his flight to the US: “It is very disappointing that the junior doctors’ union is not engaging with the government.
“We have actually had a constructive dialogue with other unions who have accepted our offer to come and talk.
“As you have seen with rail… they have made an offer to their members, we have constructive dialogue with the nurses unions and all the other health unions and I would urge junior doctors to follow suit and accept the government’s offer to come and talk , the other unions have done it and we are making progress.”
Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said: “It is incredibly disappointing that the British Medical Association (BMA) has rejected my proposal to open formal pay negotiations on the condition that the strikes stop.
“I greatly appreciate the hard work of junior doctors and urge the unions to come to the bargaining table and call off the strikes which are putting patient safety at risk and affecting efforts to tackle backlogs. I want to find a fair settlement that recognizes the critical role of junior doctors and the wider economic pressures facing the UK.
“I have had constructive and meaningful talks with unions representing nurses, ambulance workers and other non-medical staff, who have agreed to end the strike and negotiations will continue this week.
“We are working closely with NHS England on contingency plans to help protect patient safety during strikes, prioritizing urgent, urgent and critical care – but there will inevitably be some disruption for patients.”
NHS leaders said they were very concerned that strike action by junior doctors would take the disruption caused by recent strikes to the next level, putting patient safety at risk and delaying work to reduce care delays.
Talks between the government and other health unions will continue this week, keeping alive hope of a breakthrough in the long-running NHS pay dispute.
London Underground services will be crippled on Wednesday due to strike action by members of Aslef and the Rail, Shipping and Transport union in a row over pensions and conditions.
Finn Brennan, Aslef’s full-time Underground organizer, said: “This is not a strike for pay or more leave. It’s about ensuring that change and “modernization” come by agreement.
We are always ready to discuss and negotiate, but we need TfL to accept that any change is not imposed but must be agreed
Finn Brennan, Ashlef
“Central government has used the fallout from the pandemic to insist that Transport for London targets staff pensions and working conditions.
“They have no problem bailing out the banks or handing out billions of pounds in dubious contracts to their relatives, but they refuse to properly fund vital services like public transport in this country.
“The government wants London Underground staff to fill the hole they have made in TfL’s budget by accepting massive cuts to their pensions and changes to working conditions that would destroy our work/life balance and reduce their income in retirement.
“Aslef members are simply not willing to accept it. That’s why we’re on strike this week.
“We are always ready to discuss and negotiate, but we need TfL to accept that any change is not forced but must be agreed.”
Rail services will be disrupted due to RMT strikes on Thursday and Saturday on a number of rail services leading to widespread cancellations.
Members of the GMB union working for Amazon in Coventry will strike all week in a dispute over pay.
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said: “Rishi Sunak has learned nothing from his failed approach to NHS strikes, which have already led to 140,000 canceled operations and appointments.
“He is repeating the same mistakes again by refusing to negotiate with junior doctors, the very doctors who represent the future of the NHS.
“Patients will not forgive Rishi Sunak for not even trying to stop these strikes from continuing when they could have been devastating to patient safety.”
