Trainee doctors call for coordinated strikes with nurses within minutes of rejection of government offer for 5% pay rise
- Doctors expressed their desire for joint strikes, saying this would be ‘really disruptive’
- Former NHS chief Simon Stevens warned it would be ‘unconscionable’
- Nursing union, NHS Staff Council, will meet on May 2 and announce the voting results
Young doctors called for joint strikes with nurses within minutes of rejecting the government’s 5 percent pay offer, it was alleged last night.
Medics expressed their desire for concerted strikes on an online forum – with a post from a doctor-in-training claiming coordinated action would “really disrupt life.”
But another argued “they should be back to back rather than simultaneous.”
Vivek Trivedi, co-chair of the British Medical Association, said The times: ‘Of course we do not exclude anything, our unions will communicate closely with each other to discuss how we can continue together.’
The nursing union, the NHS staff council, will meet on May 2 and announce the result of the vote, with one medic writing online that it promises to be ‘a very, very interesting few months’.
Medics expressed their desire for concerted strikes on an online forum – with a post from a doctor-in-training claiming coordinated action would “really disrupt life.” Pictured: NHS junior doctors on the picket line outside Southend University Hospital in Essex on April 14
The nursing union, the NHS staff council, will meet on May 2 and announce the result of the vote, with one medic writing online that it promises to be ‘a very, very interesting few months’. Pictured: NHS Junior doctors gather in central Birmingham on April 14
Members of the Royal College of Nursing will go on strike over the bank holiday in early May.
Former NHS chief Simon Stevens warned last night that it would be ‘unconscionable’ for doctors and nurses to organize a coordinated strike.
Lord Stevens wrote in The Spectator: ‘If further strikes continue, the waiting lists will at least get worse.
“The nuclear option to withdraw coverage for emergency services and urgent cancer care would be unconscionable.”
Meanwhile, a new wave of industrial action during the king’s coronation will cause disruption.
Unions representing security staff at Heathrow Airport and traffic controllers in Westminster said members would leave early next month.
The timing coincides with the coronation at Westminster Abbey on Saturday, May 6.
The Unite union said security officers at Heathrow would leave on May 4-6, 9-10 and 25-27, warning the strikes will cause “inevitable disruptions and delays”.
Former NHS chief Simon Stevens warned last night that it would be ‘unconscionable’ for doctors and nurses to organize a coordinated strike. Pictured: Young doctors on a picket line outside University College Hospital in London on April 14
Members of the Royal College of Nursing will go on strike over the bank holiday in early May. Pictured: Young doctors on a picket line at Whittington Hospital, London, on April 13
But Heathrow said last night it would not allow Unite to ‘disrupt the flow of visitors to the UK during such an important period for the country’.
The GMB said traffic wardens in Westminster employed by contractor NSL will take action without a strike from May 1 to 8 and strike action on May 2, 4 and 6.
GMB organizer Alex Etches said: ‘If NSL doesn’t make a sensible offer…we will see what an important job our members are doing when the King moves from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Cathedral (sic) on Saturday 6th May. .’
Ambulance workers and health workers also announced new union actions yesterday.
Unite said its members would strike on May 1 and 2, pending the rejection of the government’s wage offer.
Ambulance staff from the South Central, South East Coast and West Midlands trusts will leave on May 2.
Staff from Christies NHS Foundation Trust, Christies Pathology Partnership, East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust and Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust will also strike that day.
Unite confirmed earlier this week that its members of Guy’s and St Thomas’ in London and the Yorkshire Ambulance Service will strike on May 1.
