strike Archives - Hoang Viet

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Apr 5 2024

NHS consultants in England accept pay offer to end year-long dispute and strike action | UK News

Senior doctors in England have voted to accept an improved government pay deal, bringing to an end the year-long dispute which had led to strike action.

The British Medical Association (BMA), a trade union which has been representing the consultants, put the offer on pay and conditions to its members, with 83% voting in favour.

The pay deal includes changes to a doctors’ pay review body and a 2.85% (£3,000) uplift for those who have been senior doctors for four to seven years, who under the original offer received no additional uplift, said the BMA.

The offer is in addition to the 6% awarded during the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB) process last summer.

Strike action over the last two years has heaped more pressure on the NHS, where more than seven million patients remain on waiting lists for hospital treatment, leading to thousands of cancelled appointments and procedures.

It has also piled pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ahead of an expected election later this year, as polls suggest the Tory party is trailing heavily behind Labour.

He hailed the deal as “excellent news” for patients after admitting in February that he had failed to cut NHS waiting lists, a key government pledge.

“The end of consultant strike action in the NHS is excellent news for patients. It will mean we can continue making progress towards our goal of cutting the waiting lists, which have now fallen for the fourth month in a row,” he said.

“Consultants perform a vital role at the heart of the NHS – I’m pleased they’ve accepted this deal, which is fair for them and fair for the taxpayer.”

While NHS nurses ended strike action last year following a pay deal, a long-running pay dispute with junior doctors, who staged a five-day strike in February, remains ongoing.

‘Without valuing doctors, we lose them’

Dr Vishal Sharma, who chairs the BMA consultants committee, said “at the heart of this dispute was our concern for patients and the future sustainability of the NHS”.

He described the consultants’ strike action as “unprecedented” following “years of repeated real-term pay cuts”.

Dr Sharma went on to say “it’s now imperative that the DDRB utilises its independence to restore doctors’ pay and prevent any further disputes from arising.

“We’ve reached this point not just through our tough negotiations with the Government, but thanks to the resolve of consultants, who took the difficult decision to strike, and did so safely and effectively, on multiple occasions, sending a clear message that they would not back down.

“At the heart of this dispute was our concern for patients and the future sustainability of the NHS. Without valuing doctors, we lose them. Without doctors, we have no NHS and patients suffer.”

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Health and Social Care Secretary Victoria Atkins said the government’s offer was “fair and reasonable” and the deal eliminated the threat of further strikes.

She added: “Consultants will now be able to focus on providing the highest quality care for patients and we can consolidate our progress on waiting lists – which have fallen for the past four months.

“This deal directly addresses gender pay issues in the NHS and enhances consultants’ parental leave options – representing a fair deal for consultants, patients, and taxpayers.”

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Feb 24 2024

NHS strike action: Junior doctors in England begin five-day walkout threatening further patient disruption | UK News

Patients face further major disruption as junior doctors in England begin a five-day strike in their ongoing pay row with the government.

Tens of thousands of hospital appointments are set to be cancelled or postponed as a result of the latest walkout which began at 7am on Saturday and will stretch until 11.59pm on Wednesday.

It is the 10th stoppage by junior doctors since last March and follows the longest strike in NHS history in January, which lasted six full days.

“The government could have stopped these strikes by simply making a credible pay offer for junior doctors in England to begin reversing the pay cuts they have inflicted upon us for more than a decade,” Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, co-chairs of the BMA junior doctors committee, said.

“The same government could have even accepted our offer to delay this round of strike action to give more space for talks – all we asked for in return was a short extension of our mandate to strike.

“The fact that ministers have chosen strike action over what could have been the end of this year’s pay dispute is disappointing to say the least.”

The BMA also expects its strike mandate to be renewed raising the prospect of further industrial action.

What should I do if I’m ill during the strikes?

If your condition is not “serious or life-threatening”, the NHS is asking people to use pharmacists, GPs, or the NHS 111 service in the first instance.

NHS bosses have repeatedly stressed that you should still call 999 in life-threatening situations.

Non-striking medical staff will continue to provide urgent, emergency, and maternity care to people who need it, with those “with the most pressing health needs” prioritised.

People who attend A&E with less urgent needs “may experience longer waiting times than normal”.

Planned appointments and surgeries may have been cancelled, but if you have not been contacted about a rearrangement you should attend as normal, the NHS says.

Health Secretary Victoria Atkins said: “I want to see doctors treating patients, not standing on picket lines.

“In negotiations with the BMA junior doctors committee, we made it clear we were prepared to go further than the pay increase of up to 10.3% that they have already received. They refused to put our offer to their members.

“More than 1.3 million appointments and operations have already been cancelled or rescheduled since industrial action began – five days of further action will compound this.

“The NHS has robust contingency plans in place, and it is vital that people continue to come forward for treatment. But no one should underestimate the impact these strikes have on our NHS.

“So again, I urge the BMA junior doctors committee to call off their strikes and show they are prepared to be reasonable, so that we can come back to the negotiating table to find a fair way forward.”

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Junior doctors have received a pay rise averaging nearly 9% this financial year.

The BMA has been seeking a 35% “pay restoration” as its starting position, but has said it is willing to negotiate.

Junior doctors make up around half of all doctors in the NHS and have anywhere up to eight years’ experience working as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or up to three years in general practice.

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Wes Streeting, Labour’s shadow health secretary, described the latest round of strikes as having “a devastating impact on patients” but said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was refusing to negotiate.

NHS national medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis said it is “extremely concerning” that strike action and disruption “are becoming a new normal”.

“For the equivalent of more than one in every 10 days last year, the NHS has had to effectively stop carrying out most routine appointments to prioritise emergency care,” he added.

Deputy chief executive of NHS Providers Saffron Cordery said: “We can’t go on like this. Wave after wave of strikes saps the morale of staff and impacts patients.

“Trust leaders want to get on with the job of giving patients first-class care instead of having to spend too much time and energy planning for and coping with weeks of disruptive strikes.”

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Jan 10 2024

Longest strike in NHS history leads to over 113,000 patient cancellations – and impact may last for ‘months’ | UK News

The longest strike in NHS history, during which junior doctors walked out for six days, led to more than 113,000 patient operations, appointments and procedures being postponed, new figures show.

The industrial action started last Wednesday and continued until yesterday, with 25,446 staff absent from work at the peak, which was the day the strike started, 3 January.

According to NHS data, 113,779 inpatient and outpatient appointments had to be rescheduled, taking the total number since the health service strikes started in December 2022 to 1,333,221.

It means patients are “bearing the brunt” of the action, according to Louise Ansari, chief executive of Healthwatch England.

She said: “The cumulative effect of various strikes now hitting the NHS for more than a year also means people are experiencing multiple cancellations, affecting their confidence in health services, often leaving them in pain, feeling stressed and anxious.”

NHS leaders have warned the impact caused by the strike could last for “months”.

Professor Sir Stephen Powis, the national medical director for NHS England, said frontline staff were “very concerned” about the next few weeks as the “cold weather bites” and more people may need to be treated in hospital.

“This puts an incredible strain on staff who have been covering striking colleagues as we continue to navigate one of the most difficult times of year,” he said.

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The number of cancellations could be double those reported as hospitals pre-emptively did not book in pre-planned operations during strikes, according to experts.

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: “The national figure for the cancelled appointments over the last year of industrial action, in our view, significantly underestimates it because actually a lot of trusts pre-emptively didn’t make appointments in the first place.

“So you have to more or less double that figure in order to get the actual number of appointments and procedures that were cancelled.”

What do junior doctors want?

The British Medical Association (BMA), which represents junior doctors, has called for a 35% pay rise for them but the government has stated the demand is “not affordable, even over several years”.

The union claims junior doctors in England were subjected to a 26.1% real terms pay cut between 2008 and 2022.

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-term pay cut of nearly a quarter of their salary for junior doctors since 2008.

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NHS consultants took strike action in September and October and agreed to an extra 4.95% pay rise for senior doctors on top of the annual 6% increase already offered to them by the government.

This will be voted on by members of their union this month.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Despite the significant pressure, the healthcare system has coped well thanks to the hard work of consultants, nurses and other healthcare staff who worked during industrial action.

“The strikes may have ended but their repercussions will be felt for weeks and months to come.

“We want to put an end to damaging strikes once and for all, and if the BMA junior doctors’ committee can demonstrate they have reasonable expectations, we will still sit down with them.”

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Dec 22 2023

Eurostar trains to resume after French strike – as Storm Pia causes more travel disruption | UK News

Travellers heading to Europe should soon be able to resume their journey after a deal was done to end a strike that halted cross-Channel trains.

Thousands were stranded on Thursday when French workers rejected an end-of-year bonus.

Services affected included Eurostar, which runs passenger services from London St Pancras, and Eurotunnel Le Shuttle, which runs vehicle-carrying trains from Folkestone.

The disruption started about midday and at least 30 Eurostar trains were cancelled, with many turning back to where they started.

Eurotunnel later said management and trade unions had reached a deal that meant services would “resume progressively this evening and Eurostar tomorrow morning [Friday]”.

Getlink, the company that manages Channel Tunnel infrastructure, said unions wanted three times the €1,000 (£866) bonus they were offered.

The problems came on a day when all services from London Euston were suspended for a time due to overhead line damage near Watford Junction.

King’s Cross also had severe delays due to a fallen tree in the Newark area.

Large crowds massed outside the stations and on concourses, staring at their phones and trying to work out alternative routes.

At 4.30pm, Euston said the problem had been fixed and “we are working closely with train operators to get you on the move”.

However some operators, such as London Northwestern, were still reporting disruption on Thursday evening.

Storm Pia also disrupted air travel, with some planes diverting from northern airports and British Airways grounding two dozen flights.

Video showed a pilot fighting to land his plane at Birmingham in 50mph crosswinds.

The aircraft was less than 100ft from the tarmac when it was forced to pull up – but it made it down safely on the second try.

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Gusts of 115mph were recorded at Cairngorm Summit in the Highlands, while Brizlee Wood, near Alnwick in Northumberland, saw 81mph.

About 40,000 households were affected by electricity outages in the North East, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire.

But nearly all were reconnected by Thursday evening, said operator Northern Powergrid.

Elsewhere, a man was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries after a tree hit his car in Clifton, Derbyshire. Police in the county said a number of trees had fallen on the road.

Storm Pia, named by Danish forecasters, is set to move towards mainland Europe where its effect is expected to be more severe, said the Met Office.

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Dec 5 2023

Junior doctors to strike again in England in December and January after government talks break down | UK News

Junior doctors in England are to go on strike again later this month and early next year, after talks with the government broke down.

The British Medical Association (BMA) says it will call on members to walk out in December before Christmas and again in early January for several days at a time.

The first strike action will take place over three days from 7am on Wednesday 20 December to 7am on Saturday 23 December.

The second walkout will be held over six days from 7am on Wednesday 3 January until 7am on Tuesday 9 January.

The BMA told its members: “This means you should not attend any shifts starting after 6.59am on the first day of strike action. You can then attend any shifts starting from 7am on the final day.”

Ministers and BMA representatives have been locked in negotiations for over a month trying to find a resolution to the pay dispute.

BMA junior doctors committee co-chairs, Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, said it was “forced to call strikes” as the “government was unable to present a credible offer on pay” after five weeks of intense talks.

“Instead, we were offered an additional 3%, unevenly spread across doctors’ grades, which would still amount to pay cuts for many doctors this year. It is clear the government is still not prepared to address the real-terms pay cut doctors have experienced since 2008,” they said.

“It is a great shame that even though the approach was more constructive, there was not enough on offer to shape a credible deal, which we hoped would end the dispute. Without enough progress by the deadline, we have no choice but to take action that demonstrates doctors are as determined as ever in reversing their pay cuts.”

In a direct appeal to Health Secretary Victoria Atkins, they said the BMA was “ready and willing” to return to the negotiating table again should she make “a credible offer”.

They added: “A year after our dispute started, we are still too far from turning the tide on plummeting pay, morale, and retention of doctors.

“If a credible offer can be presented the day before, or even during any action, these strikes can be cancelled.”

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Ms Atkins said the government would “immediately look to come back to the table” if the junior doctors’ strikes were called off.

“It is disappointing that despite significant progress the BMA junior doctors committee have walked away from negotiations and declared new strikes, which will result in more disruption for patients and extra pressure on NHS services and staff as we enter a busy winter period, risking patient safety,” she said in a statement.

“I have been clear that I respect the work of doctors in training and want to work with them to settle this dispute.

“We have agreed a fair and reasonable offer with the BMA’s consultants committee which is being put to members for a vote following constructive talks.

“If the junior doctors committee call off their strikes, we will immediately look to come back to the table to continue negotiations.”

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Nov 24 2023

Amazon Black Friday strike: Workers in Coventry to walk out as part of international action against retailer | Business News

Amazon workers in the UK are to go on strike today to coincide with Black Friday – one of the company’s busiest shopping days of the year.

More than 1,000 staff at the firm’s warehouse in Coventry are expected to take part in the walkout, the GMB union said, amid a long-running dispute over pay and conditions.

The online retail giant has insisted customers will not be affected by the industrial action.

A protest will also be held outside Amazon UK’s head office in London, while coordinated strikes and demonstrations will be held in other European countries and the US as well.

Unions say it will be the biggest day of industrial action in Amazon’s history.

The company recently announced it would be increasing the minimum starting pay to up to £13 an hour for staff, depending on location, from next April.

But the GMB has called for a rate of at least £15 an hour, and better conditions, as staff struggle with the cost of living crisis.

GMB official Amanda Gearing, said: “Today will go down as a turning point in Amazon’s history. Working people who make Amazon’s business model possible stand up to demand their share of the company’s enormous wealth.

“Despite that, Amazon bosses are desperate to claim it will be business as usual for Amazon and their customers this Black Friday.”

Ms Gearing added: “The truth is that today will see the largest day of industrial disruption in Amazon’s history.

“With industrial action escalating and workers joining strike action in Europe and the USA, it’s clear this strike is inspiring Amazon workers worldwide to fight to force the company to change its ways.”

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An Amazon spokesperson said: “There will be no disruption to customers.

“We regularly review our pay to ensure we offer competitive wages and benefits.

“By April 2024, our minimum starting pay will have increased to £12.30 and £13 per hour depending on location, that’s a 20% increase over two years and 50% since 2018.”

They added: “We also work hard to provide great benefits, a positive work environment and excellent career opportunities.

“These are just some of the reasons people want to come and work at Amazon, whether it’s their first job, a seasonal role or an opportunity for them to advance their career.”

It marks the 28th day of strike action to hit Amazon in the UK since the start of the year.

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Oct 10 2023

Amazon workers in Coventry set to strike for four days over Black Friday | UK News

Amazon workers in the UK are set to stage fresh strikes coinciding with Black Friday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

More than 1,000 workers at the company’s Coventry site are set to walk out over pay from 7 November until 9 November as well as on Black Friday – 24 November.

The day symbolises the first shopping day in the build-up to the Christmas or holiday season, where many shops offer highly discounted prices and extend opening hours.

The strike announcement comes a day after Amazon offered a pay rise for staff of at least £1 an hour, which will kick in from 15 October.

The move means the minimum starting pay for frontline employees will rise to between £11.80 and £12.50 an hour, depending on location.

Pay is expected to increase further next April to between £12.30 and £13 an hour, depending on location.

Despite this, the GMB union said the four-day strike will be the biggest in Amazon’s history, with the potential of causing “widespread disruption to customers and the public”.

They are calling for at least £15 an hour to help with the cost of living crisis.

Rachel Fagan, GMB organiser, said: “This is an unprecedented and historic moment with low paid workers taking on one of the world’s most powerful corporations.

“This is our members’ response to the failure of Amazon bosses to listen.”

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She said Coventry is the “beating heart” of Amazon’s distribution network and the strike will “ripple throughout the company’s UK logistics”.

Amazon employees’ concerns over pay have been a long-running dispute, with staff in Coventry first walking out in January – the first time the corporation faced industrial action in the UK.

One employee at the time, Darren Westwood, said he had grown fed up with pay and working conditions – where workers are on their feet all day sorting through goods to send to other warehouses.

The company previously said the Coventry warehouse does not directly serve customer orders, so industrial action will cause no disruption to customers.

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Jul 13 2023

Junior doctors walking out for five days – the longest strike in NHS history | Politics News

Junior doctors are striking for five days from today, marking their longest period of industrial action yet.

From 7am, young medics at the British Medical Association (BMA) will walk out as they argue for their pay to be raised by about 35%.

They will return to wards on Tuesday.

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Such an increase is being demanded as the union argues it wants to restore pay to the levels seen by junior doctors in 2008 – with increases since eroded by inflation.

But Health Secretary Steve Barclay says the five-day action “collapsed” the negotiations that had been taking place.

This action follows months of wrangling between unions, the NHS and government over pay awards.

Non-doctor workers, including nurses, accepted improved terms that included a one-off payment, a pay rise of 5% for most staff and 10.4% for those on the lowest wages, and a series of “non-pay measures to support the workforce”.

Many unions accepted this offer, but some – including the Royal College of Nursing, podiatrists, radiographers and Unite – rejected it, but lost their case at a plenary meeting and the agreement was imposed.

Meanwhile, NHS consultants are set to strike for 48 hours from 7am on Thursday 20 July.

According to the BMA, “junior doctors were offered an insulting and well below inflation pay rise of 2%” – which is why they want the 35% bump.

BMA leaders Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi said: “Today marks the start of the longest single walkout by doctors in the NHS’s history, but this is still not a record that needs to go into the history books.

“We can call this strike off today if the UK government will simply follow the example of the government in Scotland and drop their nonsensical precondition of not talking whilst strikes are announced and produce an offer which is credible to the doctors they are speaking with.

“The pay offer on the table to junior doctors in Scotland and how it was reached throws into sharp relief the obstinate approach being taken by the prime minister and the health secretary, Steve Barclay.

“The health secretary has said there can be no talks while strikes are planned – Scotland has proved him wrong. He said above 5% wasn’t realistic – Scotland proved him wrong. He refused to even acknowledge the concept of pay restoration – Scotland proved this is not only possible but essential.”

Junior doctors in Scotland are to vote on a pay offer worth 17.5% over two years.

NHS Providers has called on both the unions and the government to come back to the negotiating table.

Deputy chief executive Saffron Cordery said: “Eight consecutive months of industrial action across the NHS are taking their toll not just on patients, with more than 651,000 routine procedures and appointments forced to be rescheduled, but on already overstretched services – hampering efforts to cut waiting lists.”

Mr Barclay said: “It is disappointing that the BMA is going ahead with further strike action. This five-day walkout by junior doctors will have an impact on thousands of patients, put patient safety at risk and hamper efforts to cut NHS waiting lists.

“We were in discussions about pay and a range of other measures to improve the working lives of junior doctors until their representatives collapsed the negotiations by announcing further strikes.

“A pay demand of 35% or more is unreasonable and risks fuelling inflation, which makes everyone poorer.”

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Jun 26 2023

Lighthouse workers in Scotland take ‘historic and first in a generation’ strike action over pay | UK News

Lighthouse workers who help ensure vessels pass safely through Scottish waters are downing tools for the first time in a dispute over pay.

Around 40 Unite members employed by Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB) will walk out at 12pm on Monday for 24 hours.

The workers – including able seamen, base assistants, cooks and technicians – maintain and operate Scotland’s lighthouses, beacons and buoys at sea.

Unite branded the strike action “historic and the first in a generation”.

The union is blaming the UK government, which finances the NLB, claiming it is not providing the extra funding required to improve the 2% pay rise offer.

Sharon Graham, general secretary, said: “Unite’s NLB members have been left with no option but to take a stand. What’s on offer is a brutal real-terms pay cut.

“With energy costs, inflation and interest rates climbing to heights not seen for decades, a 2% offer just doesn’t cut it.

“We will continue to push the boat out in defence of our members, and they will have our full support in their fight for better jobs, pay and conditions.”

Read more:
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The NLB maintains 208 lighthouses across Scotland and the Isle of Man.

The union said two NLB vessels – NLV Pharos and NLV Pole Star – will be docked at Oban with picket lines in place at the Gallanach Road base until noon on Tuesday.

In April, workers backed industrial action by 90.6% on a turnout of 86.5%.

Alison MacLean, the union’s industrial officer, urged the Scottish government to apply pressure on UK ministers.

She said: “The strike action by our NLB members is historic and the first in a generation. The reality is that talks with the NLB have run aground.

“This is largely down to the UK government, who finance the NLB, not providing the extra finances required to make a better offer to our members.

“We are demanding that the Scottish government intervene and apply pressure on the UK government to resolve this dispute or it is in danger of remaining in troubled waters.”

A UK government spokesperson said: “Public sector pay strikes a careful balance between recognising the vital importance of public sector workers, while delivering value for taxpayers and avoiding higher prices in the future.”

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May 13 2023

Train strike action ‘solid’ and will continue until government ‘unblocks’ pay dispute, says RMT union boss Mick Lynch | UK News

Striking rail workers have vowed to continue walking out until the government “unblocks” their pay dispute on the second day in a row of cancellations.

There are 14 rail operators affected by strike action by the RMT union on Saturday – the day of the Eurovision finale in Liverpool – after a separate walkout by train drivers from ASLEF on Friday.

Both strikes have caused widespread cancellations and show no signs of stopping after the RMT rejected a 9% pay increase.

ASLEF, which was offered an 8% increase over two years, has strikes planned until 3 June – the day of the FA Cup Final.

After rejecting the most recent offer, RMT general secretary Mick Lynch called for a special summit of unions, train operators and the government in a letter to Transport Secretary Mark Harper.

He told Sky News rail bosses want unions to call off any remaining strikes before negotiating any further – but their industrial action is “solid” and “will be as long as this campaign goes on”.

“What they want us to do is call off the dispute and then go into another set of negotiations without the leverage on the table – and we simply can’t do that,” he said on Saturday. “You don’t disarm yourself half-way through a campaign.

“It’s up to the government to unblock this dispute because they are the ones who have the final say on what is proposed at the table.

“In their contracts with these companies they stipulate what the negotiating position is and what the offers are.”

Union did not put latest offer to its members

Paul Gentleman, spokesperson for Great Western Railway, whose members are on strike today, said he knows of RMT members happy with the latest offer – but the RMT has not given members a chance to vote on it.

Describing it as “disappointing” and the dispute as “toxic”, he told Sky News a separate summit is unnecessary as “existing methods” could “provide the solution”.

Labour’s shadow employment secretary Alison McGovern added that constant train strikes are hindering the UK’s economic recovery.

Read more:
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Who is taking industrial action in 2023 and when?

But Mr Lynch said the union did not put the offer out for ballot because it did not keep up with the cost of living crisis and inflationary pressures.

“It’s not acceptable. It doesn’t meet the demands in the dispute,” he said.

It comes after the government was forced to bring the operator TransPennine Express under its control following a year of widespread delays and cancellations.

TransPennine, which was also on strike on Saturday – and covers the north of England and a small part of Scotland, has been badly affected by ASLEF driver strikes.

Mr Harper said his department had “played our part but ASLEF now need to play theirs” by calling off further strikes.

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Merseyrail, which runs the trains out of Liverpool, was not on strike on Saturday, with Eurovision organisers insisting travel to the city for the final would not be disrupted.

But those not already in Liverpool for the final will be unable to get there if they were relying on connecting services run by: Avanti West Coast; c2c; Chiltern Railways; CrossCountry; East Midlands Railway; Gatwick Express; Great Northern; Great Western Railway; Greater Anglia; Heathrow Express; Island Line; LNER; London Northwestern Railway; Southeastern; Southern; Stansted Express; Thameslink; TransPennine Express; or West Midlands Railway.

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