Junior doctors: Pay restoration is just the start, says JDC co-chair

The dispute between junior doctors and the government may last a “very long time,” but BMA leaders are already setting their sights beyond pay to “improve conditions and restrictions.”Speaking at the junior doctors’ conference on 29 April, Robert Laurenson, co-chair of the BMA’s Junior Doctors Committee, accused the health and social care secretary for England, Steve Barclay, of “resorting to age old union bashing tactics.” But Laurenson said that Barclay was facing the “most engaged and confident BMA in years,” with more than 17 000 additional doctors joining it since January and taking membership to “record levels.”Junior doctors are calling for “pay restoration” to reverse their estimated 26% real terms cut in pay since 2008-09. The BMA said this would require a 35.3% pay rise, costing the government around £1.65bn this financial year.1 Junior doctors in England have so far taken seven days of strike action.“Mr Barclay expects you to…
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