Junior doctors’ strike: what’s reasonable and what’s not?

The secretary of state for health and social care says that a 35% “pay rise” for junior doctors is “simply unaffordable.”1 This misinformative statement implies that doctors are unreasonable in seeking restoration of pay that amounted to a pay cut over several years. The BMA did not make 35% a precondition or condition to negotiations.Pay erosion without genuine consideration of restoration is not only morally reprehensible: it signifies that the medical profession can and should be exploited simply because the government has the power to do so. The BMA’s willingness to discuss multi-year deals shows potential for compromise if the government acknowledges the need for pay restoration. The government’s ideas on “reasonableness” about negotiations on pay restoration seem anchored primarily in budgetary constraints and ignore the broader effect on patients served by the NHS. How reasonable is it to prolong doctors’ strikes to the tune of £1bn2 in the face…
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