Statement by Socialist Alternative Political Committee
Resident doctors will be back on strike for jobs and pay after rejecting a last-minute government offer. Workers delivered a massive mandate for action after British Medical Association (BMA) members returned a landslide vote to reject the deal put forward by Health Minister Wes Streeting. The online poll saw 65% of members turn out, with 83% voting against the deal.
According to the BMA, pay for resident doctors is still around 20% lower than 2008 levels. Meanwhile access to the jobs and training programme for doctors to reach higher-level positions is extremely restricted, with an average of five applicants for each place on the programme.
While Streeting has already been forced to offer an increase in training places and cover the cost of exams, he has refused to budge on the question of pay. The government’s stubbornness has forced workers back out onto the picket lines.
Government attacks
Labour has responded with furious attacks in the media against the resident doctors. Their effort to undermine support for the strikes has seen Labour ministers raising the spectre of a winter crisis in the NHS, aggravated by the ongoing flu wave.
Streeting himself has said it is “selfish” to strike during this winter’s crisis, feigning concern about the NHS already being on its knees. This is completely dishonest and cynical. Of course, staff would not have to go on strike at all, nor would the health system be racked by annual winter crises, if the government would put the needed funding into NHS services and staffing, including the reversal of enormous pay erosion!
Unfortunately, the government’s rhetoric has had a certain effect, with YouGov indicating only 33% support for the strikes among the public. BMA members are right to hold firm – public support alone doesn’t determine the outcome of their struggle. But pay erosion is far from exclusive to NHS workers. In fact, the vast majority of workers have seen their real-terms wages decline since 2008. As we head toward Christmas, millions of workers are feeling the pinch, with many working-class people even forced to choose between heating and eating in the face of persistent inflation.
The only way to change this is for workers in other sectors to follow the BMA’s lead. The planned strikes of FE workers in UCU next month is a welcome start. A victory for the resident doctors will be a powerful impetus for other sectors to take up the struggle against the cost of living crisis. Building public support, especially through coordinating struggles, can help guarantee a victory.
Your Party: turn to the picket lines!
Your Party branches should take a bold lead with organised support for the strikes, including visits to picket lines, collections for strike funds and inviting BMA reps to speak at meetings. This could be a step toward building a political force, linked to workers in struggle, that can challenge Labour and the capitalist system they defend.
We need a mass injection of funds into the NHS to put an end to dangerous wait times, corridor care and staffing shortages. Privatised services must be taken back into public ownership as part of a programme for a democratically-run socialist health service that can meet society’s needs.
