LONDON (Reuters) -Resident doctors in England will go on strike next month, their trade union said on Thursday, as part of escalating industrial action over job insecurity and pay erosion.
The strike action, which will take place between November 14 to 19, follows failed talks with the government to produce what the British Medical Association called a “credible plan” to address unemployment among newly qualified doctors and years of real-terms pay erosion.
“This is not where we wanted to be,” Jack Fletcher, chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee, said. “This is a situation which cannot go on.”
The action in November follows a five-day strike in July, when resident doctors protested the government’s refusal to improve on a 5.4% pay offer.
The BMA has been seeking a 29% rise to restore pay to 2008 levels, arguing that half of second-year doctors now struggle to find jobs despite widespread staff shortages.
(Reporting by William James, writing by Sam Tabahriti)
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