The British Medical Association (BMA) has announced it will take the “first steps” towards securing a new ballot for industrial action – despite ongoing talks with the Government to resolve a pay dispute.
In a statement posted on Twitter on Tuesday night, the BMA’s Junior Doctors Committee said the potential reballot would send the Government a “clear message” that they could not “run down the clock” until the union’s current mandate runs out.
“Stay united – we’re here to stay,” it added.
The BMA, whose current mandate runs until August, have not called further strikes since entering into negotiations with Health Secretary Steve Barclay last month. Around 47,000 junior doctors have already taken part in two sets of strikes in the past two months.
Addressing MPs at the Health and Select Committee on Tuesday, she said: “It is positive, definitely positive and I’m cautiously optimistic about that, but the pace here is, is painfully slow.”
She added: “I would really emphasise that there was no need for this strike action to take place.
“We told the Government all the way back last summer that we were looking to open negotiations and there were no negotiations. And then when we finally got into negotiations after the first round of strike action, they were almost immediately collapsed by completely unreasonable preconditions.”
The union has called for a 35 per cent pay rise to address what they claim is a 26 per cent salary cut since 2008.
Separately, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) announced on Tuesday night that a fresh ballot for strike action would begin on May 23 and run for a month.
It comes after members rejected a pay offer involving a one-off lump sum and a 5 per cent pay rise for next year – despite the union recommending the deal.
The RCN said its new ballot would be aggregated, meaning it would have a mandate to strike in every NHS trust in England.
To achieve a country-wide mandate, half of all eligible members must vote and the majority must say “yes” to strike action.
In an email to RCN members, RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive Pat Cullen, called on nurses to “force the government back to the negotiating table and to make an improved pay offer”.
Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, said of the new ballot: “There is still time for serious talks between the government and unions to resolve these ongoing disputes and to avert further strikes.
“However, trust leaders will understandably be alarmed by the prospect of more disruptive strikes by nurses – but this time at a national level – just as the NHS is dealing with the aftermath of the most significant period of industrial action in the health service’s history.”
