Strike Action

They do not, otherwise they wouldn't be removing safeguards regarding safe working hours. Also you imply that junior doctors are wilfully working stupid hours to grab overtime money. We don't. We have set rotas and work where we are told and take our pay. Countless times as a junior doctor I have stayed late for no pay out of compassion and, above all, to provide a safe service. Jeremy hunt thought he could take advantage of the good nature of doctors. He has just made a grave political error by making an enemy of an intelligent, politically well-informed and dedicated workforce.

I want to believe that Hunt is a just a misguided buffoon but unfortunately I suspect this is the next stage in the dismantling of the NHS with the end goal being the weakening of the NHS to the point where private health service becomes an increasingly palatable option.

 

That's what I was trying to highlight ,you can't knock train drivers for making what they are making and you really can't compare both salaries

I have a trade and Years gone by I think tradesman were looked down on ,now totally different ball game and now a days can make great money

Just look at tanker drivers and the likes of tube train drivers ,it is what it is

 

Bollocks the company i work for has two sites in London and only pay 31k a year

 

I don't know what your trade is but brickies we use at the moment are on £240 a shift,and fair play to them,building industry struggled for years.

 

Really? I can remember a few years back they were comparing the earnings of tube drivers to black cab drivers,31k in London is * all money

 

Yup i know this cause i checked to raise it for our site wage negotiations coming up

 

junior doctors are protecting their pay like the rest. What they need to accept is that reform is mandatory in ensuring and safeguarding the NHS. Instead they believe they are the brokers of power in a state run service. I totally agree that Jeremy Hunt has handled this appallingly and only encouraged a reaction, but for the good of the health service it has to change. They should not be making such gross amounts for working by 7 or at weekends. Healthcare is 7 day a week job, not 5 and then extra for working weekends. Let's say your contract says you do 40 hours this week, you should be paid your salary for those hours. If you work a 12 hour shift on Saturday that should not be classified as premium pay. Unfortunately it is, and it allows doctors to make huge amounts of money on top of their salary. the NHS needs major structural reform for it to keep it in existence. We all love the NHS but like every child it needs tough love now and again.

 

Would you work highly unsociable hours for flat rate pay, or would you be happy with a new contract that hasn't been ratified by your union or even finalised yet and can still be added to forced uppon you, of course you wouldn't yes we all love the NHS but no more than the people who work in it or run it, this is not tough love this is a Tory government pushing agenda's towards a private health service, if you cannot see that then more * fool you

 

I work unsociable hours all the time and the only OT I get is when it is over my contracted hours. Some people don't even get time and half either.

Let's not pretend this is just any other job however. On the one hand they are saying how precious the NHS is, how important it is to us as a society. In fact the are openly exploiting the NHS being a political tool for their own political ends. Yet you are saying "well you wouldn't do that in your job". Well my job isn't part of the largest state employer in the world after the U.S. Department of Defense and the Chinese Army or a national institution, or an absolutely free health service to everyone in society. If you want this incredible thing to continue then make some sacrifices. Change your hours and some will take a slight pay cut. That's the question you need to ask yourself: should we limit the amount of money that junior doctors make in working unsociable hours - which are classified as evenings and weekends - or should we privatize parts of the NHS? Your choice. I say streamline their pay.

How exactly is this about the Tories and privatization? Considering they have a majority and could start outsourcing telecommunications or something, why here? It's disputes like this and a failure to change that will lead to privatization.

 

Is it just in England that the doctors are going on strike or is it the whole of the UK

 

Just England mate because the other countries aren't under the direct control of a certain party funny that eh

 

That's probably why the NHS staff in Scotland are getting better paid than the equivalent staff in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

 

I would think so mate the SNP are a lot of things but stupid isn't one of them, well apart from that * dolly football bill