UK pay rise of over 22% ends interns’ strikes

The wave of strikes by British hospital interns, which has been going on for a year and a half, is coming to an end. The British Medical Association’s interns committee in England announced on Monday, September 16, that 66% of its members had voted in favor of an agreement with the government instituting a pay increase of 22.3%.

“It should never have taken this long to get to this point”said the commission’s co-chairs, Robert Laurenson and Vivek Trivedi, welcoming the agreement as “the end of fifteen years of wage erosion and the beginning of two years of modest increases above inflation”.

Interns have staged a series of walkouts over the past 18 months to protest against below-inflation pay rises since 2010 and increased cost-of-living pressures. Shortly after coming to power in July, the new Labour government proposed a substantial two-year pay rise to end industrial action, which has seen doctors strike 11 times.

“There is still a long way to go”

Health Secretary Wes Streeting welcomed the deal and reaffirmed Labour’s belief that it repaired the legacy of the previous Conservative administration, which ruled from 2010. “Things should never have gotten this bad”he said in a statement.

“There is still a long way to go, with doctors lagging behind by 20.8% in real terms compared to the situation in 2008”nevertheless added, for their part, the co-presidents of the commission.

The doctors’ strikes, which have led to cancelled appointments and delayed treatment, are part of a series of walkouts in the public and private sectors to protest wages and working conditions as inflation has soared.