The BMA has just announced that it has rejected the government’s 3% pay offer (on top of the 9% already given out) and will be striking in December from the 20th to 23rd and January from the 3rd to the 9th. A Christmas gift the government won’t enjoy…
A massive leak of private WhatsApp messages reveals pay was “the only real red line” for the BMA junior doctors leadership. Despite the BMA publicly claiming the strike was about patient safety, senior BMA junior doctor committee member Kitty Mohan admitted:
“It [pay] is the only real red line. It’s the thing 99 per cent of juniors told us they were upset about in August.”
The secret messages show the BMA leadership wanted to “draw this [dispute] right out” and use industrial action to tie up “the DH up in knots for the next 16-18 months”. Committee chair Dr Johann Malawana said drawing out the dispute was the “best solution… to impose [the contract] against our support”. Dr Malawana said he “had nothing to talk about” with the Department for Health, despite the BMA publicly calling the government to the table. He also said:
“I don’t care about anything apart from extracting the best contract. Don’t give a shit about anything else.”
Guido told you so…
