As reported by the BBC last week, 98% of junior doctors voted in favour of going on a full strike in response to a dispute with government ministers over new contract proposals - citing the contract conditions as unsafe. There will be three strike dates: Tuesday 1st December, Tuesday 8th December and Wednesday 16th December. This article provides a detailed explanation of what the dispute is about: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-34775980.
Given that 76% of the British Medical Association (BMA) membership voted, this is a remarkable and comprehensive result, and an emphatic rejection of the offer put on the table by the Health Secretary. At Birmingham, Warwick SU, University of Leicester Students' Union and University of Nottingham Students' Union, we'll will be working with the thousands of medical students that we represent across the Midlands to support them in their continued battle for safe contracts.
We will be organising a ‘Thunderclap’ event for the first day of industrial action – Tuesday 1 December. If you sign up to the Thunderclap here: https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/35098-fair-deal-for-junior-doctors, the agreed tweet will be sent to the Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, at a specified time on that day from your account. It would be fantastic if you could spread the word among your friends!
Let’s keep up the fight for our junior doctors – democratic results are very rarely as emphatic as this, which just shows how important it is to listen to the very people who are being affected by these changes.
Guild of Students, Warwick SU, Leceister SU & Nottingham SU Officer Teams, 2015-16.