Sunak calls for ending strikes after agreeing to increase wages for millions of employees

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak urged public sector unions on Thursday to end strikes and accept the wage increases agreed upon by his government, on the first day of an unprecedented strike by doctors.

Sunak, whose government has agreed to wage increases ranging from 5% to 7% for millions of employees, stated that this is the "final offer."

He said, "There will be no further discussions on wages. We will not negotiate again... No strike will change our decision."

The announced increases include 6.5% for teachers, 7% for police officers, 6% for some hospital doctors who began a five-day strike on Thursday, and 5% for the military.

Teacher unions announced in a joint statement the suspension of their upcoming strikes, a move welcomed by Sunak.

The Prime Minister ruled out borrowing or tax increases to fund these raises, and spoke about "reordering priorities" in public spending.

He announced an increase in visa costs and an increase in the amount migrants pay to access the public health system, which would enable the government to earn £1 billion ($1.17 billion), according to his statement.

The United Kingdom has witnessed increasing strikes in both the private and public sectors in recent months due to demands for wage increases in the face of inflation, which has caused a severe cost-of-living crisis. Despite the slowdown, inflation reached 8.7% in May on an annual basis, the highest among G7 countries.

Rishi Sunak called for an end to the doctors' strike.

Junior doctors began a new strike on Thursday, starting at 7 a.m. and continuing until the same time on Tuesday.

This represents the longest continuous mobilization in the history of the UK's National Health Service (NHS), which recently celebrated its 75th anniversary, according to the British Medical Association (BMA).

Junior doctors account for about half of the hospital doctors in the UK, ranging from newly graduated doctors to practitioners with more than eight years of experience.

They have escalated their strikes in recent months, resulting in the postponement of a significant number of non-urgent appointments.

Doctor Arjun Singh (27 years old) participated in a protest on Thursday morning in front of University College Hospital in London. He said, "The National Health Service has functioned due to the willpower of its workforce, and this is the last chance to change" the situation.

He added that there are thousands of vacant positions, while some of his colleagues are considering traveling to countries that "value their doctors."

The officials of the British Medical Association, Robert Lawrence and Vivek Trivedi, stated that Thursday "marks the beginning of the longest doctors' strike in the history of the National Health Service."

When the strike was announced at the end of June, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health considered this new strike to be "very disappointing." They stated that "these five days of strikes will cause significant disruption to patients and put pressure on other parts of NHS staff."

Meanwhile, the union emphasizes that junior doctors have lost 26% of their real wages since 2008 when austerity measures were imposed on healthcare services. The union is demanding a 35% wage increase, which the government opposes.

According to the union's figures, around 7.42 million people were waiting for treatment in April in England, with over 3 million waiting for more than 18 months.



AFP