Talks to begin to prevent second doctors’ strike in England
Negotiations will begin tomorrow between the British Medical Association (BMA) and the UK government to prevent a second strike by junior doctors.
The first strike started at 8am on Tuesday 12 January, and saw over 3,000 medical operations being postponed.
The dispute concerns a new employment contract for junior doctors working in the National Health Service (NHS) in England, which among other changes would mean less pay for working “antisocial hours”.
Representatives of the BMA and the government will take part in conciliation talks with the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) on Thursday and Friday. The government has indicated it is prepared to impose the new contract if an agreement cannot be reached.
A second strike is scheduled for 48 hours beginning on 26 January. As with the first strike, emergency cover will be provided.
The NHS estimates that of the 26,000 junior doctors due to work on Tuesday, only around 10,000 did so, mainly to provide emergency cover. There are 55,000 junior doctors employed by the NHS in England.
David Dickinson has written for IZA World of Labor about alternative dispute resolution procedures. He writes that: “Dispute resolution procedures can be useful for workplace wage negotiations, contract disputes, or other grievances. The most helpful type uses a nonbinding stage (such as mediation) before any binding procedure (such as arbitration) to reduce unrealistic expectations and encourage voluntary settlement.”
Related articles:
Alternative dispute resolution by David L. Dickinson
Employment and wage effects of extending collective bargaining agreements by Ernesto Villanueva