UK Junior Doctors Start a 96-Hour Walkout Over Better Wages

On Thursday, junior doctors in England began a five-day strike demanding higher wages to help them cope with the rising cost of living caused by inflation.

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The protest forced the cancellation of thousands of appointments since doctors will limit themselves to attending to emergency cases and patients considered a priority.

The British Medical Association (BMA) says junior doctors have been picketing outside hospitals from today until July 18 when the strike will end.

Health Ministry Steve Barclay was reluctant to give doctors a 35 percent pay rise, calling it "unreasonable."

Meanwhile, the conservative government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is about to decide whether to accept the recommendations of pay review bodies affecting public sector workers. Local media estimate that salary increases could not be higher than 6.5 percent.

The United Kingdom's Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 8.7 percent in the 12 months up to May. Core CPI, excluding the prices of energy, food, alcohol, and tobacco products, rose by 7.1 percent, reaching the highest rate since March 1992.

Continuously high inflation has been eroding people's real income in the UK. The annual growth in average wages, excluding bonuses, was 7.3 percent in the March-May period. When adjusted for inflation, however, the average pay fell by 0.8 percent.

Households have felt the financial squeeze amid a worsening cost-of-living crisis. This first triggered widespread strikes in 2022, and the demonstrations still continue. In May, 128,000 working days were lost because of pay-related disputes, the Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday.