Doctor's strikes

Everyone in this country has the hard earned right to withdraw their labour. In many parts of the world this is not possible and people are exploited. I am not suggesting that doctors are exploited in UK but if they feel they have a legitimate claim and have followed the rules regarding strikes I think they have the right to do so.
I may not always agree with all the reasoning behind strikes but I will always defend the right to do so.

I think it is a bit tough when so many people in the private sector have had to go through the same. How many in the private sector have final salary schemes? How many will have to work longer? How many haven't had a pay rise for some years?

Yes, I do know it is hard when you have to pay more into your pension to get less in the end, it happened to me and now I get RPI increases on what I paid in before the change and a max 2 1/2% on what I paid in since.

Life is tough, get over it.

With you on that AlisonMA. My husband didn't have a choice in the private sector - just pay more into your pot, he was told!

Life is tough, I do not need telling! When I am ill I want to know I have the best medical care I can have. I do not want all our best doctors going to places where remuneration is better. ps I am not, nor are any of my family, in the medical profession!

I think I agree that they seem to be being rather greedy when you hear just how much pension they will end up with. They are relatively well paid for the job they do.

I mayor may not agree with the reasons behind it but I defend their right to strike if they feel they have genuine cause.

tanith me too but I think the point was that shev was asking if we thought the strike is 'unreasonable'

Whilst I agree that everyone has the right to withdraw their labour it seems to have been forgotten that when the last government handed Doctors (and Dentists) new contracts their earnings shot up overnight. It is not rare to find Doctors who are earning over £100,000 p.a. Hospital Consultants are also very well paid for working just 2/3 days per week for NHS and the rest of the time doing private work. Yes, I know they had to study and train for a long time but so did many people working in the private sector.

We have all had to adjust to meet the austerity measures and so should they. At least they know when they do retire from NHS they will have a pension 2, 3 or even 4 times more than the average person and they will also be able to continue to carry out private work as well if they want to.

I think it's wrong! I didn't strike last time either.
Incidentally, I don't have a pension of £50k because I worked as a civil servant!

God for you Jeni it is good to know that someone in the public sector recognises what it is and has been like for the rest of us.

If any employee agrees terms and conditions with an employer then the contract should be honoured. If an employee started to change their terms and conditions they would be dismissed therefore employers should adhere to the agreement. By all means change the terms for any new employee but existing members of staff conditions must be preserved.

Oh I wish that were so Granscotland but all employers have to do is 'consult'. I worked for an enormous company and they did what they liked and we had no choice. If this is the case for the private sector is there any reason why the public sector should not be treated the same?

You will not be surprised to see me putting my oar in here, but average dentist's NHS earnings did not rise at the time of the new contract. Doctors have much better negotiators than dentists and who would really care if there were no dentists about?

Apart from defending the right of doctors (or anyone else for that matter) to strike if they follow the applicable rules, I really shouldn't comment as my husband was fortunate enough to be able to retire, at 60, before the new pension rules came in.

I did hear on Radio 5 that doctors and dentists pay a larger proportion of their salary into their pension pots than other comparable public sector earners eg Senior Civil Servants, Judges etc.

I, for one, would certainly care if there were no dentists about!

I think there is a view by some that public sector workers are somehow better off than those in the private sector. I think that there will be pros and cons for both. Public sector workers / local government workers have lost jobs in droves and have had pay frozen too. Private sector workers are often not protected by a union to mediate for them.

Me too Anagram

kitty!

When doctors enforced 9-5 working hours they joined the everyday, nothing special, workforce, and so must take the same conditions imposed on them. In the current climate when so many people are suffering they should count themselves lucky firstly to have a job, and secondly a pension at the end of it.

The doctors at our medical centre have surgeries early in the morning and after 6pm specially for commuters. I wonder what proportion of the profession will come out on strike. I agree with the right to strike but do they seriously expect to get much public support for their cause?
kitty. I for one would be demented if I couldn't find a dentist - my teeth are not my best attribute. As it is, there is a shortage of NHS ones around here and I have kept on going to the same one since he went over to the private sector, on the principle of 'better the devil you know...' And we always have a nice discussion about rugby.

I don't understand why GPs have state funded pensions(massive amounts)when they are independent practitioners ie dont work for the NHS

Annobel, I am exactly the same! I've been with my current dentist for about 30 years, and stayed with him after he went private for the same reason you cite. However, although he is familiar and I hate change, he's older than me and it can't be long until he retires. I'm going to have to bite the bullet soon (!) and find a new one.

Doctors had a huge pay rise a few years ago. This was when they had night call outs. Soon afterwards the night call outs were stopped, but they still had the huge pay rise so they had to do extra hours; evening surgeries etc. As well as the pension don't they have a lump sum of £150,000?

presumably any lump sum is part of the money docs have been contributing to through their pension scheme. People pay a %age of their earnings into a pension scheme so the pension will reflect their pay. As opposed to bankers /directors who get annual bonus on top of high salary!

My GP's practice stopped evening surgeries years ago, as well as the Saturday morning emergency surgery they used to have. It's virtually a 9-5 job now, and no weekend or bank holiday work.