British resident doctors protest outside Downing Street, UK Prime Minister’s office, during the start of a four-day strike for better wages.

(See: Hollywood: losses will be in the billions).

Nearly a million medical appointments and procedures risk being postponed during the fifth round of walkouts called by doctors, who had rejected the Government’s offer to increase their salary by 10.3% in their first year of stay.

The public health system (NHS) estimates that the strike has generated nearly £1 billion in additional spending (1.160 million euros), largely due to recruitment of external doctors to fill vacant positions.

“This dispute is based on equity, fairness and salary renewal,” Robert Laureson, a citizen representative at the British Medical Association (BMA), told dozens of people gathered around Downing Street.

“For 15 years they told us to wait, that it was not the right time, that we were all in the same boat, but they all lied”added the representative.

The resident doctors demanded that the first rung of their pay scale go up from £14 per hour (16.23 euros) to 20 pounds per hour (23.10 euros).

(See: ‘Lights, cameras, action…!’: Hollywood actors go on strike).
Minister of Health, Steve Barclay said he was willing to sit down with a physician’s representative to discuss “other matters regarding their working conditions”, but assured that in terms of salaries, the administration had made a “final offer”.

Public health in England detailed this week that the waiting list to start hospital treatment jumped in June to 7.6 million peoplea record since records began in 2007.

It should be noted that some 383,000 people had waited more than 52 weeks for routine treatment at the end of June, while more than 7,000 were still without treatment after 18 months of waiting.

(See: Strike paralyzes Germany: effect on transport services).

like doctors, Railway engineers across the country are on strike this week until August 15, refusing to work overtime due to a lingering wage dispute.
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Aslef (engine drivers union) members of 15 railroad companies will refuse to work overtime between those dates, as “This will seriously disrupt services as no train company employs enough train drivers to provide the promised service to passengers.”
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According to the events that occurred, this will be the fifth force since last May against the Government, in claims, such as the doctors, of salary improvements.

Mick Whelan, Aslef’s general secretary, stated that the workers did not want to take this action.

However, “The railroad companies, and the government that supports them, have forced us to this point because they refuse to sit down and talk with us and do not offer railroad drivers fair and reasonable wages”he had stated.

(See: 104 pilots fired after 2017 strike, returned to Avianca).

Portfolio/EFE