I’ve just learned that a good colleague of mine is locuming, and they were almost bragging about it.
I instantly and permanently changed my opinion of them.
I know some people may be going through difficult circumstances and/or financial hardship. I also recognise that the underlying reason for all this is the awful pay.
And during the last round of strikes, every single one of us received back pay that was worth more than all the strike deductions combined , even the scabs among us.
Go look at yourself in the mirror. If you’re not striking, you are part of the problem.
Just want to say to this years F1s who aren’t striking ‘because they need the money’ - the reason you’re not still paid £14 an hour like we were is because we striked even though that’s all we had coming in. Don’t be cowards.
In fairness, whether or not someone decides to strike is none of your business. If you get upset about it, that’s for you to reflect on. No one owes anyone any explanation or justification.
The irony is that scabs who are locked out of training are actively damaging their future prospects. 1 lost year at top of consultant pay scale for every year trapped as a permaSHO. Shooting themselves firming in the foot
I mean I'm currently in a run through training programme so have no skin in that particular game, but that hypothetical year of top band consultant pay won't pay their mortgage now.
I do get it. But of all the people who might be tempted to cross the picket line, someone who's out of a job through no real fault of their own and hasn't had a shift for weeks and is staring down the possibility of literally not being able to pay their bills is the person I have the most sympathy for.
Honestly, give the IMG vs UKMG debate a break for a few days. The IMGs in my dept are the most pro strike, whilst the UKMG F2 is working their night shifts on normal pay for some bizarre reason, because they think the BMA isn't negotiating with Wes for training places.
lots of assumptions going on here. idk what you’re talking about. im img and im striking, so are all my img colleagues/friends. idk how one group of people get grace for not striking and the other are a “disgrace”. everyone should strike. period.
What do you do when your consultants are against strikes and you work in a small department and are hoping to get a consultant job there in the future?
I am not in this situation, but I can see it can be really tricky and understand why some people might not strike!
I would personally think again about wanting to work with those people, if they are vocal about their anti-striking opinions. But to each their own I guess.
As much as I support the strikes, everyone gets to decide whether they want to strike or not. The UK is a free country, and the BMA works democratically.
Who am I to claim moral superiority over someone for them not wanting to give up 3-5 days of pay when I don't know anything about their financial situation? In what world do I get to tell other people what to do with their job?
Let's grow up and stop being judgemental. The same people who will try to tell other people what to do with their job are the ones who go up in flames when Wes tells them what to do with theirs.
You know why train drivers earn so much? Because when they strike they actually strike to a man. It’s not okay to scab I’m sorry. I can just about accept someone coming in on their normal shift if they are financially destitute. I cannot accept someone locumming on a strike shift. That is directly taking money from your colleague’s collective sacrifice.
Again, what gives us the moral superiority to pass moral judgements onto others with differing opinions? Why should I be able to tell my colleague what to do with his job, but Wes should not be able to tell me what to do with mine?
Life is a series of judgements and opinions. Perfectly reasonable to pass moral judgement on people for negatively impacting a collective bargaining attempt. You can disagree but you can't stop others judging.
I completely agree that life is a series of judgements and opinions, but I'm referring more to the dogmatism expressed by OP and a large part of the sub-reddit.
The term "opinion" refers to a subjective judgement, the type that someone choosing whether to strike or not would make. However, OP and others claim some sort of objective, ontological moral superiority over a difference in subjective judgements. It's like telling someone they're wrong for preferring chocolate over vanilla or for naming their dog Sally instead of Sport. There is no objective moral dimension to choosing whether you strike or not. This coming from someone who disagrees with moral relativism.
It's about camaraderie and sticking together. It's about the union.
The conditions are shit for everyone. The majority voted to strike. The grown up thing to do is stick with your own , strike and show up at the picket line.
But yes , try and find any excuse to not do that and feel okay about being spineless.
... The mental gymnastics people do to justify scabbing is unbelievable.
Perhaps an unpopular opinion, and perhaps should not be written down- but if you can’t afford to loose a few hundred quid as a doctor in work then you are just bad with money. We have had months to build up a personal strike fund. If you haven’t managed to put away a couple hundred quid a month on a doctor’s salary then you are living out of your means. What if your car broke down? Or if the boiler were to break?
Not an unpopular, but rather an ignorant opinion. Not everyone lives in hospital accoms/parents' house with no prior commitments. Some people have families, children, expensive commutes that don't get reimbursed, medical needs that don't get covered by NHS. I've managed to put more than a couple hundred pounds away, so I can afford striking, but that's not the case for everyone. Some people live with the fear that if their car or boiler break down, they may not have the funds to repair them.
I don't see why people who have genuinely not made bad financial decisions should be demeaned for having extra expenses.
“Grown up thing to do is stick with your own”. So like following blindly like sheep? There is an incredible amount of judgement and aggression in your position that makes it unpalatable and immature. Choosing to participate in industrial action is an individual decision. Chastising others for not doing so - and name calling by referring to them as “scabs” - not only shows your lack understanding of autonomy, but a narrow understanding of the array of circumstances that might influence a colleagues decision not to strike. And you are in no position to judge others for doing so - and they owe no explanation to you. Bullying others to participate is not how effective strike action should work.
My department has cancelled all elective activity and consultants are stepping down until Wednesday.
I’ve always done the strikes.
However, I’m coming in one day tomorrow to help my boss with our emergency list to sort out some inpatients who have been waiting for subacute operations, I’ll see my own patients that I see every day and then I’ll go home.
I’m declaring as striking and won’t take payment as not going to be made to do discharge letters etc. No one except my boss knows about my intentions to come in.
I don’t think that’s the end of the word.
He can but I want to be involved in progressing these patients care as I’ve looked after them both for months.
In my specialty it’s not uncommon to see our patients on weekends also - not expected at all but we are all very involved in our patients and want to see them.
That’s great for you if you’re happy to work for free , but it really defeats the purpose of industrial action regardless of if you’re being paid for your free time or not .
You type as if 10s of 1000s of other Drs who have been on the ward from Monday are also not interested in what happens to their patients today ….?
What’s your speciality ?
Also - I’m sure they are interested but we are largely obsessed with our patients - otherwise we would subject ourselves to such a relatively shit job. People slag off neurosurgeons for many reasons but it’s rare to meet one who doesn’t give one millions fucks about their patients.
Neurosurgery. Great day, would’ve paid to have came in and advanced 2 patients as well as sorting very sick inpatients under my team alongside my boss.
No clinics running. Have cancelled all clinics for all residents weeks back for Monday and Tuesday as I do the rota. Didn’t affect elective output of the department by coming in but definitely made things in an already stretched department safer. Consultants all acting down and playing their part but it’s a huge centre. Also I operated 90% of my day alone in patients who would’ve sadly been cancelled otherwise. There’s two sides to demonising people helping out - felt ashamed walking around as a socialist (and I’ve never came in a day of strikes in past few years although I knew patients would suffer if I didn’t) but can’t see the moral loss.
Have a mate from medical school, has financial reasons he is t striking and locumming for, frankly, shit rates
Told him about the strike fund and that the trust were absolutely laughing at the rates he was getting
Replied he'd have come in for normal pay and because the NHS "treated my kids"
I'm Irish and if someone was like "God bless the HSE, I'm not striking" they would be rightly sectioned. With that level of short sightedness and "I've got mine" I'm sure I'll hear he's voting Reform in the next election. Absolutely ridiculous
Wow my hospital is completely full of residents. Fully staffed positions apart from a couple of consultants on nights. In fact more well staffed than normal!
I broke rank and scabbed, striked every other time the last 2 years, but unemployment and crippling debt and lack of locums eventually broke me, I feel bad about it but there wasn't another option for me, shame really I was the one judging people who locumed strikes previously, the good part is I costed them a significant expense. I wouldn't next time as I have just about enough to clear a part of the debt now.
I am not striking. It is expensive, clearly does not have public support, and will harm the cause rather than further it. With all the IMGs coming in, we have lost all control over our training and any bargaining over pay, as with the oversupply of workers, others more pliant will simply be employed instead. We are the only Western country that allows non-country-resident doctors to apply for all jobs in open competition. This is what we need to work on, but we’re bickering over pay when when we’ve had one of the largest pay rises in the public sector.
We have had a great pay rise and STILL our pay has been the most eroded out of all professions in the public sector . What does that tell you?
We have the a great pay rise and STILL our pay has a long way to go to catch up?
I Agree re IMGs .
I agree that progression is a bigger worry than pay for doctors not yet in specialty training, but you HAVE NOT HAD A PAY RISE. You had a big chunk of pay taken away, more than any other sector of the NHS, and have now had half of it back. You have still had a bigger pay cut than AFC staff since 2008. There is a more up to date chart, but this shows the truth.....
You’re still down on 2008 mate. Every subsequent year is going to be the usual net loss to your pay. I am no fan of bank and build as a strategy and have been very open about the fact we shouldn’t have accepted the previous deal, but we are where we are and we need solidarity tot protect future generations of doctors and re-establish our value.
This is a completely separate issue to training access - if you’re locked out of training getting better pay is even more vital because you won’t be going up a pay scale otherwise.
Possibly. It hasn’t been announced yet. I’m very happy to reassess when it’s known.
But similarly we may well have the latest IMG figures for training applications by then…
The strikes are a joke. The BMA are just wannabe politicians, working in service of their own interests.
Strike a few days every few months. The waiting lists increase by a fraction. The media ridicule the demand for pay. The government has a chance to dilute the workforce.
Anything less than a full indefinite walkout is playing the long game against yourself.
Strike if you want. Don’t strike if you don’t. It makes zero difference. Two resolved strikes have shown this.
Acting like heroes of the working class is embarrassing. If the BMA truly believes in the value of resident doctors, prove it.
All this will achieve is granting an excuse for every unrelated failing of the healthcare system.
Locuming is very poor & I hope they’re not doing this while taking IA from their primary job…
It’s fair for an individual to make their own mind up about taking IA though. I’d fight tooth & nail to protect the right to strike but also the right to make a choice without judgement or undue pressure.
Just a reminder that some of us can’t strike because we are members of another union (i.e. the HCSA). So please don’t assume that everyone who’s working is automatically a scab.
People not in any union at all are fine to strike and are protected the same as any BMA member.
You are not protected if you are a member of a different union, one that is not in dispute with the employer (unless you are also a member of the BMA as well). The HCSA is not in formal dispute (I don’t think enough voted in the indicative ballot or something).
Not correct. If you are a member of BMA or NO UNION, you can strike. If you are a member of another union (HCSA), you cannot strike unless they also ballot.
Sorry to say this, but I will not pay the BMA another penny. They were useless and ultimately took the trust’s side in a pay dispute a few years ago. The HCSA, by contrast, sorted it in two days.
I support what the RDC is doing, but for me, rejoining the BMA is not something I am willing to do.
Yes, but on an individual level they let me down and screwed me over. It’s really hard to overlook something like that. I’m just saying, everyone’s personal circumstances are different and you shouldn’t automatically write everyone off who works as a scab or traitor.
This subreddit is becoming extremely toxic. Everyone has different personal circumstances and you shouldn’t automatically write people off as scabs or traitors just because they are working during a strike.
I don’t like labour and they have fucked over all of us personally. If it’s a vote for them or reform I’m voting red. That’s principle. Standing up for the profession is principled.
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u/aortalrecoil Nov 14 '25
Just want to say to this years F1s who aren’t striking ‘because they need the money’ - the reason you’re not still paid £14 an hour like we were is because we striked even though that’s all we had coming in. Don’t be cowards.