\n<\/p>\n
Trade unions have privately expressed qualms about the forthcoming doctors\u2019 strikes, expressing frustration at the conduct of the talks and the demands of the British Medical Association.<\/p>\n
The BMA is pushing for a pay rise higher than the 3.5% offered to doctors by the government, with strikes planned for next week<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, more than a million NHS<\/a> staff who are not doctors \u2013 including nurses, physiotherapists, midwives, healthcare assistants, ambulance workers and hospital porters \u2013 are due to receive an even lower pay rise of 3.3%, set via the Agenda for Change (AfC) system.<\/p>\n The decision of the BMA to push for more than 3.5% has caused some other unions with NHS staff to be aggrieved, especially some of those with pay set via AfC. \u201cThe deals we have been able to present to our members are becoming a much tougher sell,\u201d one senior union figure said.<\/p>\n Another said they believed that the leadership of the union by resident doctors, rather than professional negotiators, meant the talks had been conducted in a chaotic fashion. \u201cI think it stops from taking any kind of pragmatic approach.\u201d<\/p>\n The first union source said they thought having resident doctors lead the negotiations resulted in less willingness to do a deal on pay and conditions that would affect people entering the workforce. \u201cYou need to zoom out sometimes and I don\u2019t think they can see the bigger picture.\u201d<\/p>\n A third senior union source said there was \u201cundoubtedly resentment\u201d among unions representing NHS staff who were not doctors, and a sense that the government always \u201cseemed more willing to listen to the doctors\u201d, but added that the BMA was doing its job for its members by pushing for the best deal possible.<\/p>\n Another union, the GMB, is in dispute with the BMA because of a pay offer the BMA has made to its own staff.<\/p>\n Staff at the BMA union are due to go on strike to coincide with the six-day resident doctors\u2019 strike on 7 April. The BMA\u2019s most recent pay offer to its staff of 2.75% is lower than the latest recommendation of 3.5% to resident doctors.<\/p>\n