BMA prove capitulating to unions akin to negotiating with terrorists

In an astonishing and frank admission by a senior figure at the British Medical Association (BMA) reported in The Telegraph today, junior doctors are likely to go on strike again, despite within the last 24 hours voting to accept the Government’s inflation-busting 22.3% pay offer.

Dr. Vivek Trivedi, the junior doctors’ committee co-chairman, stated that the pay deal was a compromise, but that junior doctors will strike again if they are not awarded “full pay restoration”.

I think someone needs to explain to Dr. Trivedi precisely what compromise means. In most scenarios, a compromise represents two parties with different valuations or positions in respect of a particular matter agreeing to meet somewhere in the middle, in order to settle a disagreement or debate.

The pay offer that has been awarded to junior doctors by the Labour government is indeed a compromise, and one significantly weighted in favour of the junior doctors, who have long stated that their target pay rise percentage is 35%, way in excess of the independent review body recommendation of a little over 5%, and the pay awards offered to other public sector workers.

The 22.3% deal represents an incredibly generous offering by Health Secretary Wes Streeting, particularly when measured against pay offers that have been agreed by other public sector staff, which fall considerably below the 22.3% that the junior doctors have been offered.

And yet, it is still not enough for them. Why accept an offer, if you are going to immediately signal your intention to continue industrial action until the state offers you more? In reality, that means you haven’t accepted an offer at all. You have merely used it as a stepping stone to lock in something for your members, before re-commencing the charge towards your original intended goal, which it turns out the BMA were never actually willing to compromise on.

In light of this, the 22.3% pay offer should be immediately revoked.

Imagine I went to my manager at work and told them that I wanted an extra £20,000 a year, or I would quit. If we discussed the matter and they offered me a £13,000 a year pay rise, which I accepted, then they would consider that to be the end of the matter. If I turned around 24 hours later and said “thanks very much for the £13,000, now I want that extra £7,000, or I’m off!”… they’d think I was taking the piss!

How idiotic Mr. Streeting must feel. On Monday, he was quoted as saying: “We inherited a broken NHS…that’s why I made ending the strikes a priority – and we negotiated an end to them in just three weeks”.

Except you haven’t, have you, Mr. Streeting? No sooner had those words left his lips, then the greedy junior doctors went public with their intention to hold more strikes. At least now the new Secretary of State must be beginning to understand what consecutive Conservative Health Secretaries have had to contend with over the past year or so.

Much has been made of negotiations with junior doctors stalling when the Tories were in charge, and now we understand why… you cannot negotiate with unreasonable, stubborn people who are entirely unwilling to compromise on their position. It becomes a futile exercise… the Tories recognised this during their time in charge, and became unwilling to entertain conversations with people who had made it clear that there was no room for flex in their demands whatsoever.

This is not the first time that Labour’s flimsy negotiating skills have been exposed. Just last month, transport secretary Louise Haigh “negotiated” an eye-watering 15% pay rise for train drivers already earning £60,000 a year, taking their pay up in excess of £70,000 for working a 35-hour week. This was a shameless and cowardly capitulation on the part of the Secretary of State, who was incapable of bringing the unions into a position of compromise and singularly failed to achieve any value for the taxpayer from the negotiations.

Above: Twitter users ridiculed Transport Secretary Louise Haigh’s negotiation skills after her capitulation to rail union bosses.

These first 60 days have taught us two things about Labour’s attitude towards public sector pay:

1. They are totally and utterly under the thumb of the unions, who bankrolled their general election campaign, and in return have clearly been promised unrealistic and unaffordable pay rises for their members, at the expense of the British taxpayer; and

   
   

2. None of the current Labour cabinet could negotiate their way out of a wet paper bag.

Considering the above, is it really any surprise that the unions are rubbing their hands with glee? No sooner is the ink dry on the fat pay cheques that this Labour government are dishing out to their members, then they are coming back for more.

In the west, we have a tried and tested adage… we don’t negotiate with terrorists. The reason for this, is that negotiating emboldens other wannabe terrorists, and encourages further acts of terror. The approach that the unions are taking to negotiations with the Labour government is akin to this. These grizzled, wily union bosses have a single mission… to deliver the best outcome for their members.

And that is fine, in and of itself… however, it completely ignores the unavoidable trade-offs that accompany this outcome. They are not interested in the wider economic picture. They don’t care about how it impacts the negotiating position of other unions and other industries. And they certainly do not care about the reduction in funding for other public services that become inevitable when the government is willing to acquiesce to their greed.

The governments’ job is to balance all of these considerations, for the treasury to prepare the relevant calculations, and then to stick to a pay rise offer that is affordable within the context of the wider economic environment and confines of the public finances and the budgetary restrictions that are placed on them.

The interests of the taxpayer are at odds with the interests of the union bosses. By meekly submitting to the demands of the unions, Labour are attempting to portray themselves as the white knights, riding into town and ending the strikes that have plagued our public services over recent years.

However, their attempts to elicit an image of superiority over the Conservatives when it comes to managing our public services are achieved at great expense to the taxpayer. The reality is that this Labour government are allowing themselves to be held to ransom by their union paymasters, who will never be satisfied with what they have and will never stop demanding more.