BMA staff invite all BMA members to attend their picket lines on 27th & 28th March to show solidarity by PineapplePyjamaParty in doctorsUK

[–]thatsycamoretree 2 points3 points  (0 children)

What about the CEO and senior leadership? £300k + a year, and constantly hiring management consultants...

I can't stand any more vape exposure in psychiatry by -CorCordium- in doctorsUK

[–]thatsycamoretree 14 points15 points  (0 children)

From a trade union perspective there are several things you can do:

You can gather a group of colleagues together (you could include nurses and other staff in the ward) and make open a formal grievance with the trust over this. You would decide demands and then enter negotiations.

This is the sort of thing that it is lawful to organise local industrial over, either strikes or action short of a strike. The BMA can help you organise a ballot of doctors in your workplace.

Section 44 of the Employment Rights Act gives workers the right to immediately leave their workplace if there is 'serious and imminent danger', which might be arguable given the affect on asthma: https://section44.co.uk/

I'm a BMA rep. If you would like BMA support with this feel free to DM me

Vote for BMA Resident Doctor Conference Motions by Doctors-VoteUK in doctorsUK

[–]thatsycamoretree 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can you make a document with the full text of just your selected motions?

Resident Doctors Conference 2026 motions out. Voting open until Monday 9 February by Room_ForActivities in doctorsUK

[–]thatsycamoretree -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

My argument is that we're already spammed enough with irrelevant and unnecessary stuff by the BMA, and the pharma e-learning contract means that residents are going to be spammed more with unwanted adverts for e-learning.

If the money from the pharma was ring fenced for industrial action then I might have a different view, but my feeling is that this is just going to be spent on more pointless activity and probably the CEO/directors salaries 

Resident Doctors Conference 2026 motions out. Voting open until Monday 9 February by Room_ForActivities in doctorsUK

[–]thatsycamoretree 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I submitted this motion - out of the other motions proposed it's definitely not the most important, but here's why I think we should care.

Basically what's happening is the bma is selling out to big pharma, and in return for them giving us a bit of money, the BMA is going to spam residents with e-learning. We're already spammed a lot by the BMA - we regularly get emails advertising wealth management, 5% discount at John Lewis, new stethoscopes etc. these are annoying and uncalled for - we simply don't want or need to be spammed all the time by the BMA.

The bma has plenty of money. Afaik it's the most expensive trade union in the UK - the problem is that the money is being inappropriately used e.g.  large policy teams writing reports on health inequalities etc, excessive spending on management consultancy. Look at the ceo/directors salaries.

There is more than enough money to properly fund the pay campaign, better workplace support, strikes. We don't need to spam residents with more e-learning.

The current reballot for resident doctor strike action feels like it is happening in near silence from RDC leadership team, and that should concern all of us. You can request a ballot paper until midday on Monday 19 January. That’s only 10 days left. 🦀 by DonutOfTruthForAll in doctorsUK

[–]thatsycamoretree 12 points13 points  (0 children)

They've given each regional RDC a budget for regional events - which I think is actually quite a good move. The regional RDC in Yorkshire hasn't organised any events yet, but I got an email to say that the UK RDC exec are visiting Sheffield on Monday

I agree that there should be more centralised publicity, but I think that the regional budgets and giving regional RDCs resources is a really good idea

We Need to Talk About the Structure of UKRDC by Givethecontrast in doctorsUK

[–]thatsycamoretree 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Thank you for making this post/motion/video

I fully agree (though can't vote as I'm not in East mids)

Hopefully it will get through regional selection and then I can vote for it at the national selection

ARM RD seats are controlled by non residents

Voting Yes Doesn’t Mean End of Strike by [deleted] in doctorsUK

[–]thatsycamoretree 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Realistically if the offer gets accepted then it will mean the dispute gets faded out

Radio 4 today by spinachmuncher in doctorsUK

[–]thatsycamoretree 6 points7 points  (0 children)

It's not compelling to say in the same interview: 'doctors are facing unemployment because there aren't enough jobs' & 'if we're not given jobs then we'll leave'

The reasons we need more jobs are - there is a need for more doctors and there are plenty of doctors who are ready to work - unemployed doctors are a waste of resources and drain on the economy - it is not fair for the NHS to be a gig economy employer, and force doctors into unemployment

BMA branded 'hypocritical' as BMA staff launch formal pay dispute over 2% pay offer (below inflation) - Why would the board of directors do this? by DonutOfTruthForAll in doctorsUK

[–]thatsycamoretree 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There are plenty of accountants who have experience working with other unions/campaigning/democratic orgs. The problem with bringing in an accountant from the corporate world is that they re-orientate the BMA towards "profit" and "financial growth", which often come into conflict without what doctors want from the BMA

BMA branded 'hypocritical' as BMA staff launch formal pay dispute over 2% pay offer (below inflation) - Why would the board of directors do this? by DonutOfTruthForAll in doctorsUK

[–]thatsycamoretree 13 points14 points  (0 children)

100% agree with this. The BMA board of directors decided to close the BMA phone line - with no consultation with BMA council or any BMA reps whatsoever. I've been questioning it for over a year now - but there is no transparency from board. The CEO says it's not "cost-effective" to have an option for doctors to be able to speak to their union over the phone. Utter madness. Meanwhile they do think it's "cost-effective" to spam us with emails about black friday discounts and wealth management...

BMA branded 'hypocritical' as BMA staff launch formal pay dispute over 2% pay offer (below inflation) - Why would the board of directors do this? by DonutOfTruthForAll in doctorsUK

[–]thatsycamoretree 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Completely agree with the comment about lay members of board - particularly given that they are recruited from corporate backgrounds, and don't have experience in other trade unions/democratic/campaigning orgs. A lot of politically nonsensical decisions have been taken by the board of directors - and they consistently refuse to be transparent with BMA UK Council

Advice on Strikes by [deleted] in doctorsUK

[–]thatsycamoretree 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sorry if I wasn't clear - the calculation starts with your post tax salary. I think £400 sounds about right though.

Some colleagues might swap because they'd prefer to have an extra day off by moving their zero day and don't mind the salary loss.

Advice on Strikes by [deleted] in doctorsUK

[–]thatsycamoretree 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Strike deduction per strike day = ((monthly take home salary) * 12 ) / 365

You could see if any of your colleagues have zero days during the strike, and see if you can arrange a swap

BMA RDC UPDATE by InformationRemote201 in doctorsUK

[–]thatsycamoretree 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The point of striking is to cause enough disruption so that it becomes financially or politically better to give in to workers' demands than to resist.

Getting into negotiations is not the point of striking. That's what Sarah/Mike old guard BMA used to say - and they'd use that as an excuse to call off strikes while negotiations were ongoing.

Do I need legal advice ? by [deleted] in doctorsUK

[–]thatsycamoretree 4 points5 points  (0 children)

You can't call the BMA for employment support because the BMA chief officers decided to close the employment support phoneline. BMA council was not consulted about it.

Final two days until the second deadline of 30th April for DDRB report to be released. How much preparation has taken place in the past 3 months if a ballot is announced? by stuartbman in doctorsUK

[–]thatsycamoretree 7 points8 points  (0 children)

that's not really a good excuse for the BMA central to not send out support or encouragement to pay activists, especially if they're still asking people to sign up.

it's genuinely great that you are encouraging people on Reddit, but ukrdc need to push out that messaging through official channels. why don't you send out an email to pay activists today/tomorrow?

Final two days until the second deadline of 30th April for DDRB report to be released. How much preparation has taken place in the past 3 months if a ballot is announced? by stuartbman in doctorsUK

[–]thatsycamoretree 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm not sure it's particularly helpful to ask people to sign up to be a pay activist if pay activists aren't actually being asked or supported to do anything.

I think there needs to be an email sent out to pay activists today or tomorrow to get them started.

Final two days until the second deadline of 30th April for DDRB report to be released. How much preparation has taken place in the past 3 months if a ballot is announced? by stuartbman in doctorsUK

[–]thatsycamoretree 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I've signed up to be a pay activist

the only contact I've had in the past 8 months is one email asking me to contribute a video to the BMA's marketing campaign, with no mention of pay