Strikes or Work to Rule?

I am struggling to find any reason to understand or support the UK resident doctors strike. Presumably everyone could argue that their pay had gone down in real terms since 2008 /9. To be clear, that's 18 years.

It's been a period of financial disasters. The Global Financial Crisis of 2007/8, the Great Recession of 2008/10, Brexit 2020, Covid 2020/21, the Cost of Living crisis 2022......Why should the doctors feel that they have a better case for pay increase than anyone else?

I appreciate the work all medics do. But there are a lot of people in caring professions I also appreciate, teachers, carers, nurses, social workers, all first responders....I would argue that all of these are vocations. All of them should seriously consider the impact of their strike action on other people, or they may well be held to be simply completely self interested. That is not what we expect from caring professions. I can see a justification for working to rule, because all of these professions only work effectively because of good will. But 15 strikes in 3 years. That is an appalling record & nothing to be proud of. 

It is important that any workers have the right to air grievances & negotiate pay & working conditions. I do think that unions & professional organisations have an important role to play in protecting their members. Individuals have very little power, but acting together empowers all. That right is important, but should not directly endanger the health or life of others. There should be effective alternatives such as negotiation, mediation & arbitration, entered into in good faith by both sides.

The mechanism should not be mechanised & turned into war. 

There has to be realism on both sides. It seems to me that not just the UK, but the whole of Europe is in a dire financial situation. There is widespread instability & disaffection with politics & politicians. Everyone's infrastructure is creaking under the load of population growth & change. Managing an economy must be a poisoned chalice in the face of international wars affecting everything. There will be very difficult choices as to where the money we have goes. It's mostly borrowed money anyway. We no longer have big gold reserves or a booming economy.

We will all have to face up to that. The resident doctors are ignoring the reality of the situation we are all in. It is blindly selfish & unaffordable to ask for a 26% pay rise.