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Some 20,000 Protest in London Over Changes to Junior Doctors’ Contracts

© REUTERS / Neil HallProtesters hold banners at a demonstration in support of junior doctors in London, Britain October 17, 2015.
Protesters hold banners at a demonstration in support of junior doctors in London, Britain October 17, 2015. - Sputnik International
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About 20,000 health care professionals took to the streets of London on Saturday to express their opposition to the planned changes in the working conditions, the employees’ trade union said.

LONDON (Sputnik) — The rally began at Waterloo Place, before the activists marched along Pall Mall and Whitehall, ending in Parliament Square outside the House of Commons, the lower house of the UK legislature.

According to the British Medical Association, the amendments to the labor contracts, which are due to enter into force beginning with 2016, may lead to lower wages and an increase in doctors' usual working hours up to 15 instead of 12.

The opponents of the changes claim the new contract for doctors could mean pay cuts of up to 30 percent, which they say is unacceptable.

Similar rallies took place in the cities of Belfast and Nottingham earlier in the day, with another one planned in Dundee, Scotland's fourth largest city on Sunday.

Commenting on the large-scale protest action, UK Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt reportedly stated the government’s stance on the issue was somehow distorted. He also called on the trade union to return to negotiations and stressed that the authorities were doing everything possible to find a compromise.

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