NHS staff in Wales agree two-year pay deal

By The Press Association20th November 2014News WalesNews Wales, NHS, Pay, Pay and Conditions

A deal to end a long-running row over health workers’ pay has been agreed in Wales.

The Welsh Government said unions have accepted a two-year deal.

Health workers in England are set to stage a fresh strike on Monday in protest at the UK Government’s controversial decision not to accept a recommended 1% pay rise.

Wales’s Health and Social Services Minister Mark Drakeford said: “This two-year, made-in-Wales pay deal demonstrates our ongoing commitment to staff working in the NHS in these challenging financial times.

“Our overriding priority has been – and continues to be – to maintain jobs at the front line of NHS Wales against a backdrop of severe cuts to our budget.

“This is an excellent example of working collaboratively and co-production and I am pleased that in Wales we have been able to avoid significant strike action by agreeing a mutual position. This is a credit to all parties.”

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt was accused of erecting a “Berlin Wall of intransigence” in refusing to talk to NHS staff on pay.

Unite, which has 100,000 members in the NHS, said it expected a strong turnout in Monday’s strike.

Head of health Rachael Maskell said: “As ministers ponder their departmental legacies as May’s general election looms, Jeremy Hunt’s ministerial epitath will be: ‘I did not talk to hardworking NHS staff on pay’.

“We understand that MPs from all parties have been urging Hunt to start talks, but, so far, he is cowering behind a Berlin Wall of intransigence.

“The 1.35 million NHS workforce has been forced, reluctantly, to take strike action on Monday as they have seen their incomes eroded by 15% since the coalition came to power in May 2010.”

Unite contrasted the attitude of Mr Hunt with that of the Labour-controlled Welsh government.

Ms Maskell said: “The contrast in the attitude between the financially challenged Welsh government and the hard line adopted by Hunt could not be greater. It is time for Hunt to get around the negotiating table in good faith.”

Dawn Bowden, Unison’s head of health in Wales, said: “Taking strike action is always a last resort for our members.

“The settlement is an improvement on the previous offer and we welcome achieving the Living Wage for our lowest members.

“This has been a difficult process for all involved, particularly given the challenging financial climate that we are in as a result of the UK Government’s continued austerity programme.

“Clearly this agreement does not make up for the real term loss that NHS workers have suffered in recent years, but we hope we can build on this settlement in the future.”