Sharon Graham, the leader of the Unite union, has said that Welsh Government’s latest pay offer “does not cut it for our members.”
She was speaking as over 1,000 Welsh Ambulance workers in the union began a two day strike over pay.
The striking workers will hold 23 picket lines across Wales in what the union says is a “fight to prevent the Welsh NHS from collapse” amidst the staffing crisis engulfing the health service.
Graham said that workers were seeing “first-hand how our NHS is collapsing.”
She said that a “decent consolidated pay increase” from Welsh Government was the only way to improve NHS recruitment and relieve the crippling pressure on our ambulance services.
“The recent proposal from Welsh Government of a one off payment simply does not cut it with our members.”
Last week, Welsh Government met with unions to discuss the idea of a one off payment in addition to the flat rate £1400 that had already been imposed – without being agreed by unions – by Minister for Health Eluned Morgan.
The proposal was rejected by health unions.
Afterwards, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Wales said that the approach put forward in the meeting was “simply not enough” and that “Welsh Government are not negotiating seriously on NHS pay.” As a result, the RCN have announced fresh strikes for nurses in February and March.
Thursday marks the first day of a two day ambulance strike by Unite Wales. The second will be held on Monday 23rd January.
Ambulance workers in the GMB union have already been on strike twice and UNISON are currently re-balloting its ambulance members for industrial action. All current strikes in the Welsh NHS are against the same pay deal from Welsh Government, which was imposed in October.
Referring to the fact that Welsh Government receives the majority of its funds from the UK treasury, Sharon Graham said that “although the roots of this dispute may lie in Westminster, the only way of stopping further strikes is for Welsh Government to put a cost of living salary increase on the table.”
The RCN meanwhile has said that Welsh Government has the money to deliver a higher pay rise, and has accused Eluned Morgan of presiding over a 56% increase on agency nursing spending last year whilst holding NHS pay down.
Speaking on Radio 4 on Thursday morning, Eluned Morgan re-iterated Welsh Government’s offer of a one-off payment, saying that “we hope in time it will lead unions calling off the strike.” She tried to put pressure on unions to accept this by saying that it will be withdrawn if it’s not agreed by the end of February.
“The clock is ticking because this is a payment that has to go out before the end of February if it’s going to be paid at all,” Ms Morgan said.
But Unite Wales regional officer Richard Munn, speaking the day before the strike, said that Ambulance workers across Wales “have had enough.”
“They are not willing to sit back and see the vital lifesaving service that they provide continue to be driven into the ground.”
“The stress on our members builds every day,” he continued. “Another below inflation pay rise is the final straw. Devaluing pay every year whilst the ambulance service staff are faced with more and more pressure has resulted in the current strike action.”
“This strike is overwhelmingly the will of our members and we need the Welsh and UK Governments to take this incredibly seriously.”
He said that whilst he felt that the Welsh Government wanted to negotiate, their current offer was “clearly not enough to end this dispute”.
