NHS workers in Wales vote to strike over pay
Members of Unite Union rejected a 3.6% pay award and indicated they are prepared to take industrial action demanding that the Welsh government make improvements
Members of Unite rejected a 3.6% pay award and indicated they are prepared to take industrial action demanding that the Welsh government make improvements.
Almost nine in 10 workers rejected the pay award and said they were prepared to take strike action.
Unite General Secretary, Sharon Graham, said:
"The government in Wales needs to address critical problems now, and the biggest is the pay and conditions of frontline workers without whom the NHS cannot survive.
"Workers cannot wait any longer for decent pay and better conditions. Any further exodus from the workplace will simply see the NHS in Wales fail to function.
"The Senedd needs to come back with an improved pay offer before it's too late."
Unite is calling on the Welsh government to open up pay negotiations with unions.
If negotiations on pay do not happen Unite said it will have no choice but to start the formal industrial action ballot process.
Any industrial action will affect a number of services including ambulance services where Unite has particularly high membership.
Unite Lead Health Officer for Wales, Paul Seppman, said:
"Our sincere desire is to negotiate a better and much deserved pay increase for our members and NHS staff but our members are prepared to take action if there is no improved award."
The Welsh Government says: “We recognise the strength of feeling of union members over pay and we have worked hard to address that in a very challenging financial context for Wales.
“We have accepted in full the recommendations made by the independent NHS Pay Review Body and will ensure staff receive both the pay award and back pay as quickly as possible.
“We continue to work in social partnership with all NHS Wales unions to address our shared ambition of pay restoration in the longer term.”