The English unions have maintained the call for a strike by healthcare workers in the National Health System after a key meeting held on Monday with the Minister of Health, Steve Barclay, which they described as an «insult» to their proposals.
Nurses, auxiliary and ambulance staff are thus called to strike from mid-January after a brief meeting in which the Ministry «only wanted to talk about productivity,» according to the secretary general of the Unite union, Onay Kasab, quoted by Sky News.
For Kasab the government’s position is «absolutely ridiculous» and «outrageous.» «It is an insult. Talking about productivity when we are working shifts 18 hours. How can you be more productive? I don’t know. I am very angry for our members,» he added.
From the Royal College of Nursing have warned that the Government «has a long way to go» to avoid what will be the second nursing strike on 18 and 19 January. Ambulance personnel are called to strike on January 11 and 23.
The GMB union has stressed that there has been no «concrete» pay rise proposal for the next fiscal year, which starts in April.
There are also talks between the government and the teachers’ and railway workers’ unions with no sign of an agreement in the next few days.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
