Unite’s Kevin McAdam to present on behalf of Unite and NIC-ICTU health committee

Northern Ireland health workers have seen a 16% drop in pay over the past five years and are now the lowest paid in the UK

October 5th: Kevin McAdam, Unite lead officer with responsibility for Health, spoke ahead of his appearance before the Assembly Health Committee tomorrow (Thursday October 6^th):

“Tomorrow [Thursday, 6^th October] I will be presenting on behalf of Unite and the NIC-ICTU health committee to the Assembly Health committee. Northern Ireland’s Health and Social Care sector faces a number of challenges which we will seek to highlight on behalf of our members in the service, and indeed the wider community.

“We need to see action to address the underfunding of services, the wasteful and growing use of agency staff, the pressures to make savings which directly impact service delivery and the massive pressures and strain that all of this is having on individuals, not just on their ability to deliver but also on their health and welfare.

“From the perspective of our members, another major concern is the continued erosion of pay. When you factor in for inflation, pay for healthcare workers today is down some 16% in real terms by comparison to what it was five years ago.

“With the prospect of at least another three years of one percent pay deals being enforced by the Conservative government in Westminster’s public sector pay policy our members see nothing but further pain in the years ahead.

“Finally, we are demanding action by the current Minister to resolve the disparity created by her predecessors who by refusing to even implement the one percent pay recommendations by the independent Pay Review body over the last two years have left HSC staff here the lowest paid in the UK”, Mr McAdam concluded.