People Before Profit Cllr Maeve O’Neill and Altnagelvin hospital worker,
“The treatment of health and social care workers must be a red line.
Derry and Strabane Council backed People Before Profit’s call for the Stormont Executive to reject support for a paltry 3% pay award and to break with the insulting approach of the Tories.
With inflation at 4% – this is a real terms pay cut.
We have received our answer from Stormont. The Health Minister says he has informed trade unions of his acceptance of the Tory pay recommendation and will move forward implementing it.
There is not a peep of dissent on this from any of the Executive parties.
All health and social care workers have a right to be angry about this. The disrespect is criminal. The disregard for our welfare and the welfare of the health service is criminal.
All through the pandemic Westminster and Stormont let elites and corporations loot state accounts for whatever financial help they wanted.
Billionaires and the super rich are partying with champagne to celebrate the fortunes they grabbed during the pandemic. It’s the opposite for health workers and everyone in our communities making up the frontline.
We can’t allow this. Nor can we allow them to continue to let the health service be looted by profiteers out to destroy it.
We are calling on everyone who believes our health and social workers should be treated with respect to up the level of noise and pressure on those in power.”
People Before Profit motion to Derry and Strabane District Council:
HC174/21 – Healthcare Workers Pay (H&C Committee 22 July 2021)
“That Council condemns the Tory proposal to offer NHS workers a paltry 3% increase following their heroism throughout the pandemic. Council urges the Stormont Executive not to follow Boris Johnson’s treatment of our health service workers.
Council stands in solidarity with all health service workers and unions in their campaign to win the pay increase they are demanding and deserve.”