Health Minister Mike Nesbitt says Executive decided against his call to make a difficult budgetary decision over workers’ pay deals
Ulster Unionist Party Leader and Health Minister, Mike Nesbitt MLA, has outlined the choices he is forced to face in light of today’s Executive agreement on the latest monitoring round allocation.
The Health Minister said: “Budgetary decisions by the Executive, including the allocations announced today, mean there is insufficient funding to maintain pay parity for health service workers.
“That is an extremely regrettable position with potentially serious consequences.
“I could not in all conscience support it today.
“I could not look health service workers in the eye and say I had put my name to pay funding that will be lower than England and Wales.
“The Finance Minister has said Ministers should prioritise pay while avoiding overspends at all costs. That position does not add up.
“I cannot do both.
“I will be meeting with health trade unions to discuss options and the best way of moving forward.
“But let’s be clear.
“The Executive has knowingly, with its eyes wide open, decided to break pay parity for health service workers.”
The outcomes of this decision may have longer lasting impacts on the NHS in Northern Ireland with workers moving into the private sector, simply taking better paid jobs, or following trade union involvement, it may also lead to industrial action and strikes.
Morale in the health service will sink to another low as workers struggle with the disillusionment of eing short-changed by an Executive that cannot meet the workers agreed pay rises.
