{"id":1843,"date":"2014-10-13T17:28:30","date_gmt":"2014-10-13T16:28:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=1843"},"modified":"2014-10-13T17:28:30","modified_gmt":"2014-10-13T16:28:30","slug":"start-talks-now-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=1843","title":{"rendered":"Start talks now call"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p>Today (October 13) health workers and their representing unions took part in a historic pay strike \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the first of its kind in over 30 years.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\nUnite members made their mark as they joined over 100 picket lines up and down the country to send a clear message to health secretary Jeremy Hunt \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that all health workers deserve a blanket one per cent pay rise, one that the independent pay review board recommended.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe urge Jeremy Hunt to heed his responsibility to the NHS workforce and patients and to start talking with the unions to discuss fair pay for this vital staff who would rather be caring for patients than having to fight their own poverty,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Rachael Maskell, Unite head of health.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\nMaskell said today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s action was a resounding success, one that was well-attended and encouraged by many in communities across the country.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bNHS workers were especially thankful for all the messages of support they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been receiving from the public,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she added.<br \/>\nIn response to Jeremy Hunt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s contention today that a pay rise would entail thousands of job losses, Maskell argued that fair wages were entirely affordable, especially if the worst excesses of privatisation were reined in.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015b[Hunt] does nothing to curb pay excess by corporate chief executives or the horrific \u00c2\u01413 billion cost of this government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s useless reorganisation of the NHS,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\nCriticising Hunt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s unprecedented refusal to negotiate with unions, Maskell said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe health unions are calling for the government not to impose limits on what can be achieved for the essential workforce, but to come to the table prepared to negotiate in a meaningful way.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\nStay tuned on UNITElive for the latest on the NHS pay strike.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today (October 13) health workers and their representing unions took part in a historic pay strike \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the first of its kind in over 30 years. &nbsp; Unite members made their mark as they joined over 100 picket lines up and down the country to send a clear message to health secretary Jeremy Hunt \u00e2\u20ac\u201c [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1844,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[63,130],"wps_subtitle":"Unite reacts to historic NHS strike ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1843"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1843"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1845,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1843\/revisions\/1845"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}