UNISON has said that talks with Welsh government on future of pay and conditions for health workers in Wales today yielded no firm offer but was a “start in the process.”

Wales’ largest public sector union met with the Welsh government Health Minister Eluned Morgan today [12 January] for “key talks” as a row over pay and conditions for health workers in Wales rumbles on.

The meeting followed a letter from the Welsh government to all health unions in Wales suggesting the possibility of a one-off payment for health workers, potential solutions to issues surrounding agency staff and restoring some level of confidence in the pay review body that sets the pay award for health workers and has failed to deliver on restoring pay levels over the years.

Unison Cymru/Wales, which represents tens of thousands of NHS staff in Wales, said that last year

health workers in Wales were offered a £1,400 pay award, which represented “ a real-terms pay cut for the majority of staff.”

Responding to today’s meeting with the Health Minister Eluned Morgan on NHS pay, Dominic MacAskill, regional secretary of UNISON Cymru/Wales, said: “We welcome the engagement of the Welsh government which is prepared to talk about 2022/23 pay, in complete contrast with the Westminster Conservative government.

“Today is a start in the process.

“No specific offer was made to healthcare workers in the meeting, but Welsh government has identified an additional financial package which covers the whole of the NHS in Wales.

“Now the trade unions will enter negotiations over whether this constitutes a credible offer that addresses the cost-of-living crisis.

“We recognise the Welsh government is limited in what it can do and we need to see a meaningful end to this crisis from the UK government in Westminster which meets the approval of the many thousands of health workers we represent who are now at breaking point.”