Adam Price urges First Minister to get directly involved in pay negotiations to halt strikes
Plaid Cymru is urging Mark Drakeford to get directly involved in negotiations with public service unions, with teachers set to join the next wave of strike action to hit Wales in the coming weeks.
Plaid Cymru’s leader Adam Price has called on the First Minister to enter “genuine” negotiations with the unions, following Education Minister Jeremy Miles’ comments on the BBC’s Politics Wales programme earlier today, when he admitted school could close as a result of industrial action by teachers.
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Mr Price says that a new and fairer deal for public service workers needs to be set out to address the “unfairness” of the current public service pay review system.
“What the Welsh Government needs to do now is show leadership on public sector pay disputes,” Mr Price said.
‘With talks at a standstill, it is time now that the First Minister personally intervened, directly leading negotiations through an urgent roundtable on pay with all the unions, setting out a new and fairer deal for public service workers that addresses the basic unfairness of the current pay review bodies process and that can form the basis for an end to the disputes.”
“Without progress, this deadlock will continue.
“Plaid Cymru will continue to stand in solidarity with all those who are striking here in Wales for fairer pay and better work conditions.”
One-off payment
The Welsh Government offered teachers and school heads a one-off payment in talks on Thursday to try to end the prospect of industrial action.
Senior union officials said the proposals were not enough to meet pay demands.
Members of the National Education Union announced of four separate days of strikes last week, while headteachers in the NAHT have announced they will hold industrial action short of a strike from 1 February onwards.
Two weeks ago NHS workers also rejected the Welsh Government’s offer of a one-off payment to settle their dispute over pay and conditions.
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