Derry Trades Union Council urges support for Workers Demand Better Campaign - Save Our NHS rally

Niall McCarroll, Chairperson of the DTUC, is urging people to come out and support the demonstration which is due to take place at 12.30pm in Guildhall Square.

He claimed that the health service is in crisis as a result of declining real wages and insufficient investment in the public health and social care service.

“If you consider that across all pay bands within our health and social care system the average difference between here and Scotland is £2,000.

“Do our health sector workers here not work as hard as those in Scotland?

“Do they not show the same dedication or commitment?

“It’s not a surprise we have around 8,000 vacancies which include 2,500 nurses and midwives.

"With over thirty GP practices closing and another twenty-two GP practices in crisis and facing immediate closure we can see we have a serious problem.

“Approximately 365,000 people are waiting on their first consultant led outpatients appointment and 52 per cent are waiting more than 52 weeks.

“The latest statistics are also showing that nearly 33,000 are waiting on gynaecology appointments,” he stated.

39 photographs of striking education and health workers staging rally for pay in Derry

The President of Unison Andrea Egan will be the main speaker at the demonstration.

Ms. Egan will travel to Derry from Bolton for the rally. Other confirmed speakers are Gareth Moore, DTUC; Anne Speed, Northern Ireland Committee - Irish Congress of Trade Unions (NIC-ICTU); Beverly Simpson, Unison; Rachel Carlin, Focus Project; Tanya Killen, Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance (NIPSA); Susan Fitzgerald, UNITE; and Felicty McCall, National Union of Journalists (NUJ).

Mr. McCarroll blamed ‘government choices in public spending’ for the recruitment and waiting list crises.

“The culture of prioritising shareholders and profits over key workers and communities needs brought to a halt,” he stated.

The local trade unionist referenced the large turnout in Derry on Tuesday for the joint rally by members of the education and health unions.

“In recent times we have seen the resemblance of a long overdue fight back, which has been orchestrated by trade unions and other social justice campaigners.

“We haven’t yet even come close to levelling things up and the people of the North West must continue to play their part in this long overdue response.

“A much bigger test awaits - we must not relent until we return some sense of social freedom and ownership to ordinary people.”

Ellen Moore, from the Derry-based Cost of Living Crisis Campaign, urged people to support the DTUC demonstration.

"I feel like I have to fight back against all this poverty. Even when I'm tired, or sick, or sore,” she stated.

Mr. McCarroll said: “Through cuts in the block grant we are literally being starved of the necessary resources and funding for our lives and public services.

“The conservative government abdicating their responsibility to represent ordinary people - only being focused on representing the mega rich and their corporate interests.”

Large turnout at Derry strike rally hears cuts are ‘amputations’ to ‘already bleeding system’