The government's new Health Secretary Alan Johnson has agreed to urgently reopen discussions on health workers pay, following the call for talks last week by UNISON. The union's National Officer for Health Mike Jackson said:

"We very much welcome these last ditch talks to avert industrial action. Living costs have risen far faster than the paltry pay offer on the table and our health workers are underpaid as it is. They simply cannot afford to accept the offer on the table as it stands."

Earlier this year ambulance staff and other health workers were offered a miserly 2.5% pay offer. This offer was cut even further because Government and employers said it had to be staged. An increase of just 1.5% was offered from April 2007, but the final settlement of 2.5% is only due to be paid from November 2007. This effectively reduced the annual pay offer to below 2%, yet living costs have risen at more than double that figure. Dismay grew in England as they learned that the 2.5% pay offer in Wales and Scotland would not be staged in the same way.

UNISON, the UK's largest health union representing 460,000 health workers, has scheduled a ballot of members for industrial action due to take place in September 2007.  

Talks are expected to begin early next week.