§ Mr. Bob Cryer (Keighley)I have pleasure in presenting to the House a petition on behalf of the health workers at Airedale general hospital in my constituency. It contains 1,000 signatures. The petitioners are not asking for an 18 per cent. pay increase similar to that which judges and senior civil servants recently received when they already had salaries of £25,000 a year or more. They are asking for a modest 12 per cent.
Representatives of Airedale general hospital visited the House on Wednesday and asked me to point out that the offer made by the Government is inadequate and that it would give people with several years service a net increase of only £2 a week. I was provided with a wage slip which shows basic gross pay of £71.09 and net take-home pay of £50.75. That is hardly a living wage.
I have therefore been asked to present this petition in an attempt to persuade the Government to make a reasonable offer to the workers whose services are widely appreciated. Airedale general hospital is a facility that is much appreciated by the people in my constituency and in the surrounding area.
The petition reads:
To the Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled.The humble Petition of the people of Keighley in West Yorkshire and elsewhereShewethThat the claim for a 12 per cent. increase in wages and salaries by National Health Service workers who provide a highly important and widely appreciated service is an extremely reasonable one and that the arbitrary imposition of a wage limit is unfair and unacceptable.Wherefore your petitioners pray that your Honourable House will urge the Government to meet the pay claim by the National Health Service workers in full.And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray, etc.