Excerpt: ”The Government has taken note of the planned “day of rest and reflection” by nursing personnel over outstanding wage settlements. While we respect the right to protest, we urge that patient care and essential services be protected at all times.
Regional Health Authorities (RHAs) are public sector bodies created under their own Act and are not part of the core public service governed by the Civil Service Act. When RHAs were first operationalised, staff who transferred from the Civil Service and statutory authorities were guaranteed that, at the point of transfer, they would not be placed on less favourable terms. That was a one-time safeguard, not an open-ended guarantee that every future Civil Service wage increase would automatically follow them into the RHAs.”