'Patients will not be left to starve'

PATIENTS would not be endangered if hospital workers took industrial action, staff said yesterday.

If States manual workers decided to strike over pay discrepancies, ancillary workers at the island's hospitals agreed they would take part in a limited capacity only.

'We would never do anything to put patients' lives at risk – never – but there is a feeling that some sort of industrial action might happen. Obviously, being a hospital, patient care is our priority. If the time came, we would have to discuss what limited action we could take,' said John Naftel, a maintenance worker at the Princess Elizabeth Hospital.

About 100 people, including porters, gardeners, kitchen staff and cleaners, attended a meeting at the PEH yesterday to discuss pay increases for 2008 with Unite union leaders.