UHM urges Health Division to negotiate on ambulance drivers

The Union Haddiema Maghqudin said in a statement yesterday that the fact that the Health Division was persisting in only showing one side of the dispute involving the ambulance drivers confirmed the need for talks for the issue to be resolved.

If the department really wanted to reduce the inconvenience which the industrial action might, in some cases, cause to patients, it would be wiser for the division to focus its energy on finding a solution to the issue.

That solution would come through negotiation and not by trying to alarm the public or trying to swing public opinion against the drivers, the union said.

Although the ambulance drivers had delicate work, they still had rights like everybody else.

The UHM said the new Employment and Industrial Relations Act should include new measures of arbitration, mediation and conciliation for cases in the public service such as this.

The ambulance drivers' dispute centres on their call for a weekly allowance after following a first aid course.