The General Workers' Union has accused the Health Ministry of issuing tenders leading to employment with precarious conditions of work and warned it was not excluding industrial action.

In a statement it said that a contract for clerical work services for the implementation of the Pharmacy of Your Choice Scheme offered lower conditions than those offered to state employees on scale 18, when clerical workers should be on scales between 14 and 16.

The ministry was, however, ignoring the GWU and only seemed set on obtaining the cheapest rates.

Some workers, the union said, were even being made to register as self-employed to be given a job.

It appealed to the minister to discuss the matter with it with urgency.

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