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Wednesday 21 December 2022

A Conscious Choice



Ambulance strike: Union fury over minister Steve Barclay's claims

Ambulance unions have reacted with anger after the health secretary said they had "taken a conscious choice to inflict harm on patients".

Steve Barclay said unions had refused to work with the government at a national level on how they would cover emergency calls during strike action.

Unison said it was "utterly shocked" by the comments, while the GMB union said they were "insulting"
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So obvious it is hardly worth pointing out, but if no harm is inflicted on patients there is no point to the strike. The union language is as entertainingly formulaic as ever, as the language of disputes often is. There are many possible translations, such as these suggested below -

The words "union fury" mean "unions disagree because that's their job". 
The words "utterly shocked" mean "unsurprised".
The word "insulting" means "we're still thinking about that".

2 comments:

Sam Vega said...

Barclay ought to counter with a question. What would the union leaders do if the strike passes off with absolutely no harm or inconvenience to the public?

A K Haart said...

Sam - Barclay could also introduce words such as "over-capacity".