00:00 What do we want?
00:01 - Fair pay!
00:02 - When do we want it?
00:03 - Now!
00:04 Well, my hope is that Welsh Government see sense.
00:06 You know, if they come to the table with a credible offer,
00:08 we'll haul off the strikes today.
00:10 But I have full confidence in these doctors.
00:13 They know their worth.
00:14 They're willing to stick this out for as long as it takes.
00:16 You know, it's actually mixed emotions today.
00:18 I'm really grateful to everyone who's turned out.
00:20 You know, unbelievable levels of unity.
00:23 But, you know, we don't really want to be here.
00:25 We'd much rather be in work.
00:27 We want to be treating patients, as we usually do.
00:29 But unfortunately, this offer of 5%,
00:32 you know, 29.6% pay cut over the last 15 years,
00:35 and doctors earning £13.65, is unacceptable.
00:39 That's why we're all out here.
00:41 - Ober says that he and others in the same boat as him
00:43 work tirelessly in their jobs.
00:45 Being a junior doctor also comes with added costs,
00:48 like having to move around to different hospitals,
00:50 pay for exams, and he believes they are being hard done by.
00:53 - Honestly, it is endless.
00:55 And that's the case for not just the doctors,
00:57 but for all NHS staff, really.
00:59 You know, we work nights, we work 70-hour weeks,
01:01 often longer than that.
01:03 We face traumatic situations.
01:05 Often, you know, we see people die right in front of us,
01:08 and we have to, you know, pull our socks up and keep carrying on.
01:11 But right now, with the service the way it is,
01:14 we can't deliver the level of health care that we want to.
01:16 We're just being sacrificed, essentially, for the system.
01:19 - A number of Plaid Cymru Senedd members
01:21 joined the junior doctors today,
01:23 and Malbarn Ap Grinfod, Plaid's health spokesperson,
01:25 says that it is of key importance to the NHS in Wales
01:28 that these doctors are paid fairly,
01:30 or we could risk losing huge numbers of trained professionals
01:33 to other, more well-paying countries.
01:35 - Their pay is now about 30% less than what it was back in 2008.
01:40 And the Welsh Government promised a pay restoration for them,
01:43 but instead they've offered them a derisory 5% increase,
01:46 which is less than what doctors have been paid in England and in Scotland.
01:50 We're already seeing doctors leaving Wales
01:52 and going to Australia and New Zealand and elsewhere.
01:55 If doctors aren't recompensed properly,
01:57 if they're not paid what they deserve,
01:59 then we'll see more doctors leave Wales,
02:02 and that will be an absolute crisis for health care in Wales.
02:06 - The First Minister, though, says that it's not as simple
02:08 as adding more money due to issues from funding from Westminster,
02:11 and it would mean removing funding from other important areas.
02:15 - Of course we want to see public servants in Wales
02:19 paid properly for the work that they do,
02:22 but the offer that we have made is right at the limit
02:26 of the funding that we have for this purpose.
02:29 And it is just an act of irresponsibility
02:33 for members to get on their feet in this chamber
02:36 and to say to me, "More money for this, more money for that,
02:40 "more money for something else," and never, not once,
02:44 to think that they have any responsibility
02:46 to suggest where that money should come from.
02:49 - These hundreds of junior doctors here today
02:52 say they will not give up the fight, and they know their worth.
02:55 The Welsh Government say there's nowhere to go in terms of funding,
02:58 so something has got to give.
03:00 James Beach Watkins, reporting from the Centre.
03:02 Pay the bills!
03:03 Cops don't pay the bills!
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