Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
With 2p left in my account.. I’m forced to use food bank
Worker on stagnate wages hell
A HEALTH Service worker forced to use food bank vouchers said he has no choice as he has 2p left in his bank account.
The dad of three young children works a six-day week and told how rising food and heating bills means he can’t make ends meet.
Speaking yesterday, when he is still nearly two weeks from his next pay, the Ulster Hospital technical assistant said he is using the vouchers as he has “no choice if I want to put food on the table”.
The man added: “I work every weekend, with one rest day during the week, but every month is the same.
“By the time I’ve two weeks gone I’ve nothing left. It’s heartbreaking.
“I’m working, my partner’s working, but once the rent’s paid, the phone, food, heating – the usual bills – there’s nothing left.
“And I know I’m not unusual. There’s two or three I work with who’ve said they’ll be taking them [ food vouchers].
“People have no choice. They’ve seen their wages stay the same but the price of everything has gone crazy.
“Everything’s going up bar our pay. I can’t do this anymore, I need help. I’m angry about so much as this is the way it is now for a lot of people. You’re working flat out but you’ve no money.” The NHS worker is a decontamination technical assistant which means he takes care of cleaning surgical instruments and equipment.
The job is skilled and if he makes a mistake people could become very ill, however, he is still just a “Band 1” worker meaning he earns £7.83 an hour.
Following a major pay overhaul that came after protracted negotiatons between unions and the Government, a “Band 1” elsewhere in the UK is now earning £8.92.
Unfortunately the hike has not yet been implemented in Northern Ireland.
James Large, a Unison representative at the Ulster Hospital, said the union will be distributing vouchers from today. He added: “I’ve already two people coming to me tomorrow and that’s the first day of it.
“We already do the uniform grants, fuel grants over the winter and I’ve seen more and more people coming to us over the years for these so, sadly, I’d say there’ll be an uptake for these food vouchers.
“There’s a stigma but we’re telling people it’s nothing they should be embarassed about.
“It’s not there fault they are working 60 hours a week in some cases and can’t make ends meet.”
ULSTER HOSPITAL