NHS Highland porters yesterday carried out their duties as normal after threatening to down tools due to ongoing health and safety concerns, as four staff are said to have sustained needle wound injuries when handling clinical waste.
Union chiefs last night voiced fears for the health and safety of NHS Highland porters over the handling of clinical waste - and are threatening to call for strike action after claims workers suffered needle wounds.
Ambulance services in the north are being “stretched to breaking point” as sick leave levels of paramedics soar, union chiefs have claimed.
Whistleblowers at the centre of an NHS Highland bullying scandal hailed top-level talks over holding an external public investigation into the claims – set to be QC-led – as “the first time our voices have ever been heard”.
A GP has claimed he was “blacklisted” by senior NHS Highland managers for being a perceived troublemaker.
Parts of north Scotland were left without ambulance cover when a crew signed off fatigued after responding to a blaze at Skibo Castle while another transferred a patient to Inverness, union chiefs have revealed.
Outreach drama teachers are believed to be among those in the firing line as bosses at the north’s top theatre consider staff redundancies.
Patients suffered “serious, irreversible and avoidable harm” because follow-up out-patient appointments were “deliberately” delayed to meet targets, a former NHS Highland neurologist has claimed.
More than 100 workers have come forward since whistleblowers alleged a “severe bullying culture” at NHS Highland.
NHS Highland’s bullying crisis has deepened with calls for a public inquiry because there is “no faith that the existing senior leadership team” can resolve the issue.
Health chiefs are investigating after almost all of their 10,000-strong workforce were not paid their salary as expected yesterday.
Cash-strapped health chiefs have come under fire for spending almost £9,000 on a security review - but making no changes six months later.
Inverness taxi drivers have threatened strike action after joining ranks with a national trade union - claiming it aims to use its “clout” to take on the “arrogance and contempt” of Highland Council.
GMB Union has called the “effective” closure of BiFab yards a “dark day” for the Scottish economy as the core workforce is cut in a move that sees senior staff keep their posts.
The new owners of BiFab vowed yesterday there would be “no further redundancies” as they look to compete for big renewables contracts.
Workers union GMB said last night that its consultation ballot on the Mariner platform returned a 91% vote in favour of industrial action.
Engineering firm BiFab is being urged to place its closure-threatened yard on Lewis on “care and maintenance” so it can speedily restart operations when the market improves.
The GMB Union welcomed news that the Highland Council had vetoed proposals to axe 300 specialist teaching roles in schools.
Health bosses met hospital security guards yesterday to begin consultation on controversial plans to cut night shift cover at Raigmore in Inverness to just one member of staff.
Highland Council leaders have warned of jobs losses and swingeing cuts to services – on top of a proposed 3% council tax hike – in a bid to deal with a massive £25.8million budget gap.
A controversial proposal to cut security staff working night shifts at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness to just one has been condemned by union chiefs who claim lives of staff and patients would be put at risk.
Dounreay nuclear plant is facing New Year strikes after trade unions officially served notice of a ballot on industrial action over pay.
NHS Highland’s annual bill for private home care has almost doubled to £9million in three years - at a time of unprecedented budgetary pressures.
Industrial action just short of an all-out strike could hit hundreds of patients of a vital care service in the Highlands.
Hundreds of people in the Highlands could be left without their crucial care service as union bosses accused the "bullying" NHS of forcing them towards industrial action.
Up to one in three workers are now in “precarious” employment such as jobs in the so-called gig economy or on zero-hours contracts, a new study shows.
Claims that ambulance provision in the far north is to be cut has been denied by the service.
Drinks giant Diageo is being threatened with strikes in the run up to Christmas after workers voted for industrial action over cuts to their pensions.
North health chiefs are drawing up a new rota for staff at the region's biggest hospital in an attempt to avert a strike.
NHS Highland has been forced into an embarrassing climb-down after a strike threat from porters at the north's flagship hospital.
Trade union officials and Highland health chiefs are poised to hold crunch talks to try to avert a looming strike at Raigmore Hospital.
Key staff at Raigmore Hospital will decide next week whether to go on strike over changes to their shifts.