Largest one-day strike in decades

Largest one-day strike in decades

17 January 2024

HUNDREDS of nurses, teachers, bus drivers, police staff and civil servants across the district will tomorrow take part in the biggest day of industrial action Northern Ireland has seen in decades.

The one-day strike over pay and conditions will take place amidst plummeting temperatures with public sector workers determined to make a stand and send a clear signal that they have had enough and want to be paid a fair wage for the job they do.

All health and social care including hospitals, community care and ambulances will be affected, with some services completely halted, while schools are expected to close, with the strike also impacting the Strangford ferry service. 

Local roads and forestry staff are taking part in the strike and will be joined by school bus transport, catering, admin, cleaning and classroom assistants, with the industrial action set to cause significant disruption across many schools which are expected to close.

Trade unions representing 150,000 public sector workers across the province will be manning picket lines outside hospitals, schools, bus stations and civil service buildings right across the district.

The industrial action will effectively shut public services for the day, with the industrial action aimed at achieving pay improvements as well as ensuring pay parity where relevant with public sector workers in Great Britain.

Last month, Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris and the Stormont parties agreed a £3.3bn financial package to accompany the return of the Northern Ireland Executive, with the money including provision for public sector pay rises.

But not a penny has been made available to workers.

Ahead of tomorrow’s day of action, trade unions have urged the Secretary of State to intervene in the absence of a functioning Executive and make the pay award.

Local members of 15 trade unions across the public sector will all be taking part in the 24-hour strike action which comes after teachers, health workers, transport workers and civil servants took part in previous walkouts over an outstanding pay award. 

The latest walkout came shortly before Christmas, with members of Unite, GMB and Siptu taking part in tomorrow’s strike action.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said the industrial action will be an “unprecedented demonstration of the power of workers in Northern Ireland”.

She added: “For almost two years, the absence of a functioning Stormont executive has led to growing paralysis and crisis across public sector services.

“This situation has been made worse by a Secretary of State who has sought to leverage the crisis in the current negotiations through imposing a punishing budgetary settlement.”

GMB senior organiser Alan Perry said its members “have simply had enough”.

He continued: “They will not be used as political pawns in a process that would see the return of the Northern Ireland Executive.

“The Secretary of State made it clear that money is there; he must do the honourable thing and make it available now to address the concerns of members who desperately need it.”

Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) assistant general secretary, Gerry Murphy has also urged the Secretary of State to intervene and deliver the pay award.

He said tomorrow will see the largest day of industrial action experienced in Northern Ireland in a generation when trade unionists working across public services strike in support of their reasonable demand for a fair pay rise.

Ahead of the strike, the Department of Health has warned that disruption to services will be on a scale not experienced with previous industrial action and has appealed to the public to use services appropriately to help ensure care is available to those who need it most.

In a joint statement issues yesterday, the chief executives of the province’s health trusts said they were “deeply concerned at the profound impact the planned industrial action will have on services which are already under tremendous strain”.

They say the disruption will be on a massive and unprecedented scale with only minimal and emergency services available throughout Northern Ireland.

“It is a tragedy that our colleagues, who are the backbone of our health and social care service, feel they have no alternative but to take this action. We would repeat our call for all staff to be properly rewarded for their work,” the statement continues.

“They understandably feel aggrieved that their counterparts in the rest of the UK have received a pay award, while they continue to work incredibly hard without receiving the same recognition, particularly during a period of high cost of living increases. 

“To add to their immense frustration, they have been told publicly that funding for a pay award is potentially available, but not yet released.”

The joint statement continues: “ As chief executives, we have repeatedly and publicly called for a long-term funding settlement for health and social care in Northern Ireland that addresses central issues including waiting lists, recruitment and pay in a sustainable manner. 

“We have been struggling with a system where funding has been allocated on a yearly basis, which makes it impossible to plan for the long term. There is so much to put right in health and social care. Much-needed progress has been critically hampered by multiple years of political and budgetary instability.”

The chief executives add: “As the extreme pressures on the health and social care service continue unabated, the position is increasingly unsustainable. We would like to sincerely thank all our staff for their continued dedication in really difficult circumstances.”