Nurses to strike over lack of pay parity in Northern Ireland
Posted 08 January 2024 - 13:15
Nurses will join in day of industrial action over failure to implement a public sector pay award for 2023-24 in line with that for colleagues across the UK
Nurses in Northern Ireland will strike later this month in their dispute over pay and working conditions.
Members of RCN Northern Ireland will join other unions, including Unison and Unite, in a day of industrial action on 18 January over the failure to implement a pay award for 2023-24 in line with colleagues across the UK.
Midwives, radiographers, other healthcare workers, teachers and civil servants will also be staging walkouts in a generalised day of action in the country.
The RCN asked politicians to accelerate efforts to pay nursing staff in the country fairly. The lack of a functioning devolved legislature in Northern Ireland due to a political impasse has slowed progress on pay talks.
Northern Ireland has the lowest paid nursing staff in the UK, says RCN
RCN Northern Ireland director Rita Devlin said: ‘It is nothing short of immoral that we have been put in this position once again and are the lowest paid nursing staff in the UK. What an indictment on how we treat healthcare workers and the value we place on them.
‘Our emergency departments, once again, have been struggling to cope with the numbers of very sick patients who need treatment. And who are we depending upon to meet that challenge?
‘Low pay is making it very difficult to retain nursing staff in the health service and we are not willing to tolerate this any longer. We have no choice but to take further action.’
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions said public sector workers in Northern Ireland could not be ‘held hostage’ to the political situation anymore.
NI Department of Health says funding shortfall makes pay award to nurses impossible
Assistant general secretary Gerry Murphy said: ‘A worker’s pay is not some bauble to be dangled in a political negotiation. This money must be made available to settle this dispute now.’
RCN and Unison members went on strike last winter over a 4% pay rise for 2022-23. They have not received any offer for 2023-24, unlike counterparts in England, who received a 5% increase. Northern Ireland’s Department of Health has said it faces a £732 million funding shortfall, making a pay award to nurses and other workers impossible.
The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) confirmed a pay package was ‘on the table’ and would be available on ‘day one of an incoming Northern Ireland Executive to take up’.
This follows a meeting held in December between Northern Ireland secretary of state Chris Heaton-Harris and the country’s main political parties to discuss how to financially support a restored executive. Mr Heaton-Harris announced a £3.3 billion package conditional on the return of a devolved government.
NI Office says package offered by the UK government includes funds for public sector pay
An Northern Ireland Office spokesperson said: ‘The fair and generous package offered by the UK government is worth over £3 billion, including up to £584 million to address public sector pay and more than £1 billion to stabilise Northern Ireland’s public services.
‘It is now for the Northern Ireland parties to come together, restore the executive and begin to address the challenges facing the people of Northern Ireland, including public sector pay.’
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