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Northern Ireland nurses to join other UK nations in strike ballot

Health workers in NI, who have not yet received a pay offer for 2022-23, will now be included in RCN ballot, set to run from 15 September to 13 October

Health workers in NI, who have not yet received a pay offer for 2022-23, will now be included in RCN ballot, set to run from 15 September to 13 October

Nurses protest over pay outside Belfast City Hospital

Nurses in Northern Ireland will join colleagues across the UK in a ballot on potential industrial action over pay.

RCN ballots for members in England, Wales and Scotland are already planned in response to this year’s NHS pay award of 4% and 5% respectively.

Lack of political leadership means no pay offer

The RCN Council has today announced its decision to include nursing staff in Northern Ireland in the postal ballot over industrial action, which is set to run from 15 September until 13 October.

Health workers there are yet to receive a formal pay offer for 2022-23 due to the absence of an effectively functioning Northern Ireland Executive.

Chair of the RCN Northern Ireland board Fiona Devlin appealed for members to vote in favour of action, saying ‘enough was enough’.

‘After years of underpayment and staff shortages, the fight for fair pay continues,’ she said. ‘Nursing staff in Northern Ireland do not even know if they will receive a pay award this year.

‘However, we are acutely aware that the pay award for colleagues in England and Wales does nothing to help with the spiralling costs of living and will do nothing to recruit or retain more nursing staff.’

‘Unbelievable’ choice after government failure to take action

The RCN Council agreed at an emergency meeting on Wednesday that members in Northern Ireland working for the NHS/Health and Social Care service on Agenda for Change contracts will be asked if they are willing to withdraw labour as part of action.

If its members support strike action, it will be the first ever strike by RCN members in England, Wales and Scotland. RCN members in Northern Ireland went on strike for the first time in the union’s history in 2019.

‘It is quite unbelievable that three years after we took industrial action for the first time in the RCN’s history, we’re asking members if they will take strike action again,’ said director of RCN Northern Ireland Rita Devlin.

‘Governments across the UK have failed to take action on this issue and in Northern Ireland, with no functioning Northern Ireland Executive to appeal to, nursing staff have not received a pay offer at all.’

Protests over pay and cost-of-living crisis

Healthcare staff held protests outside the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust yesterday over concerns about pay and the workforce crisis in the health service.

Members of Unison, the RCN and other trade unions held demonstrations across six sites, including the Belfast City Hospital and Mater Hospital, in protest against a below-inflation pay rise and the cost of living.


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