Unite to ballot members following failure of department of health to deliver pay parity and safe staffing

Unite is to ballot over 4,500 workers in Northern Ireland’s health and social care system, for industrial action. This follows the failure of the department of health to deliver on pay parity and safe staffing.

The union has members among professional and technical staff, including porters, as well as among paramedics in the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said, “Workers in Northern Ireland deserve the same pay as their NHS colleagues. The failure to deliver pay parity and safe staffing has left our members with no alternative but to ballot for strike action. Health and social care workers in Northern Ireland have the full support of Unite in their fight for fairness and respect.”

Health and social care workers in Northern Ireland have been denied the 3.6 per cent pay increase provided to NHS workers in England, Scotland and Wales. Pay inequality within the NHS is resulting in a difficulty with staff retention and recruitment and leading to a staffing crisis. 

Unite regional officer Brenda Stevenson said, “Every year, health and social care workers are left to wait at the back of the queue to get the recommended pay award.

“In May the minister found tens of millions in his health budget for private medical providers but now says there’s nothing for our members’ pay increase. Patients will be concerned that NHS workers are balloting for strikes but this dispute is entirely of the executive’s own making.”