Stormont must ensure health and safety legislation keeps pace with reality of climate change

Posted on June 16, 2025 by unitetheunion

Unite launches ‘extreme weather’ policy demands

Trade union Unite launched its Workers in the Eye of the Storm report in Stormont’s Long Gallery this afternoon (Monday 16 June). The report details the results of a survey of Unite members on their experiences during Storm Éowyn and presents a range of legislative proposals to protect workers from the impact of extreme weather events.

The launch was sponsored by MLAs Philip Brett and Emma Sheerin and chaired by Unite regional women’s committee chair Gaye Partridge.

In addition to the sponsoring MLAs, speakers included economy minister Caoimhe Archibald, Clare Moore of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, and Mark Campbell, father of Unite member Matthew Campbell who was killed while working in Slieve Gullion forest during Storm Ali in 2018.

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Economy Minister Caoimhe Archibald to address launch of Unite ‘Extreme Weather’ demands at Stormont

Posted on June 12, 2025 by Unite the union NI

Event co-sponsored by Philip Brett MLA and Emma Sheerin MLA

Economy minister Caoimhe Archibald will speak at the launch of Unite’s ‘Extreme Weather’ survey results and policy demands in Stormont next week.  The launch will also be addressed by event sponsors Philip Brett MLA (Democratic Unionist Party) and Emma Sheerin MLA (Sinn Féin).

When: Monday 16 June 14:30

Where: Long Gallery, Parliament Buildings, Stormont

(Photos of the event will be made available on request)

Speakers will include Irish Congress of Trade Unions health and safety officer Claire Moore and Unite regional secretary Susan Fitzgerald.

The event will also hear from a representative of the family of Unite member Matthew Campbell, who was killed while working during Storm Ali in 2018.

1225 Unite members across Northern Ireland responded to a survey conducted following Storm Éowyn. Their experiences during the storm inform the policy proposals which Unite will be launching on 16 June.

These include:

– A statutory obligation on employers to conduct extreme weather risk assessments

– Graduated alert-based responses, with all non-essential work to cease during ‘red’ alerts

– A legal requirement for wages to continue being paid during weather-related closures

– Up to four days’ paid climate leave, based on the Spanish precedent

– Statutory maximum working temperatures.

ENDS

For further information contact Donal O’Cofaigh (press office), Tel. 07810 157926

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Unite welcomes restoration of winter fuel payment by Stormont Executive

Posted on June 10, 2025 by Unite the union NI

Unite has welcomed this afternoon’s announcement by communities minister Gordon Lyons that the winter fuel payment will be restored as a clear win for pensioners.

The announcement will mean that the Northern Ireland Executive will restore the payment in line with yesterday’s announcement by the Labour government which only applied in England and Wales. Pensioners with incomes below £35,000 will receive the payment in full.

Unite has led the campaign, alongside the national pensioners’ convention and other pensioner groups, for restoration of the payment. Northern Ireland is the UK region with the highest rates of fuel poverty.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said, “Commonsense has finally prevailed as the winter fuel cut has been reversed for most pensioners. Leadership is about choices and the choice to pit workers against pensioners was simply wrong.

“Britain is the sixth richest economy in the world, the idea that we would be picking the pockets of our pensioners was unnecessary and unforgivable.”

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Stormont must immediately extend Labour’s winter fuel U-turn to pensioners in Northern Ireland

Posted on June 10, 2025 by Unite the union NI

Responding to the UK government’s decision to partially reverse the cut in winter fuel payments, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: 

“Commonsense has finally prevailed as the winter fuel cut is reversed for most pensioners in England and Wales. We now need to see this reversed in Northern Ireland and Scotland. We are calling for the Stormont Executive to immediately extend this commitment to pensioners in the region as part of a wider reversal of this disastrous policy.

“Leadership is about choices and the choice to pit workers against pensioners was simply wrong.”

Susan Fitzgerald, Unite regional secretary said, “This is a major win for the pensioners campaign – in which Unite has played a leading role. There can be no excuses now from Stormont – we need to see the universal access to this payment for all pensioners restored by the executive.”

When the government announced it was cutting the winter fuel payment, Unite mounted a political and grassroots campaign to get the decision overturned – including a march on Stormont and organising a vote at Labour conference opposing the cut in winter fuel payments. In Scotland and Northern Ireland the campaign secured a partial mitigation of the cut through the provision of a £100 per pensioner household payment to all affected pensioners.

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New data exposes shortfalls in night-time ambulance and rapid response cover

Posted on June 8, 2025 by Unite the union NI

Unite demands 45-minute maximum ambulance waiting times outside emergency departments to reduce pressures on service

Unite has released data revealing the crisis in night-time shift cover in Northern Ireland’s Ambulance Service (NIAS). The figures cover a 30 day period from 2 April to 1 May and include shift staffing for double-crewed ambulances (DCAs) and rapid response vehicles (RRVs). On only four nights did the number of DCA crews meet the target number of shifts; in RRV shifts, the target was not reached day or night for the entire 30 days. There were huge variation more locally with some areas having surplus cover while at the same time others were left without any cover.

The crisis in shift cover in NIAS is rooted in a long-term failure to recruit and retain workers as well as the practice of having ambulances waiting hours outside hospitals to handover patients.

The union’s NIAS membership is calling for the immediate introduction of a 45-minute maximum waiting time for ambulances to be parked outside emergency departments with all patients being accepted by hospitals at that point.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “The latest figures are shocking but not a surprise to our members. They have been constantly warning that short staffing is endangering the lives of patients.

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