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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Wellman International: Buyer must be found to safeguard Cavan jobs

Posted on June 6, 2025 by unitetheunion

Unions to meet examiner next week

Plant can play critical role in enhancing Ireland’s recycling capacity

Unions representing workers at Wellman International in Cavan are calling on the government to intervene to find an alternative owner following the news that the plant, currently owned by multinational Indorama Ventures, is to enter examinership.

SIPTU, Unite and Connect met with workers in recent days and will be engaging with the examiner next week.

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Jones Engineering drops case against Unite shop stewards as union awarded costs

Posted on June 2, 2025 by unitetheunion

Trade union Unite, which represents construction workers throughout Ireland, today (Monday) welcomed the decision by Jones Engineering to drop its High Court case against the union and three shop stewards. Jones has also been ordered to pay Unite’s costs.

Jones Engineering’s unprecedented decision to target union shop stewards arose from a one-day stoppage in March 2023 in pursuit of Unite’s claim against members of the Mechanical Engineering & Building Services Contractors’ Association (MEBSCA) for restoration of the first hour of travel time. Payment of the first hour of ‘travel time’ was originally cut as a so-called ‘temporary measure’ following the 2008 financial crash.

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