International Workers’ Memorial Day: Stormont must protect workers in ‘Extreme Weather’ events

Posted on April 28, 2025 by Unite the union NI

Union releases results of survey conducted after Storm Eowyn

Time to climate-proof health and safety laws

Trade union Unite today, International Workers’ Memorial Day [Monday 28 April], released the results of a survey of members carried out by the union together with a set of policy proposals to protect workers from the impact of extreme weather.  

Since the 2018 death of Unite member Matthew Campbell, who was killed while working during Storm Ali, Unite has had a series of meetings with Stormont departments around the need to protect workers from the impact of extreme weather. The Northern Ireland minister for the economy has committed to holding a ‘round table’ to address these issues, and Unite’s survey results and policy proposals being will feed into that.

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Workers must not be landed with tariff tab

Posted on April 16, 2025 by unitetheunion

Union executive warns that hitting living standards will not Trump-proof economy

The Irish Executive Committee of trade union Unite has committed the union to campaigning against any moves by the government to abandon the commitment to raise the National Minimum Wage to 60 per cent of median earnings on 1 January 2026.  

The union’s executive also criticised the decision to scrap promised extensions to statutory sick pay and extend the deadline for pension auto-enrolment, pointing out that these rowbacks will impact heaviest on the lowest-paid workers, who are disproportionately likely to be women, migrant workers, young workers and workers with disabilities.  

Unite’s Irish secretary Susan Fitzgerald said:

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NI Ambulance workers vote for industrial action in shift dispute 

Posted on March 11, 2025 by Unite the union NI

Management proposals risk leaving areas without adequate ambulance cover and are an attempt to make paramedics pay the price for a staffing crisis they did not cause

Paramedics and ambulance workers in Unite have voted decisively for industrial action in a recent consultative ballot. In total 86 per cent indicated a willingness to take strike action on management proposals to impose a new shift system.

The new shifts were to be piloted in the South Eastern health and social care area for a year and would see a significant reduction in ambulance cover at nighttime. While the new shifts are only being trialled in the South East they will impact ambulance services across Northern Ireland. 

Existing NIAS cover arrangements see ambulances travel from across Northern Ireland to cover shortfalls. The new shifts will increase the likelihood for such long journeys which then has a knock-on impact leaving other areas, especially rural ones, with insufficient cover.

Sharon Graham, Unite general secretary said: “These new shifts are just a bandage to cover over the ambulance service staffing crisis. Ambulance workers will not pay the price for a crisis they didn’t cause.”

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HSE: Unite serves notice of industrial action over staffing crisis

Posted on March 10, 2025 by unitetheunion

Unite, which represents a range of grades across the Health Services Executive (HSE), said today (Monday) that it has served notice of industrial action over the staffing crisis resulting from the HSE’s ‘Pay and Numbers Strategy.’

Last year it emerged that, despite the HSE’s claim that a recruitment ban had ended, vacancies are being benchmarked against the 2024 headcount. The result is that any vacancies unfilled in 2023 have effectively been lost to the health service, leaving a staffing shortfall of over 2,000 posts.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “HSE workers have been trying to do more with less while worrying constantly that patients are not getting the care they deserve due to the staffing crisis.

“The ongoing failure to address the issue has left our members with no choice but to take action in defence of patient safety and their own working conditions.”

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Cork brown water: Unite demands action as tests confirm contamination ahead of protest

Posted on February 27, 2025 by unitetheunion

Iron and manganese levels render water unsuitable for human consumption

Protest set for Grand Parade on Saturday

Unite, which represents water service workers in Cork and around the country, today announced the results of tests carried out on Cork’s ‘brown water’. Unite had sent samples to a Health Services Executive (HSE) laboratory for testing following significant concerns regarding water quality in parts of Cork and surrounding areas. 

The HSE laboratory tests showed excessive levels of manganese at over 300 μg/l (parametric value 50) and iron at over 600 μg/l (parametric value 200).  The laboratory noted that “water with these levels of iron and manganese is not suitable for human consumption” and said that “treatment is recommended”.

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