Unite the Union, Ireland Region

Public transport unions confirm Translink strike on Thursday 18 January

Posted on January 10, 2024 by Unite the union NI

Joint transport union press release

Secretary of state for Northern Ireland Chris Heaton-Harris must release funds to provide a pay increase for all public sector workers

Strike action will include all bus and rail drivers, engineers, signal workers and conciliation staff and will bring to a halt public transport across Northern Ireland

The three public transport trade unions Unite, GMB and SIPTU, have notified Translink that their members will participate in the wider public sector pay strike on Thursday 18 January. The strike will commence at staggered times from midnight on that day. The strike will involve all bus and rail drivers, engineers, signal workers and conciliation staff and will bring all public transport services in Northern Ireland to a standstill. The strike is the fifth day of strike action as part of the workers’ industrial dispute in pursuit of a pay increase.

General Secretary of Unite Sharon Graham said: “Northern Ireland faces the biggest strike action in its history. No bus and rail services will operate on the day of the strike. The secretary of state has chosen to impose a budgetary settlement on departments which fails to fund a pay increase for workers. Chris Heaton-Harris must immediately reverse course and release funding for a pay increase.”

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Posted in Campaign for Decent Pay, Industrial disputes, Press Releases, Public Services | Tagged Education Authority, Forestry Service, GMB, HSC, PSNI, public sector strike, rivers agency, Roads Service, Sharon Graham, SIPTU, Strangford ferry, Translink, Unite | 1 Comment

8,000 members of Unite to participate in one day public sector strike on 18 January

Posted on January 9, 2024 by Unite the union NI

Workers in health and social care, education, public transport, roads, forestry, rivers, ferries and PSNI to strike for improved pay

Union demands secretary of state for Northern Ireland Chris Heaton-Harris stops using underfunding of public services as negotiating leverage

Unite the union has confirmed that public sector workers have voted to join a wider, coordinated strike action by public sector workers on 18 January. Over the next 24 hours the union will provide full details of the industrial action to a range of public sector employers.

8,000 public sector workers in Unite will join the action. The union’s membership includes more than 4,000 health and social care workers, 2,300 bus and rail workers, 800 education authority workers as well as members in the roads service, forestry service, rivers agency, Ferry services and PSNI. The coordinated strike action by public sector workers on 18 January is set to be the biggest in the history of Northern Ireland and is focused on achieving pay improvements as well as ensuring pay parity where relevant with public sector workers in Great Britain.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “This will be an unprecedented demonstration of the power of workers in Northern Ireland. For almost two years, the absence of a functioning Stormont Executive has led to growing paralysis and crisis across public sector services.

“This situation has been made worse by a secretary of state for Northern Ireland who has sought to leverage the crisis in the current negotiations through imposing a punishing budgetary settlement.

“Unite will not allow the livelihoods of workers and the funding of public services to be used as a bargaining chip by this government.”

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Posted in Campaign for Decent Pay, Industrial disputes, Living Wage, Northern Ireland news, Press Releases, Public Services | Tagged January 18th, Northern Ireland, public sector, Sharon Graham, strike, Susan Fitzgerald | Leave a comment

Tara Mines: Government must step in as company adopts unacceptable approach to workers’ jobs and conditions

Posted on January 9, 2024 by unitetheunion

Alternative ownership must be on agenda

January 9th: Speaking following a conciliation hearing held today (Tuesday) at the Workplace Relations Commission, trade union Unite – which represents craft and staff grades at Tara Mines – expressed outrage at proposals advanced by the company which would cut the workforce by over one-third while reducing the terms and conditions of remaining workers. The company has also issued a redundancy scheme which is significantly worse than that previously agreed with unions.

Unite said that, unless the company withdraws what the union termed an unacceptable approach to workers’ jobs, terms and conditions when the WRC reconvenes on 22 January, and commits to a firm re-opening date, the Government must intervene to secure good jobs and skills at Tara.

The union said that alternative ownership must be on the agenda for Europe’s largest zinc mine in order to safeguard a vital national asset which can play a role in a low-carbon economy going forward.

Commenting, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said:

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Posted in Press Releases, Republic of Ireland news | Tagged JobsPayConditions, Sharon Graham, tara mines, Tom Fitzgerald, Unite ROI | Leave a comment

Public transport workers in Unite, GMB and SIPTU to strike over pay on Friday

Posted on December 21, 2023 by Unite the union NI

Strike will bring all bus and rail services in Northern Ireland to a standstill

Members of Unite, GMB and SIPTU employed by Translink will hold a further 24-hour strike action commencing on a staggered basis from 00.01am Friday [December 21]. The strike follows a two-day stoppage last week and will bring all bus and rail services to a standstill.

The strike follows ballots by union members which returned percentages in the high nineties for strike action in pursuit of a cost-of-living pay increase. Unions were informed that Translink could only offer a pay freeze because of the harsh budget imposed on the department for infrastructure by the secretary of state for Northern Ireland, Chris Heaton-Harris. Accounting for inflation (RPI) this amounts to a real terms pay cut of 11.4 per cent.

While the secretary of state has offered a funding package, which he claims is adequate to address workers’ public sector pay demands, he has made it contingent on progress in wider political talks to re-establish the Stormont executive. As a result, the pay freeze remains in place.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “It is completely unacceptable that public transport workers are being denied a pay increase during the worst cost of living crisis in generations.

“There is excuse for the secretary of state failing to provide adequate funding for a pay increase for public transport workers. Transport workers have been left with no option but to go ahead with their planned strike action. They have the full support of Unite in doing so.”

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