Unions react to news that the Education Authority faces £100 million cuts before April 2023

Posted on December 7, 2022 by Unite the union NI

Trade Union Officials from NIPSA, UNISON, GMB and UNITE met with EA Senior Management on 5 December to receive a briefing on the budget position for the current financial year.

Education Authority management confirmed that their projected overspend had reduced from £290m to £100m and had been advised that no further money would be available to address the funding gap of £100m. The Department of Education has instructed EA management to deliver proposals to make savings of £100m during the remaining three months of the current financial year.

Kieran Ellison, Regional Officer, Unite the Union stated:

“Northern Ireland has gone from second behind Scotland to the lowest spending per pupil in the UK over the last decade in education. It is truly unconscionable that the Conservatives wish to pay for the Truss/ Kwarteng £30bn economic joyride by cutting the money for our future generation’s education. Unite stand robustly against the ideology of cuts and austerity”.

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Unite ballots 4,000 Health and Social care workers for strike in early 2023

Posted on December 6, 2022 by Unite the union NI

Healthcare staff warn NHS on life support and may not survive staffing crisis

Nearly 4,000 more health and social care workers across Northern Ireland have begun balloting for strike action, Unite, which represents some 100,000 NHS workers across the UK, said today.

Unite said its healthcare members are warning the NHS is on ‘life support’ and that without serious investment to stem the recruitment and retention crisis and save failing services it may not survive.  

The workers perform roles in nursing, healthcare, science, counselling, psychology, dentistry, pharmacology, audiology, optometry, administration, IT and building maintenance services.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Anyone who has had the misfortune to be taken to hospital in an ambulance or spent far too long waiting for treatment knows the NHS is in a fight for its life. Burnt out low paid staff, who have seen their wages attacked every year for more than a decade, are leaving in droves. 

“The NHS is on life support and without proper pay and funding it may not survive. That’s why NHS workers are standing up: They know that decent pay is essential to the service’s future.”

The constant real terms pay cuts and the increasing pressure that workers are experiencing in the Health and Social Care sector are key factors in the growing vacancies for staff. Across the UK, nearly one in 10 posts – 132,000 positions – a figure that is continuing to grow.

Unite members across all five HSC trusts and the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service are being balloted. The ballot results are expected in late December.

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Pending Rathlin Island Ferry Ltd strike suspended after last minute move by management opens process of negotiations

Posted on December 1, 2022 by Unite the union NI

Strike action was due to commence four days a week but has been suspended to allow the company and the Department for Infrastructure to come to an agreed position

Ferry workers voted for strike action with a 85 percent majority after three years of a pay freeze

Unite the union has suspended pending strike action on the ferry service between Ballycastle and Rathlin Island after a last minute move by management which allowed a negotiated position. The strike was due after a ballot of ferry workers which returned a 85 percent mandate in pursuit a cost of living pay increase after three years of a pay freeze.

With retail price inflation at 14.6%, another year’s pay freeze would amount to a real-terms pay cut of more than a one-seventh of their wage.

The suspension of the strike will provide some relief to the Rathlin Island community who faced a severe impact with the loss of a ferry service.

Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham expressed her support for the workers:

“The Rathlin Island Ferry employers are on the very eve of taking strike action. Why? Because they haven’t had a pay-rise for three years.

“They’re caught in a vice between their employers and the cost of living crisis. If necessary, Unite will support our members for as long as it takes. So it’s time for Rathlin Island Ferry Ltd to put a decent offer on the table.”

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Saturday’s Raise the Roof rally must signal turning point on housing

Posted on November 24, 2022 by unitetheunion

Unite says many construction workers cannot afford homes they build

November 24th: Unite, which represents workers throughout the economy, has called for a large turnout at the Raise the Roof housing rally due to take place this coming Saturday (26 November). 

Commenting, the union’s Regional Coordinating Officer Tom Fitzgerald said:

“A generation has been locked out of secure and genuinely affordable housing.  House prices rose by 77% between 2012 and 2020, while incomes increased by just 23% over the same period.  At the same time, average rents now consume over half the average wage.

“The housing emergency did not arise overnight.  Home building by local authorities collapsed as a direct result of public policy, with new housing builds by local authorities across the country amounting to just under 2,300 units in 2019 – a derisory figure given the level of housing need.  Instead of building homes, funding has been channelled into tax breaks for large investors, lucrative leasing deals for developers and large subsidies for private landlords.  It’s clear that we need a new deal for housing”, Mr Fitzgerald said.

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Dept of Health running out of time to save Registered Childminders sector

Posted on November 24, 2022 by unitetheunion

As Unite seeks emergency meeting, survey confirms nearly 70% of childminders considering leaving sector

November 24th: Unite the union has written to the head of the Family Policy Unit in the Department of Health to request that they lift restrictions on Registered Childminders which are threatening to collapse the sector. 

At present, Registered Childminders are subject to a lower cap on the number of children that they can accommodate than in England, Wales or Scotland. With childminders in Northern Ireland allowed to accommodate just half the number of children permitted in England, this cap in squeezing their incomes at a time of spiralling prices.  The result is that childminders must either accept a further squeeze on their incomes, raise charges to parents or leave the sector.

Unless the Department acts, hundreds of Registered Childminders will be pushed out of the industry, with devastating consequences for childminders and their families, for other workers reliant on childcare, and for the wider economy.

A recent Unite survey of Registered Childminders found that 59 per cent of Registered Childminders were considering taking on a second job to make ends meet; nearly half are increasing their fees to cope with the cost of living crisis, 32 per cent are asking parents to provide food, and 18 per cent are reducing the days they work to help reduce overhead costs.  69 per cent are considering leaving the sector.

Unite Regional Coordinating Officer Susan Fitzgerald warns that the sector could collapse unless the Department of Health raises the caps on childminders:

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