Striking workers at Derry City and Strabane District Council end strike action after winning double pay point increase

Posted on September 6, 2022 by Unite the union NI

Unite the union members vote to accept improved pay offer with 63 percent majority

Workers at Derry City and Strabane District Council have voted with a 63 percent majority to accept an improved offer from management and end their industrial dispute with their employer. Management at the council made a substantially improved pay offer to avoid a return of strike action which had struck council activities earlier in the year. The pay deal includes a one-off payment of £500 and a fully consolidated two pay point increase worth approximately five percent – on top of the wider National Joint Council pay improvement.

Derry City and Strabane now becomes the second council in Northern Ireland, after Mid Ulster District Council, to have resolved the 2021-22 pay dispute with a significantly improved pay offer including a two pay point increase plus cash.

Unite’s General Secretary Sharon Graham congratulated her union’s membership at Derry City and Strabane District Council on a substantial pay win:

“Derry City and Strabane workers have won a considerable pay offer over the bare 1.75 percent pay increase offered nationally. 

“This is now the second council in Northern Ireland where workers have won a decent pay increase through strike action. Unite the union is delivering on our promise to defend the jobs, pay and conditions of our members.”

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Belfast City Council vote for Greenwich Leisure Limited to recognise leisure workforce unions must now be implemented

Posted on September 2, 2022 by Unite the union NI

Leisure staff warn council that failure to recognise representative trade unions will led to ballot on industrial action.

Outsourced leisure services across Belfast are delivered by a two-tier workforce with staff pay the lowest in Northern Ireland, further exposing them to the pain of the cost of living crisis.

Councillors at Belfast City Council yesterday [Thursday, 1 September] voted in support of the formal recognition of representative trade unions at municipal leisure centres. In response, Unite the union, the largest representative union, called on the council to move swiftly to deliver the commitment and ensure that outsourced management company, Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL), afford basic union recognition to its members.

The union warned that if the vote was not enforced, it would leave its members working in outsourced, council leisure centres with no alternative but to ballot for industrial action.

Since management of municipal leisure centres was handed over to Greenwich Leisure Limited, there have been repeated protests and strikes against threats to workers’ pensions, pay and staffing levels. 

The two-tier workforce in leisure centres includes those newly contracted through inferior GLL-contracts and those retaining council-contracts. Both sets of workers are the lowest paid municipal leisure workers in Northern Ireland.

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Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council challenged over costly preference for insecure agency staffing

Posted on September 2, 2022 by Unite the union NI
Kieran Ellison, Regional officer

Unite challenges management to address workforce pay claim through ending waste on agencies and consultants

Unite members working at Lisburn and Castlereagh City council are due to commence all-out strike action to win a pay increase from next Tuesday. Their strike action is likely to escalate with the GMB now balloting their members on strike action on the same issue.

The union responded to comments from Lisburn and Castlereagh Chief Executive David Burns which found their way into the press recently, in which he laid responsibility on his employees to find ways to fund a pay increase. Regional officer for Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council, Kieran Ellison, challenged the Chief Executive:

“While senior management at a growing number of councils across Northern Ireland are engaging with representative trade unions with the aim of finding a resolution to this pay dispute, Lisburn and Castlereagh the Chief Executive is busy playing to the to the press while also asking his own employees do his work and identify where he can fund their pay increase.

“Workers at Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council are asking themselves why it is that their employer cannot provide the same type of offer that has now been accepted by workers at the likes of Derry City & Strabane and Mid-Ulster councils.

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Caterpillar 83 jobs redundancy announcement is another bitter blow for Larne area

Posted on September 1, 2022 by Unite the union NI

Unite to engage with employer to mitigate impact on its membership

This afternoon’s announcement by Caterpillar that it is to seek 83 redundancies among its Larne workforce has been branded as another ‘bitter blow’ for the local area by trade union Unite which represents the workforce.

The union was notified of the redundancies this afternoon. Management are seeking to make redundant seventy-seven shop floor workers and six salaried staff. They have offered a downturn in sales of the G7 product – which is a smaller capacity generator – as the reason for the move.

Unite rejects the logic behind this redundancy and called for Caterpillar’s huge profits to be used to ensure the jobs of those who had contributed to its success.

Regional officer for the workers is George Brash who confirmed that his union would be engaging with management in consultation meeting on Monday coming:

“This afternoon’s announcement by Caterpillar bosses came out of the blue and represents another bitter blow for workers in the Larne area. Workers at Caterpillar now face the threat of losing their livelihoods in the middle of the worst cost of living crisis in decades.

“Caterpillar is a hugely successful global business. It reported profits of £5.6 last year and decided to give £4 billion of that to shareholders instead of reinvesting in upgrading production and new lines. If it is genuinely a case of declining sales of a particular small model of generator, the company should use its profits to establishing new production lines at Larne and safeguard rather than make redundant workers who are at the root of that success.

“Unite will be entering the consultation negotiations with management next Monday [5 September] with a view to making the case against redundancy, and failing that, seeking to mitigate the number and impact of any redundancies on our members.”

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Strike action called at Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council after council bosses fail to deliver pay increase.

Posted on August 30, 2022 by Unite the union NI

Unite the union notifies council of continuous strike action starting 6thSeptember 2022.

After the breakdown of talks involving all three representative trade unions, Unite, GMB and NIPSA, strike action is now set to proceed at Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council. Unite the union lodged confirmation that its approximately 200 members would commence continuous strike action starting 6th September 2022.

Unite has been seeking localized pay agreements with councils, the housing executive, the education authority and other education employers after the union rejected a national pay offer which failed to protect workers from the cost of living crisis. Industrial disputes which had saw extensive strikes at Mid-Ulster District Council and Derry City and Strabane District Council were ended after Unite members voted to accept a pay increase including a two pay point increase and a cash payment.

At other councils in Northern Ireland, strike actions are suspended to allow negotiations in order that management make suitable offers.

Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council is now set to join Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council where strike action is ongoing and involves all three representative trade unions: Unite, NIPSA and the GMB.

Unite’s General Secretary Sharon Graham expressed her support for the striking workers at Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council:

“With retail price inflation now above 12 percent and forecast to rise to 18 percent by the end of the year – workers are organising to win pay increases that provide real protection against the cost of living crisis. Unite is fighting to win inflation-plus pay increases for many of our members in many workplaces.

“While bosses at other councils have moved to offer decent pay increases and end strike action – those at Lisburn and Castlereagh have failed to make any offer at all. This leaves the workers there with no option but to strike. The Unite members at Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council can be confident that they have the full support of my union.”

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