HEALTH WORKERS IN NORTHERN IRELAND ARE STEPPING OUT AND SPEAKING OUT 

UNISON Northern Ireland has announced that thousands of its members have voted to strike and take action short of strike.

Responding to the mandate delivered  BY UNISON members 

Anne Speed Head of Bargaining and Representation said:

" Of the thousands who voted over the last 3 weeks more than 97% have voted to take strike action and action short of strike. Our Health Industrial Action Committee have met and are making plans to implement this mandate from early December

Our politicians and employers  should be concerned with putting NHS pay right now.

Staff are exiting the service and without urgent movement on pay, many more will follow suit.

Our health services are in a dire state, with too few staff to deliver safe patient care. That’s why hundreds of thousands of NHS employees have either voted to strike over pay and staffing .

“There can be no ignoring the fact that health services across the UK are on the verge of a damaging dispute. The Westminster government’s focus should be on how to keep experienced staff in their jobs. They can do this with a wage rise that better reflects the harsh economic reality for working people. Our politicians in Northern Ireland should be ensuring that funding and resources are delivered. The Executive should be restored and the mechanisms in place to make this happen.

Workers do not easily take to the picket lines but when all other avenues are shut down they will turn to their trade unions to stand up with them and for them.

The cost of living crisis  is imposing additional burdens on an overstretched and undervalued workforce. Employers must not stay silent and all those with influence and leverage must act together to ensure that health workers in Northern Ireland do not remain left behind ."