OUR MEMBERS ARE BEING PAID WHAT THEY ARE ALREADY OWED.  NEXT STEPS ARE FOR PAY JUSTICE!

Today (13 December 2017) the Department of Finance has determined a public sector pay policy for 2017/18 in the absence of a Finance Minister, finally paying UNISON members what they are already owed.  Following this announcement, the Department of Health has confirmed that the 1% pay award recommended in April for health and social care workers in Northern Ireland will now be implemented and backdated, with full implementation expected before the end of the financial year. 

Responding to these announcements, UNISON Regional Secretary Patricia McKeown said:

‘‘The Department of Finance has finally moved to resolve this situation in the face of sustained pressure from UNISON to pay our members what they are owed for the past 9 months. 

Today’s announcements by the Department of Finance and the Department of Health must be implemented as soon as possible. The money should be in our members’ pockets for Christmas and not stuck in the system.

However, the miserly 1% had already been earned and withholding it for so long has caused hardship.  It must also be recognised that this move does not address the wider public sector pay cap or the fact that health workers in Northern Ireland still face a pay deficit compared to their colleagues in England, Scotland and Wales.  Our members remain seriously undervalued and continue to suffer whilst the cost of living rises relentlessly. 

The UNISON campaign for pay justice continues.  UNISON is fighting for more than just a 1% pay uplift for public sector workers in Northern Ireland.  We want to see an end to the pay cap, with fully-funded, above-inflation pay rises for all those working in our public services and we want pay parity restored for all health and social services workers.’’