Health and social care workers determined to defend living standards
Members of Unite, which represents 4,000 health and social care workers across Northern Ireland, will be joining members of other health unions in taking industrial action tomorrow (Thursday 26 January).
The strike is a result of the failure to deliver a cost of living pay increase. Unite members across all five health trusts and the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service returned an average 87 per cent vote in favour of strike action.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Unite’s members have voted overwhelmingly for strike action and rejected the government’s derisory pay offer, which is a real terms pay cut.
“These strikes are being taken as an absolute last resort. Our members are seeing the NHS eroded before their eyes and patients’ lives are being placed at risk due to chronic underfunding.
“In the absence of a functioning Stormont executive, the responsibility for this strike lies squarely with Rishi Sunak who has failed to show leadership and ensure that NHS bosses made a realistic offer to the workers who keep our health and social care services running”.
Unite’s lead regional officer for health in Northern Ireland, Kevin McAdam, said: “Nobody should be in any doubt regarding our members’ determination to defend their living standards amidst an unprecedented cost of living crisis.
“Our members will be joining members of other health trade unions on the picket lines tomorrow, and Unite has already notified employers that we will also be taking action on 16, 17, 23 and 24 February”,
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