15,000 local civil servants will walk out today in row over salaries
SOME 15,000 Civil Servants from Northern Ireland’s largest trade union are set to walk out today in a one-day strike.
The Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance (Nipsa) instigated the action as part of demands for more pay and better conditions.
The Civil Service is one of Northern Ireland’s largest employers, with more than 23,000 permanent staff.
Nipsa general secretary Alison Millar said: “Members are angry that they have not had a resolution to their long running dispute on the issue of pay, terms and conditions.
“Civil servants were further angered when there was no mention in the New Decade, New Deal document of seeking to settle the Civil Service dispute, yet specific reference was made to the health workers’ and teachers’ disputes.
“Further anger arose yesterday given the announcement that MLAs who have not been at their place of work for the last three years were to receive a £1,000 pay increase, with a further increase in April 2020.”
She said politicians had already recognised “that civil servants have kept the country running in the three years when they were not in government”.
“It is now time for hard working civil servants to receive the just outcome for this commitment over the preceding three years.”
Union officials met with the new Finance Minister Conor Murphy on Wednesday.
Afterwards he said it had been a “constructive discussion”.
“I appreciate the work that civil servants do in supporting and delivering a wide range of public services and am committed to continued engagement with trade union colleagues,” he said.
“Through joint working and meaningful engagement we will be better placed to meet the challenges ahead.”
The Department for Communities, which has responsibility for benefits payments, said they will be issued as usual.