Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
HEALTH STAFF STRIKE BALLOT
Vote as frustration grows over pay and conditions
HEALTH workers are to vote on industrial action, it was announced yesterday.
Unison is to carry out a “consultative ballot” of staff in Northern Ireland with a view to conducting a further poll that could ultimately lead to strike action.
The move comes amid ongoing anger over pay and conditions among staff.
The Mirror revealed last month how some NHS workers in Belfast are being offered food bank vouchers as they struggle to make ends meet.
A row over “pay parity” with NHS staff in Britain has still not been resolved either, workers say.
It is thought other unions could follow suit in the coming days. In a statement issued yesterday, Unison said it was calling for “an immediate 3% interim pay uplift and measures to lift band one workers to the Living Wage, in line with the other three UK regions”.it added: “But the powers that be are not listening and they continue to use the political stalemate as an excuse.
“They have been told the workforce will not wait indefinitely and that your frustration and determination to break through the logjam is not going away. The system needs to hear your voices.
“Health workers in Northern Ireland should not be treated as second class. Unison members will be consulted during November.”