Teachers, nurses, police staff and more set to strike in Northern Ireland

Rebecca Black, PA

Unite’s public transport workers and police staff are set to a major strike in Northern Ireland next week, the union has said.

Teachers, nurses, health workers and civil servants are among those who are to take part in what is expected to be one of the biggest strikes in recent history over pay.

It comes after a host of public sector workers took part in separate previous walkouts over an outstanding pay award.

Unions across sectors will together in the “day of action” on January 18th in response to the failure to award a pay deal in line with colleagues across the UK.

During talks between the UK's Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton-Harris and the Stormont parties in December, a £3.3 billion financial package to accompany the return of devolution was offered.

The package would include money to make an outstanding pay award to public sector workers.

However, with Stormont remaining collapsed, that funding has not materialised.

An NIO spokesperson previously said the package will remain on the table until a new executive is formed to allocate the funds.

Unite said its 8,000 public sector workers will the action, adding that over the next 24 hours it will provide full details of the industrial action to a range of public sector employers.

The union’s hip includes more than 4,000 health and social care workers, 2,300 bus and rail workers, 800 education authority workers as well as in the roads service, forestry service, rivers agency, ferry services and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

PSNI Temporary Assistant Chief Constable, Melanie Jones said planning is under way to “mitigate any risk in critical functions in the event of staff absences as a result of industrial action”.

“I want to reassure the public that we will have the resources in place to allow us to keep people safe,” she said.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said it will be an “unprecedented demonstration of the power of workers in Northern Ireland”.

“For almost two years, the absence of a functioning Stormont executive has led to growing paralysis and crisis across public sector services,” she said.

“This situation has been made worse by a Secretary of State for Northern Ireland who has sought to leverage the crisis in the current negotiations through imposing a punishing budgetary settlement.

“Unite will not allow the livelihoods of workers and the funding of public services to be used as a bargaining chip by this government.”

GMB said more than 5,000 of its from the civil service, Education Authority, health trusts and transport sectors will also strike next Thursday.

GMB senior organiser Alan Perry said its “have simply had enough”.

“They will not be used as political pawns in a process that would see the return of the Northern Ireland Executive,” he said.

“The Secretary of State made it clear that money is there; he must do the honourable thing and make it available now to address the concerns of who desperately need it.”