The Royal College of Nurses in Northern Ireland has confirmed that its members are set to strike on 18 January, in what is being described as a “generalised day of action”. The move follows the failure to implement a pay award for 2023/24 in line with the rest of the UK. With low pay making it increasingly hard to retain nurses, the RCN’s Northern Ireland Director, Rita Devlin, said the decision had been a “difficult” one. She added that, despite not receiving a pay rise, nurses had avoided striking throughout 2022 to give the politicians time to attempt to get the assembly back.
Ms Devlin said that nurses were being asked to “do more and more”, whilst morale was low, frustration “very high”, and anger “extremely high”. She warned that nurses “will go elsewhere where they can get paid more money.” RCN Northern Ireland Board Chair Briege Quinn, who has been a nurse for over 40 years, commented on the situation saying “we are not second-class citizens and refuse to be treated as such any longer.”
There is no money offered for a pay rise for nurses in Northern Ireland, according to the Department of Health. The Department further explained that, due to this lack of availability, pay in Northern Ireland may fall behind the rest of the UK. The strike action taken by the RCN coincides with the biggest ever seen industrial action involving an increasing number of public sector workers in Northern Ireland, with other unions such as the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, the Royal College of Midwives, and all five of the most prestigious teaching unions, including headteachers also involved.
A total of £584m intended to alleviate public sector pay issues has been offered by the UK government. This was as part of a financial package of over £3.3bn offered for the return of the Northern Ireland Executive. However, efforts by the Secretary of State, Chris Heaton-Harris, to tackle the dispute have so far been unsuccessful. When political talks collapsed at Hillsborough Castle before Christmas, Mr Heaton-Harris argued that the crisis, including the public sector pay dispute, was for local ministers to resolve
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