Universal support for Unison strike action

Universal support for Unison strike action

4 December 2019

LOCAL people, politicians and health campaigners are expected to join Unison staff who will be manning picket lines outside the Downe and Downshire hospitals this Friday.

Health workers are taking part in province-wide industrial action to “fight for justice on both pay and staffing levels”.

It is anticipated that services most likely to be impacted include some hospital and social care transport, portering and other patient support services including domestic, catering and laundry.

The trade union’s industrial action comes after the Royal College of Nursing confirmed that two weeks of industrial action across health and social care services in a dispute over pay started yesterday with a one day strike taking place on December 18.

Unison says that most staff who choose to work in the health service do so to help others not for the pay or working hours.

The trade union has also confirmed that staff in Downpatrick will take strike action at some part of the day this Friday with the largest group coming out between 2pm and 5pm.

“Staff feel as frustrated and angry as the public about the long waiting lists for outpatient appointments and surgery, the long waiting times for treatment or admission in the emergency departments and the shortage of staff,” said a Unison spokeswoman.

“In addition, staff have seen their pay fall behind their counterparts in the rest of the UK because of our devolved government. The UK is the fifth richest country in the world yet at our last pay rise the domestics, porters and catering staff had to be uplifted to the national minimum wage.”

Unison said it has consistently sought pay parity for health workers in Northern Ireland who are on lower pay than their counterparts in England, Scotland and Wales. The trade union says this is unfair and causing a staffing crisis within the health service. 

In the Down area, health staff are into their second week of working to rule as part of widespread industrial action across the entire health and social services system. 

“This includes action short of strike by nursing, ambulance, support services, admin, clerical, social services and social care, professional and technical and health agencies,” said the spokeswoman.

“This action is working to rule and includes refusing to have breaks interrupted, working strictly to health and safety protocols and withdrawal from all trade union/management/Department of Health engagement, except regional meetings on dispute resolution and refusing to cover the work of others taking action.”

Unison says that its members are sending a clear message that “enough is enough” and are taking targeted action involving different groups of workers at different times. 

The trade union says that it also welcomes the support the public is showing for workers who are taking a stand because they can no longer accept the crisis in hospitals and communities. 

The South Eastern Trust has confirmed said it has been working to put contingency plans in place to minimise disruption to services as a result of the ongoing industrial action. The organisation says that most services are operating normally, emphasising that if patients have not been contacted, they should assume that their appointment is going ahead as planned. 

However today, all routine outpatient appointments at the Ulster Hospital have been cancelled, with the exception of maternity and children’s services, while on Friday, outpatients departments at the Downe, Ulster, Lagan Valley, Ards and Bangor hospitals will be closed in the afternoon. Day case surgery at Lagan Valley Hospital has been cancelled.