Workers balloted for industrial action over delay in pay uplift

Public sector workers are being balloted for industrial action over a delayed pay award. The Stormont Executive’s failure to agree a budget for this financial year means the uplifts have not been able to be paid. Ministers insist they do not have enough funding from Westminster to agree a budget but Secretary of State Sir Chris Bryant has said there is no more money for Stormont. On Tuesday, Unison, which represents health and social services workers in Northern Ireland, will ballot members for industrial action over the “ongoing failure to put in place a pay award that maintains pay parity and implements commitments made to pay the real living wage”.

Unison regional secretary Patricia McKeown said workers have been caught in the middle of a budget stalemate. She said: “Tens of thousands of Unison members working across health and social services are being denied the pay award that has been promised to them, unacceptably caught in the middle of a budget stalemate between Stormont and Westminster. “Repeated commitments have been made to pay parity and to implement the real living wage for the lowest-paid workers across health and social services.

“As a union, we have been calling for the impasse on our members’ pay to be resolved for months, but there has been no effective action to do so from the Health Minister and wider Executive. “This failure to put pay right for the workers that are the backbone of an utterly vital public service cannot stand. Enough is enough.” The ballot will run to December 1. Ms McKeown added: “It’s time to send a clear message that the promises made to health and social services workers on their pay must be kept.”

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