Nurses are taking to the picket lines today across all Health and Social Care (HSC) trusts in Northern Ireland, to demand pay parity with their colleagues in England.
They join other public sector colleagues in a day of mass industrial action, in what has been described as the biggest strike in Northern Ireland’s history.
“Nurses shouldn’t be used as leverage in some kind of political chess game”
Edel Coulter
An estimated 170,000 public sector workers belonging to 15 trade unions are taking part in the walk-outs over pay, in strike action that has been organised by the Northern Ireland committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN), Unison, Unite and the Royal College of Midwives are among the unions representing nursing and midwifery staff.
Nurses and their HSC colleagues are still without a pay deal for 2023-24, or an improved offer for 2022-23, due to the political impasse taking place at Stormont.
For two years, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has been boycotting Stormont in defiance of post-Brexit policies affecting Northern Ireland.
The UK Government has offered a financial package worth more than £3bn to cover a public pay deal, on the condition that Stormont is reformed.
Unions have criticised the move, accusing the UK Government of using nurse pay as a political football.
They have urged the UK secretary of state for Northern Ireland, Chris Heaton-Harris, to release the money now to restore pay parity with England.
Edel Coulter, a staff nurse at Belfast City Hospital, told Nursing Times that it was “immoral” for the UK Government to “withhold” nurses’ pay rise.
She said: “It’s quite simple – the money is there.
“Nurses shouldn’t be used as leverage in some kind of political chess game.”
Ms Coulter described high morale on the picket lines in Belfast, with members of the public beeping car horns in solidarity and dropping off food and hot drinks to keep them warm in the sub-zero temperatures.
“Knowing that we’re supported makes all the difference in the world,” she said.
This is the second time in recent years that nurses in Northern Ireland have fallen out of pay parity with their UK colleagues amid a collapse of Stormont.
Strikes by nurses back in 2019-20 successfully resolved the situation then.
However, nurses in Northern Ireland have now once again fallen out of pay parity.
The RCN held a strike in December in 2022 in response, and warned of further action should a pay offer for 2023-24 fail to materialise.
Ms Coulter was one of the nurses who went on strike in 2022 and she explained that while it was “depressing” to be back on the picket line once again, it was “necessary” to send a message to politicians.
“We have no choice, what else can we do?” she asked.
“We have been emailing our [members of the legislative assembly], we have been constantly escalating and it just feels like nobody is listening.
“This is our other way of getting our message across.”
Members, staff and reps at the Ulster Hospital this morning. #RCNStrike #Solidarity pic.twitter.com/sXTy7bSln5
— RCN Northern Ireland (@RCN_NI) January 18, 2024
Rita Devlin, director of the RCN in Northern Ireland, said: “It is immoral and reprehensible that four years after we secured pay parity, we are back on the picket lines demanding exactly the same thing.
“Our politicians promised we would never again fall out of pay parity with our UK colleagues, but that is precisely what has happened.”
Ms Devlin said the fact that nurses have been told there is money for a pay rise but was being withheld for political reasons was “quite unbelievable”.
“Our members are angry, they are frustrated, and they are no longer willing to accept this unfair and unjustifiable treatment,” she added.
Meanwhile, for Unison, this will be the sixth day of industrial action to demand that a 2023-34 pay offer is put forward for its members.
Bernadette Officer, an endoscopy nurse at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast, told Nursing Times that this was the fourth time she had taken to the picket lines to protest the lack of a pay offer for 2023-24.
She warned that amid the rising costs of living, nurses had become desperate for a pay uplift.
“Our bills are rising and our pay is not,” she said.
“The UK Government has said that there is money available for our pay, so the money needs to be released.”
This was also echoed by Karain Fairley, a staff nurse at the same hospital, who said she had decided to strike because the lack of a pay offer was jeopardising recruitment and retention in the country.
She said: “They’re running the NHS into the ground here. Our staffing levels are to the bone.
“I think it’s definitely the pay that stops people coming into the profession anymore.”
Ms Fairley argued that the money promised by the UK Government was “hanging” over the heads of nurses.
“We’re being held to ransom because we don’t have an executive,” she added.
Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said: “Health, care, school and other public service employees are hugely frustrated.
“Public sector workers never want to strike. But this intolerable situation has left them with no other option.
“NHS workers in the rest of the UK have had their wage rise for this year, but their colleagues in Northern Ireland have been left in limbo.”
Strikes are taking place across all HSC trusts in the country, with major picket lines in locations such as Belfast, Derry, Omagh and Enniskillen.
The RCN has implemented a three-tier system of derogations for the day of strike action.
All critical care units, neonatal and paediatric intensive care, regional forensic units and psychiatric units will be exempt from strike action.
Meanwhile, emergency departments and inpatient services will operate at night shift levels and community services will operate at Christmas Day staffing levels.
However, dialysis units, chemotherapy services and theatre will not be derogated, meaning severe disruption is expected to take place.
The chief nursing officer for Northern Ireland, Maria McIlgorm, wrote a letter to HSC staff ahead of the strike day, in which she said she had spoken to the Nursing and Midwifery Council about some of the pressures that HSC services were likely to be under during industrial action.
She assured colleagues that the professional code and principles of practice were there to guide and support judgments and decision-making “in all circumstances”.
“This includes taking into account local realities and the need sometimes to adapt practice at times of significantly increased pressure,” explained Ms McIlgorm.
Ms McIlgorm told nurses that she acknowledged their right to take strike action and the “deep-seated” reasons for doing so.
“The ongoing absence of a pay offer for this year is indefensible,” she said.
“We will continue to work together to navigate these difficult times, with the hope of better times ahead.”
Responding to the strike action, Mr Heaton-Harris said: “I am deeply disappointed that the significant funding offer from the UK Government to address such issues has not been taken up.
“This package has been on the table since before Christmas and will remain there, available on day one for an incoming Northern Ireland executive.”
The strike action today has coincided with the legal deadline for Northern Ireland to form a government, otherwise Mr Heaton-Harris has the power to call an election.
In a final attempt yesterday to establish an executive, the Northern Ireland assembly was recalled and politicians gathered to try and elect a Stormont speaker, but failed to do so.
This means there has been no restoration of power-sharing institutions.
Mr Heaton-Harris added: “It is regrettable that the Northern Ireland parties were unable to come together yesterday to elect a speaker and restore the executive.
“The people of Northern Ireland deserve local political leadership from representatives they have elected to govern on their behalf.”
Meanwhile, in a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter, the Department of Health in Northern Ireland warned that HSC services were being impacted by the strikes.
The health service remains under significant pressure.
All aspects of health and social care are being impacted and there will be delays for those seeking treatment.
Stay safe and use health services appropriately.
If your case is an emergency, don’t put off seeking treatment. pic.twitter.com/0I1Vj7djPJ
— Department of Health (@healthdpt) January 18, 2024