Northern Ireland Health Union Threatens Widespread Industrial Action Over Pay Parity

A union representative has stated that “large-scale industrial action across the health service” in Northern Ireland is inevitable unless staff achieve pay parity with their counterparts in the rest of the UK. This announcement follows Health Minister Mike Nesbitt’s indication that he might be unable to match the pay agreements offered to healthcare personnel elsewhere in the UK. Nesbitt confirmed he has requested “an early meeting” with trade unions to address the issue of pay. For the 2024-25 period, the independent Pay Review Body advised a 5.5% salary increase for health workers in Northern Ireland. While this recommendation has been adopted for NHS employees in other regions of the UK, it has not yet been applied in Northern Ireland. A spokesperson for the Department of Health further commented in a statement that budget shortfalls mean “the minister is not in a position to deliver the pay settlements he wants for this year.” On Monday, £700m in new and previously unspent funds was allocated among Stormont departments, stemming from last month’s Westminster budget. Nesbitt’s department received an extra £350m, but he stated this amount would still leave his budget £100m short of being balanced. According to an analysis by John Campbell, BBC News NI economics and business editor, Northern Ireland’s budget watchdog, the Fiscal Council, had foreseen this dispute six months prior. In its assessment of Stormont’s budget, the Fiscal Council cautioned that all departments commenced the fiscal year contending with “an in-built wage-cost pressure” due to existing pay agreements. The Fiscal Council reported that the Department of Finance had instructed departments to base their plans on a 3% pay growth for new agreements. Nevertheless, in July, the independent health pay review body subsequently issued a recommendation for a 5.5% increase. The Fiscal Council had observed that ministers had the option to implement pay restraint, but characterized this as “unpopular and difficult.” Anne Speed, Head of Unison, stated that concerns regarding pay parity “are going to lead to large scale industrial action across the health service.” She informed the Nolan Show that “It isn’t a threat, it’s an inevitable outcome.” Ms. Speed further commented, “How can we honestly say to workers in Northern Ireland you’re worth less than workers in England, Wales, and Scotland. It’s not a tenable decision.” Ms Speed indicated that health workers are “feeling thoroughly undervalued” and “disrespected.” She warned that if the 5.5% increase is not enacted, a “very difficult environment” would ensue, with healthcare workers potentially “on the picket lines post Christmas.” Patricia McKeown, a colleague, asserted that the health service had experienced a “serious neglect” for “more than 20 years.” Rita Devlin, the Northern Ireland Director of the Royal College of Nursing, expressed her “absolute disbelief and disappointment” regarding the development. She told BBC’s Good Morning Ulster, “We have been promised time and time again since 2019 that Northern Ireland will not go out of pay parity with the rest of the UK.” Ms Devlin added, “If we have to take strike action, this will be the third time that our nurses have had to go out on the streets to get the same pay.” Ms Devlin holds the view that her members are “holding up a broken health service” while managing “overcrowded” wards and emergency departments. She stated that she perceives no alternative to industrial action if pay parity is not achieved, though she noted that the final decision rests with the members. Brenda Stevenson of Unite the Union declared that her members are “not prepared to take anything less than pay parity.” She expressed being “hopeful” following prior negotiations that healthcare workers in Northern Ireland would “never ever find themselves in this situation again.” She affirmed, “If we don’t get the pay review bodies recommendation of the 5.5% we’ll have no other option but to ballot our members for industrial action.” She concluded, “You won’t have a workforce if you don’t invest in them.” Deputy First Minister Emma Little Pengelly noted a “collective acknowledgment” that this particular “round of allocations” does not enable ministers to “prioritise pay in the way that they would want to do.” Earlier in the year, finance minister Caoimhe Archibald informed MLAs that departments were confronting total spending pressures amounting to £767m. A spending pressure occurs when a department identifies a need for more funds than its current budget provides. Last week, Unison members organized a rally at Stormont, issuing a warning about potential industrial action concerning pay. Nesbitt is scheduled to convene with health trade unions to deliberate on available options and the optimal path forward. In a statement issued on Tuesday, Nesbitt declared: “Budgetary decisions by the Executive, including the allocations announced today, mean there is insufficient funding to maintain pay parity for health service workers.” He continued, “That is an extremely regrettable position with potentially serious consequences.” Nesbitt added, “I could not in all conscience support it today. I could not look health service workers in the eye and say I had put my name to pay funding that will be lower than England and Wales.” The Ulster Unionist leader further stated: “Let’s be clear. The Executive has knowingly, with its eyes wide open, decided to break pay parity for health service workers.”