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Unite health workers to join NI strike next week

PACEMAKER Nurses on picket line in 2019PACEMAKER
Unite members in the health service will strike for 48 hours

More than 4,000 members of the trade union Unite are to join other health workers in taking strike action next week.

On Wednesday, the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) and Nipsa said its members would walk out on 22 September in a dispute about pay and staffing..

Nipsa civil service members will also be on strike.

Unite said it was "disgraceful" health workers were denied the same pay offers as England and Wales.

Its members, including paramedics, pharmacists, health visitors and community practitioners, will go on strike from 00:01 BST on Thursday for 48 hours, Unite added.

'Disgraceful'

In a statement, Unite General Secretary, Sharon Graham said: "NHS workers in Northern Ireland face being left the poor relation in a two-tier service - a situation which will worsen recruitment and retention pressures and deepen the staffing crisis.

"NHS workers can count on the full support of Unite in their fight to secure pay justice and safe staffing."

In May, the permanent secretary of Stormont's Department of Health, Peter May, said it was impossible to give pay rises to health staff under the current budget.

Getty Images/IAN HOOTON Newborn baby held by maternity unit workerGetty Images/IAN HOOTON
The RCM is the professional organisation and trade union which represents the interests of midwifery staff

In England, health workers were awarded a 5% pay increase, plus a one-off payment of at least £1,655.

Midwives and maternity support worker members of the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) are to strike from 08:00 to 16:00 BST across all five trusts next Friday, 22 September.

They will also be taking industrial action short of a strike by claiming payment for any overtime worked in the week following strike action.

Teaching staff and healthcare workers previously took to the picket line in February.

In January, more than 20,000 healthcare staff in Northern Ireland took part in a one-day strike.

The Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has previously hit back at critics who said he had set a punishment budget with most departments facing cuts in cash terms.