Northern Ireland university staff and health workers join in massive day of industrial action across the UK, as up to 500,000 walk out on jobs

Across the UK, up to half a million workers walked out in increasingly bitter disputes over pay, jobs and conditions.

In Northern Ireland, members of the University and Colleges Union (UCU) took to picket lines at both Queen's University and Ulster University campuses in a UK-wide dispute over pay. They were joined by members of the Unite union.

It was the first of a planned 18 days of strike action.

The UCU has rejected two pay offers it says were well below inflation.

Sean O’Connell, president of the Queen’s UCU branch, said: “Years of real terms cuts to staff pay combined with the current cost-of-living crisis are a serious problem for our members. Employers have also yet to offer anything to resolve the sector-wide crisis in staff working conditions, precarious employment practices, and pay gaps, all of which directly affect the student experience."

Nipsa members in the health service, meanwhile, staged industrial action short of a strike on Wednesday that included working to rule, refusing to cover gaps elsewhere in the health service, and a range of other measures.

In a letter issued to employers in advance of the action, Nipsa assistant secretary Terry Thomas said: "The industrial action will be continuous. The continuous action will commence at 12.01am on Wednesday 1 February 2023 and take the form of action short of strike."

In England, members of seven trade unions staged industrial action, affecting schools, universities, trains and buses.

Thousands of schools closed for the day because of action by the National Education Union (NEU), although many parents only found out on Wednesday morning if their children would have to stay at home.

In Northern Ireland, teaching unions are set to go on strike on February 21 in a move that could also force the closure of schools here.

The largest teaching union in Northern Ireland, the NASUWT, has called for a 12% pay increase for teachers.

Elsewhere in the UK on Wednesday, civil servants, and train and bus drivers stopped work on the biggest single day of strikes in a decade.

Picket lines were mounted outside railway stations, schools, government departments and universities across the country, with unions saying they are receiving strong support from the public.

More than 100,000 members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union are on strike, including Border Agency staff at ports and airports.

The union announced on Tuesday night that its Border Force members in France will strike during the February half-term.

The TUC is holding a series of protests against the Government’s controversial plans for a new law on minimum levels of service during strikes.

A petition against the law, signed by more than 200,000 members of the public, will be handed in to 10 Downing Street.

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said he hopes the protests and strikes will send a strong message to the Government about the anger felt by growing numbers of workers.