Unison Northern Ireland announce plans for nurses and other health workers to begin industrial action next week

This comes after the Royal College of Nursing announced its own plans for strike action on December 15 and 20, which is due to take place across Northern Ireland, England and Wales.

Now, Unison - which represents thousands of nurses, hospital porters, carers and a host of other health service workers here - has announced that industrial action short of a strike by its members will begin on Monday, December 5.

The trade union say "thousands of Unison nursing staff" will be included in the action, alongside "thousands of other Unison members of the direct workforce in all Health Trusts and arms length bodies."

Unison has also confirmed that it is plannning for strike action one week later, a fortnight from today on December 12.

"Employers will be advised in the coming days of the full scope of this action," the trade union's head of bargaining and representation in Northern Ireland, Anne Speed, said in a statement.

Another major trade union in the health service in Northern Ireland, Nipsa, has also confirmed its intention to stage industrial action "early December including strike Action and action short of strike".

In a statement last week, a spokesperson for Nipsa said: "The programme of action will include Action Short of Strike and Strike in relation to our demands for Fair Pay, Safe Staffing and Fair Travel Rates however we will equally seek co-ordination with other Health Unions taking industrial action at this time to maximise the strength of our campaign.

"Further Notice will be posted when these actions are agreed including strike action by all NIPSA members in the health services and in related arm’s length bodies."

Unison's Anne Speed, meanwhile, said: "Unison members are frustrated and angry that once again they are being left behind and are now the lowest paid part of the UK NHS workforce."

She continued: "They have seen and heard the remarks of the Secretary of State as he announced his setting of the financial budget for Northern Ireland. They noted that while admonishing Northern Ireland politicians for failing to restore the Executive and the Assembly he had nothing to say to the thousands of health workers awaiting a pay rise since last April.

We wrote two weeks ago to the Secretary of State on their behalf pointing out that pay parity had once again been broken. He has not replied. The assumption that health workers will just suck it up is a foolish one. They will not. They cannot afford to. The cost of living crisis is biting deep. Workers are not willing to be pawns in the resolution of the political issues. All trade unions want devolution restored without delay."

She added: "Staff recruitment and retention will spiral into further difficulty. A decent pay rise may convince those bailing out of the service to stay. Health service users also rely on our efforts to stabilise and maintain a workforce."