Mass strike: The up-to-date list of all the unions striking across Northern Ireland on January 18 –  and how many members of each one are out

Gerry Murphy, the assistant general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) made the comments on the eve of Thursday’s mass walk-out, which will shut schools, halt all Translink rail and bus services, curtail road gritting, and limit the number of ambulances available.

Hospital services ranging from emergency departments to midwifery will be affected, and the chief nursing officer has written to staff saying that today could bring disruption “on a scale not previously witnessed”.

Unite the Union – one of the largest ones on strike today – has threatened “escalation” if its demands continue to go unmet.

Meanwhile, the Belfast and District Trades Union Council ended its eve-of-strike message with the Marxist rallying cry: “Workers of the world unite!”

Here are the unions which are striking, and their Northern Irish memberships – the vast majority of whom will be participating today unless otherwise stated:

• Unison – 42,075 members

• GMB – 9,839 (about half of which are public sector, and so are on strike)

• Society of Radiographers – 1,335

• National Association of Head Teachers – 761

• Nipsa – 41,206 (all out except a few thousand in local government)

• Royal College of Midwives – 1,322

• Unite – 34,279 (about half of which are public sector)

• NASUWT – 12,853

• Irish National Teachers Organisation – 7,085

• Charted Society of Physiotherapists – 1,769

• Ulster Teachers’ Union – 5,378

• British Dietetic Association – 433

• UCU (University and College Union) – 3,035 (of which about 1,500 on strike)

• Siptu – 7,000 (of whom about 2,000 work at Translink, and will therefore be striking)

Two other unions not affiliated with the ICTU will also be on strike:

• Royal College of Nursing – 18,000 (of whom 11,000 will be on strike)

• National Education Union – 3,500 (of which 2,500 will be on strike)

The list of parades and rallies can be found here.

Though each union and each profession has its own particular objectives, there are two overarching issues driving the strike: the effect of inflation over the last 18 months to two years, and the demand for pay parity across the UK.

The latter applies in particular to nurses and teachers, who want to see salaries in NI keep pace with GB.

Meanwhile, inflation has been rising since late 2021, spiking at roughly 11% in late 2022 (though it is currently at about 4%).

– EVE OF STRIKE COMMENTS –

Mr Murphy pointed to the almost £600m which NI Secretary Mr Heaton-Harris has already earmarked for pay settlements, and insisted that it falls to him to spend that money now, instead of waiting for Stormont to return.

“Thursday’s strikes and rallies will be demonstrations of industrial and public solidarity on a scale never seen before in this place,” said the ICTU man.

“It only remains for Chris Heaton-Harris to do the decent thing and release the funds.”

Kerry Fleck, vice-president of the Belfast trade union council, appealed to the memory of trade unionist Jim Larkin, an Irish republican and founder of the Irish Citizen Army which later took part in the 1916 Rising.

"Across NI we will see workers, as in many key moments in our history, set aside differences and stand together to say ‘no more’ to the push-back on rights, wages and terms and conditions; ‘no more’ to the planned destruction of our public services; ‘no more’ to food banks, hungry children and freezing homes,” she said.

“They stand in the tradition of Larkin and make the call again: A fair day’s work for a fair days pay …

“[Today] the trade unions in the North of Ireland stand up for everyone. Workers of the world unite!”

It also emerged that chief nursing officer Maria McIlgorm had written to staff telling them she was “extremely concerned about the potential consequences on patient care” arising from the strike, but that the lack of a pay offer from the government is “indefensible” and that they “deserve more than just words of gratitude”.

Mr Heaton-Harris repeated his previously-stated line that “public sector pay is devolved and is properly a matter for locally elected politicians who are best placed to take decisions in that space”.