Trade union lashes out at employers as Housing Executive strike moves into week nine

The Unite trade union has sought to ramp up the pressure on the Northern Ireland Housing Executive as a strike involving hundreds of workers moves into its ninth week, amid a mounting backlog of work.

Unite members are largely employed in what is known as the Housing Executive’s ‘direct labour organisation’ or DLO, whose role it is to carry out repair and maintenance works at the thousands of properties managed by the arms-length public body.

With a large degree of the works also carried out by third-party private contractors, the strike has had an unequal impact across Northern Ireland with Craigavon, Portadown and parts of Belfast believed to have been most impacted by the walkout.

The dispute is centred on pay and the ongoing strike represents the third period of industrial action by Unite members in the Housing Executive this year, following similar action in the spring that coincided with strikes at other public sector employers including local councils and the Education Authority.

The union say the current backlog of routine works, including fire door repairs, health and safety tests and inspections, has now ballooned to more than 7,300 individual jobs.

In addition, the Unite union say almost 300 disabled tenants are waiting for housing adaptions, including many bath and shower installations and safety railings.

In a statement, the general secretary of the trade union Sharon Graham said: “The blame for this strike and the mounting backlog of repairs lies firmly at the door of the NI Housing Executive.

“Basic and necessary repairs are not being done and that is the fault of the NI Housing Executive who ought to have resolved this dispute months ago.”

A spokesperson for the Housing Executive, in a previous statement regarding the strike action, said: “Housing Executive pay is subject to national collective bargaining arrangements. he pay award of 2021/22 for all Housing Executive staff was collectively agreed at a national level and the pay increases have already been implemented.”

The spokesperson added: “A national pay offer was made on 25 July which includes £1,925 for all employees (providing higher pay increases 10.5% for the lowest paid employees). We await the outcome of the national consultations on this offer and we will implement any agreement reached as quickly as possible.”