Northern Ireland bus and train strikes: Retail and hospitality report drop in takings and disruption to staffing

Unite, GMB and SIPTU union members say have rejected a pay freeze which they say equals a 11% real-term cut.

The Department of Infrastructure does not have the budget to meet the pay demands and says "no solutions are yet forthcoming" from the Northern Ireland Office.

A separate strike by educational support workers on Friday, including Education Authority bus drivers, impacted on 57,000 children across NI who use bus passes.

Following a teachers’ strike on Tuesday, educational support such as classroom assistants, cleaners, cooks and administration staff were also on strike on Friday.

Belfast city centre was reported to be noticeably quieter than usual.

Jonny Phillips, Director of Operations at Coppi & Buba restaurants in Belfast city centre told the News Letter: "We do believe it has affected our bookings, we have lost a couple of parties this evening and it’s quieter than usual currently.”

He is "greatly" concerned by the situation - especially in light of more possible strikes before Christmas.

"It’s already been a rather quiet winter for restaurants so this is quite a negative thought with regards to revenue."

Colin Neil, CEO of Hospitality Ulster, says his membership has seen “some cancellations, but not too many” for Friday night.

"What we are also seeing is partial cancellations where a table for eight may have two people cancelling,” he told the News Letter.

However, if bookings are down 5-10% then venues have lost their entire profit margin for that day, he said.

His members were also expecting a percentage of "no-shows" on Friday night.

Glyn Roberts, CEO of Retail NI, also said that “quite a number” of his members struggled to get their staff into work today on Friday.

"One member had 75% of staff who use public transport so it was extremely difficult for them to manage,” he told the News Letter.

“We have urged the unions to think very carefully about more strikes before Christmas. We have many businesses that are relying on this Christmas revenue to survive."

Susan Fitzgerald, regional secretary for Unite, was on the picket line at Glengall Street in Belfast on Friday.

“This strike is on the back of being offered a 0% pay increase pay offer this year, which is of course a very significant and debilitating pay cut for workers who, like everyone else, are still struggling through what is quite a profound cost-of-living crisis,” she told PA news agency.

The unions said there will be a very significant impact from the strike across Northern Ireland, and called on Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris to intervene in the absence of a functioning Stormont Assembly to enable workers to receive a cost-of-living pay increase.

A Northern Ireland Office spokesperson responded: “The UK Government has no authority to negotiate pay in Northern Ireland. It is for the relevant NI departments to negotiate pay policies."

The Secretary of State’s priority is to see the Stormont government restored and he has also commissioned advice on measures to raise more public revenue from NI, they added.