Nurses set dates for January strikes

Q Newsdesk

Nurses in Northern Ireland are preparing to take strike action again next month.

The Royal College of Nursing says its members will strike on the 8th and 10th of January unless their demands are met.

They want pay parity with their UK counterparts and better staffing levels.

The Department of Health says it doesn't have the authority to meet their demands in the absence of a minister.

Party leaders in Northern Ireland have already written to the Secretary of State, asking him to intervene.

But Julian Smith says its a devolved matter and the solution lies in power-sharing.

(RCN Director Pat Cullen)

Commenting on the ongoing action, Pat Cullen, Director of the RCN in Northern Ireland said:

“Nurses in Northern Ireland are angry that no-one appears to be taking seriously the crisis in our health service. By now, no-one in Northern Ireland, or indeed the rest of the UK, can be in any doubt about the inequalities in health care that people in Northern Ireland are facing. Yet, here we are, a day before Christmas, with the prospect of nursing staff taking strike action again in early January."

“We have written to the Secretary of State to say that we are extremely disappointed to learn of the failure of the health summit last week to produce any resolution to the safe staffing and pay parity issues that form the basis of our action. We are also disappointed to hear that attempts to negotiate an agreement leading to the restoration of the devolved institutions has failed."

“Although we wish to see political leadership and accountability in Northern Ireland restored, nurses deeply resent the link that is being made between this and resolving the crisis in health care. Sorting out this crisis is a priority regardless of our political situation, which has been in disarray for the past three years. We do not have another three years to wait."

“We wonder how much longer this inaction can continue before somebody, somewhere, can take a decision to rectify the problems we are facing?”

(RCN industrial action, Dec 2019)