Nursing union says forcing members back to picket lines is ‘immoral and reprehensible’

THE Royal College of Nursing has called it “immoral and reprehensible” that four years after first protesting over pay parity, members will once again have to join picket lines across Northern Ireland today.

They will join an estimated 170,000 public sector workers on strike across the country after the Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has resisted pressure to grant a pay deal.

While offering a £3.3bn package, including money for a public sector pay deal, Mr Heaton-Harris has said it is dependant on the restoration of the Stormont Executive.

After a recall of the Stormont Assembly yesterday failed to elect a speaker, Mr Heaton-Harris will now have a legal duty to call an early assembly election – a deadline he has pushed back several times before.

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Major disruption is expected on Thursday across the health service, schools will stay closed and bus and rail services will not be running.

With strikes to also affect road gritting services for a week, the public have been advised not to make unnecessary journeys as the cold weather continues.

The RCN’s Northern Ireland Director, Rita Devlin, said nurses in Northern Ireland were once again the worst paid in the UK.

“It is immoral and reprehensible that four years after we secured pay parity, we are back on the picket lines demanding exactly the same thing,” she said.

“Our politicians promised we would never again fall out of pay parity with our UK colleagues, but that is precisely what has happened.

“The fact that we have been told that money is there for a pay rise but is being withheld for political reasons is quite unbelievable. Our members are angry, they are frustrated, and they are no longer willing to accept this unfair and unjustifiable treatment.”

She said members were now “crying out for strong and accountable political leadership”.

Briege Quinn, Chair of the RCN Northern Ireland Board, said nursing staff would rather be on hospital wards than freezing on picket lines.

“This is as much about patient care as it is about pay. If we don’t value and pay our nurses what they are worth, the recruitment and retention crisis we are facing will continue to deepen,” she said.

“Unless this situation is resolved, I fear for the health service, I fear for the staff, but most of all, I fear for the patients who deserve a much better service.”

Visiting Craigavon’s Emergency Department on Wednesday, Sinn Féin MLA Linda Dillon said she witnessed first-hand the “immense and extreme pressure” facing patients and staff.

“The DUP’s continued boycott will heap further pressure on already hard-pressed hospitals. “(Thursday’s) strike could be prevented and a pay rise awarded to our health workers who need it and deserve it,” she said.

“Health care staff do not want to strike; they are being forced onto the picket lines for the pay rise that they are entitled to, that they need and that is now being denied to them. They are striking because they are being forced to deliver care without adequate staff and in unsafe conditions.”