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Belfast Live
Belfast Live
National
Lauren Harte

Council strike action ends in Mid Ulster after pay deal agreed

Staff at Mid Ulster District Council are set to return to work later this week after an agreement was reached on pay.

The month-long industrial action by council staff began on Monday, August 1 and affected a number of council services, including bin collections.

The industrial action came as a result of a pay dispute between the council and the three GMB, NIPSA and Unite unions.

Read more: Mid Ulster Council say 'no rebates to ratepayers' in spite of strike action disruption

On Wednesday evening, the unions confirmed that they have successfully concluded discussions around a local pay offer.

As a result of the collective discussions with all three unions, GMB and NIPSA will now recommend the offer to their members.

Unite has a mandate to accept the offer and suspend the current industrial action by its members.

Their initial proposal also included a one-off payment of £500 in recognition of the financial pressures which many face as a result of the cost of living crisis.

The local offer will see staff move up their existing pay scales by two points over two years, and also includes an improved one-off "cost of living" payment of £750.

Unions and the council have welcomed the outcome of the constructive discussions, jointly acknowledging the importance of ongoing positive engagement.

The council said it anticipates all impacted services will return to normal by the end of this working week.

Strike action got underway earlier this week at one of Northern Ireland's largest councils in a similar dispute over pay and conditions.

More than 1,000 staff at Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon council are taking part and as a result, all of its services will be affected.

Workers took to the picket lines on Monday morning and further action short of strike is to continue over the next four weeks.

The strike was planned for earlier in the month but was later postponed to allow for further talks.

Members of the GMB, Nipsa and Unite trade unions are all involved. In a joint statement last week the unions said the strike had been avoidable.

ABC council said the strike would cause "significant disruption" and services such as refuse, street cleaning and leisure would be affected.

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