Northern Ireland nurses have voted to go on strike, it has emerged today.
And it is the first time their main union, the RCN, has voted to walk out in more than 100 years.
Nurses voted to down tools just a day after it was announced that health service workers in the NIPSA union also plan to take strike action. No firm date has been set as yet, but it is expected that nurses could go on strike early next month.
The action is linked to a dispute with management over pay and staffing levels. Union Unison is also in talks over pay and conditions and have today challenged the Department of Health on claims that introducing ‘pay parity’ with Britain, where health workers are paid more than their NI colleagues, would cost £100million.
Announcing their strike action, RCN Northern Ireland Director Pat Cullen said nurses “have spoken clearly and collectively on behalf of patients and the people of Northern Ireland”.
She added: “Nurses are no longer willing to see patients being denied the health care services to which they are entitled. The 3,000 nursing vacancies that currently exist within the HSC are having a detrimental impact upon patient care and adding enormous pressure to the existing nursing workforce, who are doing everything they can to care for patients.
“Nurses’ pay in Northern Ireland has fallen significantly behind the rest of the UK. Not only is this completely unfair but it sends a strong message to nurses that they are not valued or respected by decision-makers and employers.
“Equally importantly, it makes it difficult to recruit and retain the nurses that we desperately need to provide health care to the people of Northern Ireland. If we continue to treat nurses in this way, the health and social care system in Northern Ireland will move rapidly from crisis to collapse.”
RCN chief executive and general secretary Dame Donna Kinnair said: “This is a day we had hoped not to reach and the first time RCN members have voted to strike in our 103-year history.
“We did not take the decision to ballot members lightly. But the fact that nurses in Northern Ireland have now voted so overwhelmingly for industrial action, including strike action, shows how clearly they can see the risk to patient safety from staff shortages.
“In addition, the fact that the real value of nurses’ pay in Northern Ireland has fallen by around 15% in the last eight years is a fundamental unfairness that must be urgently addressed.
“Patients hugely value the care nursing staff provide, but it’s clear that health service leaders in Northern Ireland do not.”
In response to the RCN ballot result, a spokesman for the Department of Health said: “The department will be holding further detailed discussions with the RCN and other trade unions on Friday. Dialogue remains the only way forward.
“With an NI public sector pay policy now in place for 2019/2020, we plan to table a formal pay offer as soon as possible.
“The budgetary pressures across health and social care are clear for all to see. Despite claims to the contrary, there is no separate or untapped source of funding for pay increases. It all comes out of the one health budget. Every pound spent on one priority area is a pound not available for another.
“We fully accept that staff in health and social care feel deeply frustrated. However, trade unions are making demands they know the department cannot meet. Industrial action this winter can only exacerbate an already very difficult situation.”
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