Unison nurses will ‘work to rule’ in Northern Ireland pay row

Nurses in Northern Ireland will refuse to interrupt their breaks or attend meetings with managers over a period of more than three weeks in a protest over pay and staffing levels.

The union Unison has announced further details about its plans for strike and industrial action among its health and social service members across the country.

The dispute is centred on concerns that staff are paid less than comparable colleagues in other parts of the UK while understaffing in their services is making it hard for them to do their job.

On November 11, 23% of relevant Unison members turned out for the ballot, with 92% supporting strike action and 95.5% voting in favour of industrial action short of strike.

In the first phase of the campaign, nurses along with ambulance staff, clerical workers and social care employees will take action short of strike between 25 November and 18 December.

This will involve nurses “working to rule” including refusal to interrupt breaks or cover work for colleagues who are also taking action.

They will work strictly to health and safety protocols and withdraw from all union, management and Department of Health engagement except regional meetings on dispute resolution.

Their protest will cross-over with planned activity by members of the Royal College of Nursing in Northern Ireland.

The RCN has confirmed that its health and social care service members will begin two weeks of industrial action short of strike on 3 December.

As part of this, nurses may refuse to: work overtime, complete paperwork, clean empty beds, answer telephones on wards or collect prescriptions in the community.

They will also boycott meetings or conferences that are not related to resolving their dispute.

The Royal College of Midwives has also announced plans to formally ballot its midwife and midwifery support worker members in Northern Ireland in January 2020 over industrial action.

Patricia McKeown, regional Northern Ireland secretary for Unison, said: “None of the employees involved have taken the decision lightly.

“They are determined to fight for justice on both pay and staffing levels.

“They are determined to break the cycle of hundreds of millions of pounds haemorrhaging out of the health budget and into the hands of private agencies.

"They want to see the NHS workforce stabilised so it can get on with the serious business of delivering health and social care to the people of Northern Ireland.”

She called on health leaders to listen to the demands of Unison members and to take the action needed to “save the health service from further crisis”.

A spokesman for the Northern Ireland Department of Health said: “The department remains focused on finding a way forward and remains fully committed to ongoing dialogue.”