Schools and health services to be hit by one day strike

Members taking part in the stoppage are expected to gather at the gates of Lagan Valley Hospital next Wednesday, October 5 to protest at what they call ‘impossible’ working conditions.

They say they have been left with no option but to strike after three years of job losses, cuts in hours, uncovered vacancies and unpaid hours, pay freezes, casualisation of work, compulsory redundancies, outsourced home care work to the independent care sector on minimum wage and increased stress and health and safety issues.

In a statement the union said: “The last big health strikes were in the 90’s and were provoked by the dirty business of privatising the work of the lowest paid in the NHS and lowering the standards of healthcare for patients.

“In both cases strike action played a major role in reversing bad decisions. In 2011, after three years of cuts in health, social services and an explosion in redundancies in our schools, UNISON members in both services have come together to say enough is enough.”

They stressed members had not ‘taken this action lightly’ but felt forced into the situation.

“Vital services have been lost,” the statement read. “Jobs have been lost, Front line jobs have been left vacant for others to cover often on an unpaid basis, this is called sweating the workforce.

“Workers are stressed out, most have been hit by a pay freeze, health and education services are now facing the biggest budget cuts in history. Between 2011 and 2015 the Health Service will face a £2.3bn shortfall with a loss of up to 6,000 more jobs.

“The purpose of this industrial action being taken by UNISON members is to try and protect the services that you need and are dependent on now and in the future.

“UNISON members have not taken this action lightly, indeed it has been more than thirty years since our last dispute.

“Earlier this year we exposed the McKinsey Report, the cuts to services it contained and the proposed charges to be imposed on you, our patients.

“This action is to highlight and prevent massive cuts in services which will mean longer waiting times, less hospitals, charges for services etc. This will impact not just on you but on future generations. If we lose services now we will never get them back.”

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