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Northern Ireland: Health workers take action over understaffing and pay equality
Nurses marching for the NHS, photo Paul Mattsson (Click to enlarge)
25,000 hard-pressed healthcare workers in Northern Ireland - including nurses, social care staff and support services - took action at NHS sites on 25 November, demanding that their longstanding concerns over safe staffing levels and pay parity be addressed.
Health workers in Northern Ireland are paid less than their colleagues in England, Wales, and Scotland, as a result of not receiving the same pay awards by the Northern Ireland Executive under the now suspended devolved Stormont Assembly.
Unsurprisingly, 92% of Unison members in a ballot voted yes to strike action.
Given the suspension of the Assembly, it's incumbent upon the department of health to end the staffing crisis and to pay health workers their just deserts.
The first phase of the action, which runs to 18 December, will involve all members taking action short of a strike and selective strike action by Unison members at five health and social care trusts.
The strikers will be joined by members of the RCN nurses' union who voted for the strike action for the first time in their 103 year history.
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The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.
The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.
The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.
- The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
- When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.
Inevitably, during the crisis we have not been able to sell the Socialist and raise funds in the ways we normally would.
We therefore urgently appeal to all our viewers to donate to our Fighting Fund.
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