Health and social care staff in Northern Ireland will stage the first in a series of strikes later this week in pursuit of a cost of living pay increase.
Ambulance workers including paramedics, nurses, carers and other health and social care workers will take to picket lines at hospitals across Northern Ireland on Thursday.
A total of three trade unions will be on strike that day - UNISON, NIPSA and Unite.
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Northern Ireland’s health service has been under sustained pressure in recent months, with people being advised on several occasions of long waits at emergency departments due to capacity issues.
UNISON members have urged UK government ministers to drop their "resistance" to engage with health trade unions on pay.
They are calling on the Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris to include provision for retrospective adjustment on the 2022 below inflation PRB recommendation in his proposed budget.
Anne Speed, Head of Bargaining at UNISON, says this is the message they plan to deliver with their walk-out on Thursday.
She said: "Not a single ambulance or NHS worker wants to be taking action. The Westminster government began talking to unions about pay just two weeks ago, months after unions first asked ministers to engage.
"They know strikes won’t be called off until health workers’ wages are boosted this year and talks held to negotiate the next rise due in April. But there’s been no movement since the last strike and ministers seem to be digging in.
"The NHS is in a terrible state. And nowhere is worse than in Northern Ireland. This dispute is not just about pay but about staffing too. With too few health workers, the HSC can no longer deliver safe nor maintain quality patient care.
"Ambulance workers want to be able to respond promptly when people call 999. But they can’t. Long delays before ambulances arrive, queues of emergency vehicles outside A&Es and patients stuck on trolleys in hospital corridors for hours has become the new normal.
"HSC leaders and employers here can see the damage the dispute and the Westminster government’s failure to start proper pay talks is causing. They must change gear, find the funds to invest in the workforce and improve wages to benefit staff, the NHS and patients too."
Earlier this month, Unite the union announced that their 4,000 members across health trusts here are to take to the picket line on January 26, and February 16, 17, 23, and 24.
In December, Unite members voted with an average 87% majority across all five health trusts and the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service for strike action. The announcement came as talks as discussion with the UK health secretary failed to make any progress on the 2022/23 pay claim.
Lead regional officer for Unite in health in Northern Ireland, Kevin McAdam has said that In the absence of action to address members’ pay claim, they had been left with no alternative but to notify employers of strike action.
Unite the union represents almost 4,000 health and social care workers across all five health trusts and the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service.
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