Northern Ireland grinds to a freezing halt over public pay dispute
Al Jazeera
Unions representing approximately 170,000 of the region’s 225,000 public sector workers called the 24-hour strike.
Northern Ireland’s biggest public sector strike in a generation shut schools, halted transport services and left icy roads ungritted in sub-zero temperatures, with people warned to only travel or seek medical help in an emergency.
Unions representing approximately 170,000 of the region’s 225,000 public sector workers called the 24-hour strike on Thursday after failing to receive pay increases despite multi-decade high inflation following the collapse of the region’s power-sharing government in early 2022.
Car drivers beeped horns in support of workers at picket lines outside schools, hospitals and bus depots, adding pressure on the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to end its two-year protest over post-Brexit trade rules for the region.
Workers criticised the DUP but also the British government, which has pledged to provide the funds for pay rises but only if power-sharing resumes. Public pay has risen in the rest of the United Kingdom.
“We’ll keep going until we get what we deserve… We’ve had enough,” healthcare assistant and union representative Liam Stewart said outside Mater Hospital in Belfast.
