Nipsa members will join 'biggest ever strike' in new year

A strike by public sector workers planned for early next year will be "the biggest ever seen" in Northern Ireland, a trade union has said.

Thousands of Nipsa members, including civil servants, health and education workers, will strike on 18 January.

It coincides with industrial action already planned for the same day.

Nipsa said the action, being coordinated with other unions, was "an unprecedented escalation" in a long-running pay and conditions dispute.

"It has all the characteristics of a general strike," Nipsa's general secretary Carmel Gates told BBC News NI.

"It will be the biggest strike action Northern Ireland has ever seen."

Some £584m to address public sector pay issues has been offered by the UK government as part of a financial package of more than £3.3bn for the return of a Northern Ireland Executive.

But on Monday, a pre-Christmas deal to restore Stormont was ruled out.

"It is unacceptable to say that only if the executive returns will public sector workers get a pay rise," Ms Gates said.

"Given that the Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has admitted our services are underfunded, given he has accepted public sector workers need a pay rise, he must make that money available now.

"It needs to happen now".

Ms Gates said civil servants doing the same jobs in the other UK regions can earn between £3,000 and £10,0000 more than Northern Ireland staff.

"It is time to end the pay border down the Irish sea," she said.

Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) Assistant General Secretary Gerry Murphy said unions had no option but to "intensify" their industrial action.

He said January 18 would be a "generalised day of action" that would affect "every part of public services" in Northern Ireland.

Earlier on Tuesday, The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) announced midwives and maternity support workers are to take part in the 18 January strike action.

The RCM announced a half-day strike from 08:00 GMT until 12:00 but said care would still be provided to those who need it.

The industrial action is due to take place across all five of Northern Ireland's health trusts.

RCM's Director for Northern Ireland Karen Murray said the patience of midwives had run out.

"Our members have been more than patient, seeing their counterparts in Scotland, Wales and England getting pay uplifts while their own stands still", she said.

Northern Ireland health and social care staff remain the lowest paid in the UK.

The RCM has sought to reassure patients that the strike with not impact the delivery of safe services.

Midwives and maternity support workers last took to picket lines in Northern Ireland in September when they joined a wider strike action by health and social care staff.

Ms Murray said that the RCM had been "hopeful" that the Executive at Stormont would be reinstated by now, "and that we could have worked towards a resolution on pay before Christmas".

"Our members are overstretched and under enormous pressure to deliver safe care," Ms Murray said.

"Day in, day out midwives work flat out to help deliver safe and high-quality care for women, babies, and their families," she added.

"Maternity services in Northern Ireland cannot continue to run on the goodwill of our hardworking members," she said.

All five of Northern Ireland's main teaching unions, including headteachers, have also said their members would walk out on strike on 18 January.