Fifteen unions representing the education, transport and hospital care sectors are calling for a strike this Thursday, January 18. And she seems massively followed. The unions expect some 170,000 strikers.
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Unions say it could be the biggest strike Northern Ireland has ever seen. Exasperated by two years of political paralysis which are affecting public services in Northern Ireland and in particular salaries, tens of thousands of civil servants are taking part this Thursday, January 18, in a massive strike for salaries in the British province.
Strike pickets have been set up, reports our correspondent in Belfast Clemence Pénard, schools will be closed, transport will be stopped and even the agents responsible for salting the roads are expected to join the movement. In hospitals, emergencies and essential services will be provided according to the authorities, even if the health sector is expected to be severely affected.
The backdrop to this protest movement is the political paralysis in Northern Ireland: there has been no political executive for two years already, which has led to a drop in funding for many public services. It is London which manages the current affairs of the province due to the boycott of the DUP, the unionist party, which withdrew from Parliament in February 2022 to oppose post-Brexit trade rules. Irish civil servants feel in some way “punished”.
The British Minister for Northern Ireland, Chris Heaton-Harris, recalled on Monday that an envelope of 3.3 billion pounds sterling (3.8 billion euros) proposed by London last month was available, at the condition that the local assembly of Stormont, which has been at a standstill for almost two years, restarts.
In this envelope, around 584 million pounds (680 million euros) are intended to increase the salaries of civil servants. The unions argue that funds for salary increases must be released as soon as possible regardless of the restart of local institutions, with DUP elected officials accusing London of using the strike as leverage to push the party to end its boycott.
(and with AFP)