NI civil servants urged to strike over pay cuts

More than 20,000 Northern Ireland civil servants were today urged to vote for an all-out strike over pay.

Public service union NIPSA’s made what it described as the unprecedented call as it started to ballot members on an indefinite stoppage.

The union is balloting members in all Northern Ireland government departments and many public bodies after Northern Secretary Peter Hain imposed a pay award before Christmas which had already been rejected by the union’s members.

Mr Hain said the deal, backdated to August, was worth 3.49%, but NIPSA insist it amounts to only 0.2% for the majority of civil servants.

The row over pay has been brewing for months and follows a similar wrangle and limited strike action over the 2004 pay deal.

The ballot is due to close on January 30. The union said if their strike call was answered by members and it went ahead, it would cause “massive disruption to vital public services across Northern Ireland”.

Thousands of staff in key areas are being balloted, including all social security benefits staff and all driver and vehicle test-centre workers, as well as those in planning offices, water and roads services and agriculture, including meat inspectors.

Union general secretary John Corey branded Mr Hain’s imposition of the rejected pay deal as “disgraceful and deplorable”.

He said: “Northern Ireland Civil Service staff have been denied fair increases in rates of pay for the last three years.

“In fact, measured against inflation, their pay rates have been cut by over 7%. Offering only a 0.2% increase for 2005 was derisory and insulting.”

Mr Corey said it was intolerable that direct-rule ministers had singled out civil service staff for such grossly unfair and discriminatory treatment.

“These are hardworking frontline staff and thousands are paid at statutory minimum wage levels.

“The Secretary of State’s refusal to listen to us and negotiate now on fair pay increases is disgraceful and deplorable,” he said.

Mr Corey said the union believed its members would vote overwhelmingly to support strike action to secure “long overdue equity, fairness and justice on pay”.