North’s civil servants to vote on possible strike action

The North's largest public service union has announced plans to ballot its members on all-out strike action in the new year.

NIPSA said it was planning to hold a strike ballot among more than 20,000 civil servants as part of a dispute over pay.

If the strike goes ahead, it could cripple the work of government departments in the North.

The ballot is being arranged following the overwhelming rejection of a 0.2% pay increase offered to workers below the senior civil service grades.