Health service workers who are members of the unions NIPSA, UNISON and GMB took industrial action on Monday, December 12 in Fermanagh, with many braving the icy-cold temperatures to protest along the picket line outside the South West Acute Hospital (SWAH), Enniskillen.

The health service strikes, which took place across Northern Ireland and were the first since 2019, involved clinical, professional and administrative staff.

Speaking to The Impartial Reporter following the strike action on Monday, Jill Weir, UNISON Omagh and Fermanagh Joint Branch Secretary, noted that union members came from nearly every profession within the NHS and social care trust to UNISON’s two picket lines, at the SWAH, and Omagh Hospital and Primary Care Complex.

“Present on our picket line were not only our respected nursing professions but domestics, porters, admin staff, laboratory staff, catering – in fact, most of the professions within the NHS, except doctors and dentists.

“We are all one team in the NHS,” said Jill, adding that UNISON were “very proud at the great turnout” staggered through the morning.

“It is not an easy decision for people within the caring profession to take strike action, but we worked with the Trust to ensure emergency cover was provided in all areas.

“We had departments where everyone wanted to take strike action, the feeling of being undervalued being so strong, but staff agreed to come out at different times to allow essential services to be maintained.”

Jill went on to highlight that this is “only the start”, and although strike action will be muted over the Christmas period, the union is already making plans for the new year if there is no new offer.

“What our members want is to have fair pay for the work that they do – a pay rise to be above the current inflation rates so they can live, not just struggle to survive, in this current cost of living crisis.

“The workers of this country did not make this crisis, and should not have to depend on handouts and food banks or make decisions on how much heating they need to ration,” she said, going on to acknowledge community workers who do large mileage covering rural areas.

“[They] come to a point in their mileage claim where they are actually compensating the Trusts for fuel out of their own pockets.

“These are mainly low-paid workers who ensure our most vulnerable are safe in their own homes. These are the essential workers who everyone was standing on their doorsteps clapping for [during the pandemic].

“They need proper pay to keep them working in the NHS. We are losing valuable staff because of pay.

“This contributes to unsafe staffing levels and bringing in high-cost agency staff. Our NHS needs all the public to get behind the staff, to put pressure on to get the government to value NHS and social care staff,” Jill told this newspaper.

The Impartial Reporter contacted the Western Health and Social Care Trust in relation to the above matters, but they had not replied by the time of going to print.