Public transport workers from Unite to join major day of strike action

It's been confirmed public transport workers from Unite the Union will be among 8,000 of its members taking to the picket lines in Northern Ireland next week.

Public sector workers are staging a mass walk out on the 18th of January in pursuit of better pay.

The day of action involves several different unions, with workers from sectors including education and health.

The UK government has offered a financial package of more than £3billion to support the return of Stormont's Executive, which includes money to deal with public sector pay claims.

However, the delivery of the cash is conditional on the return of power-sharing.

February will mark 2 years since the DUP walked out of the Stormont Executive in protest at post-Brexit deal terms.

Public transport strikes around Christmas caused widespread disruption.

A statement from Unite the Union said, “8,000 public sector workers in Unite will join the action. The union’s membership includes more than 4,000 health and social care workers, 2,300 bus and rail workers, 800 education authority workers as well as members in the roads service, forestry service, rivers agency, Ferry services and PSNI.”

“The coordinated strike action by public sector workers on 18 January is set to be the biggest in the history of Northern Ireland and is focused on achieving pay improvements as well as ensuring pay parity where relevant with public sector workers in Great Britain.”

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