Telephonists set to strike over NI civil service pay

The long-running dispute over the 2003 pay increase for Northern Ireland civil servants looks set to continue, with the announcement that all telephonists on government switchboards across the country are set to strike next week.

The public service trade union, NIPSA have confirmed that all telephonists on Government switchboards in Northern Ireland will stop work between Tuesday and Thursday next week.

NIPSA have warned that this action will severely disrupt all telephone business with Government offices. The strike will also be backed up by a call to all 20,000 NIPSA members involved in the dispute to refuse to answer telephones.

The pay dispute has already caused major disruptions. The Office of Industrial Tribunals and Fair Employment tribunal was forced to close and cancel all Tribunal hearings after staff went on strike last Friday.

The selective strike action was being carried on by NIPSA members in the Social Security Agency, with Strabane Social Security Office forced to close all this week, because of strike action.

The union has also been maintaining a strict ‘work to rule’ policy across all departments, as well as mounting widespread work stoppages and walkouts. Last Friday, thousands of staff left offices to attend pay rallies.

This action will be continued this week, with two major rallies planned for mid-day at Parliament Buildings, Stormont and at Guildhall Square, Londonderry.

However, it has also been announced that talks are due to start between the two sides tomorrow afternoon in a bid to find a resolution to the increasingly bitter dispute.

NIPSA’s General Secretary, John Corey, said that he did not expect there to be any early breakthrough in the dispute. He said: "We are in this dispute because these civil service staff have been denied ‘cost of living’ increase in their rates of pay from April 2003. This is grossly unfair treatment compared to the way Government has agreed ‘cost of living’ pay increases of more than 3% from last April for all other public servants in Northern Ireland and pay increases of up to 9% for senior civil servants."

Mr Corey added: "This is a key issue that must be addressed and we have not seen any clear evidence yet that Management Side of Ministers are committed to negotiating on this fundamental point in order to progress to any resolution of the dispute. We will therefore be maintaining the campaign of industrial action."

(KMcA)