More than nine-in-ten consultants vote for industrial action in pay dispute Consultants in Northern Ireland are set to strike on June 26 after a ballot on industrial action showed strong support for a strike. The vote saw 92 per cent in favour of striking as a result of an ongoing pay dispute. The Northern Ireland consultants’ committee of the British Medical Association (BMA) has now called on the Stormont Health Minister to put forward a renewed pay offer in an effort to avoid the industrial action taking place.
Should it go ahead as planned, the strike will take the form of Christmas Day cover, meaning that most routine and elective services will be cancelled, but full emergency cover will remain in place. The action will last from 7am on Wednesday June 26 to 7am on Thursday June 27. Take-home pay for consultants in Northern Ireland has fallen by more than 30 per cent since 2008/2009.
However, consultants in England have recently accepted a new pay offer, while consultants in Wales have started pay talks. Consultants in Ireland are paid double what their Northern Irish counterparts earn. “This should be a resounding message to the health minister that he needs to act,” said committee chair Dr David Farren.
“We were told that he needed to see what was happening in England before he took any decisions, despite the other nations moving ahead with pay discussions. Now all we can see is that consultants here are moving further away from being paid the same as colleagues.
