The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in Northern Ireland has today (1 June) notified the Department of Health, employers and Northern Ireland Executive that they’re in a formal trade dispute over pay. Earlier this year, 92.2% of eligible RCN members who voted in a consultative ballot said the pay award for Agenda for Change staff announced by the Northern Ireland Executive for 2021-2022 was unacceptable. Nursing pay has not kept pace with the cost of living and the 2021-2022 pay deal fell far short of our calls for a 12.5% pay increase for all nursing staff on Agenda for Change contracts.
Fiona Devlin, Chair of the RCN Northern Ireland Board said “Our demand in Northern Ireland, as elsewhere across the UK, was for a significant and restorative pay rise that applied equally across all Agenda for Change bands. Nursing pay has not kept pace with the cost of living, and we have serious concerns about the impact of this on the recruitment and retention of the nursing workforce. We also have grave concerns about its impact on the delivery of safe and effective patient care.
“Just two years ago, the RCN took industrial action in Northern Ireland over safe staffing and pay parity. As the 2021-2022 pay award did not meet our demand, we are therefore in formal dispute once again. This is not a step that we take lightly but our members are exhausted, disenfranchised and have been left feeling undervalued. The derisory 2021-2022 pay award has served only to strengthen this feeling.”
Rita Devlin, Director of the RCN in Northern Ireland “For years nursing staff have responded to the challenge of delivering safe and effective care in the face of increasing demands on services, shortages of staff and low pay. These issues have been made worse by the pandemic and we have been left with no alternative but to lodge a formal trade dispute on their behalf.
“Nursing is a safety critical profession and today’s action is a formal expression of the frustration and concern for patient safety that nurses are experiencing every day.”
