“Thank You” to all members who supported and took Industrial Action on the 21st and 22nd of September. You were present on the picket lines at the main Hospital sites throughout the province and this was very evident from all of the social media and press coverage.
Following the two days of Industrial Action and in the absence of a meaningful pay offer the continuance and escalation of ASOS may be necessary to ensure pressure is increased on the Trust, the Department of Health and the Secretary of State. With this in mind, your Unison Branch Committee will meet on Wednesday 4th October to agree on the Action Short of Strike (ASOS) strategy for the rest of October and the remaining months of 2023. Once agreed an updated communique will be issued to all members. In the interim members should continue to follow the ASOS guidance as communicated in our previous Industrial Action updates.
Any decisions to escalate ASOS will keep the pressure on the Secretary of State to stop using HSCNI staff as political pawns to resolve the ongoing crisis in the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Secretary of State claims that he cannot make a pay offer for HSCNI staff as this is the responsibility of the NI Executive. The question must be asked how the Secretary of State agreed on a pay offer for our colleagues in the NI Fire and Rescue Service in the absence of the NI Assembly. Both the HSCNI and the NI Fire and Rescue Service fall under the remit of the Department of Health, the same government department, but there is a very different strategy and unfair treatment for all HSCNI staff.
We cannot allow this Secretary of State to continue to discriminate against all HSCNI staff by withholding a pay offer that would reestablish pay parity with our colleagues in the other Nations. Enough is enough and all further escalations and strike action are firmly a result of the Secretary of State’s failure to act.
ASOS Update – October 2023
Unison members began a further period of industrial action short of strike action (ASOS) starting at 00:01 on 1st September 2023 and running until 23:59 on Saturday 30th September 2023, with a further continuance of ASOS running from 00:01 on 1st October 2023 and running until 23:59 on Tuesday 31st October 2023.
Action short of strike (ASOS): 1st – 31st October 2023
- Refusing to have breaks interrupted.
Derogations – A&E operational members will request to have their meal breaks at their base station, within the agreed meal break windows. These breaks should only be disturbed for Category 1 immediately life-threatening calls. All members who are on unpaid meal breaks should have their meal breaks at their base station / location, within the meal break period. These breaks should not be disturbed.
- Working strictly to health & safety protocols.
Derogations – None
- Withdrawal from all union/management/Department of Health engagement except regional meetings on dispute resolution.
Derogations – None
- Strict adherence to start times.
Derogations – None.
Members should not start or book on early to answer calls, complete vehicle checks / VDIs etc. These should be commenced at the shift start time. Station-based relief members should start and finish at their base station. At the commencement of their shift, before onward travel to stations which are not their base station, but where they have been assigned duties, except when doing so would incur additional travel or expense. Relief staff will not use their own private vehicles to travel to any locations other than their base station.
Local Unison Shop Stewards and H&S Reps should be contacted if further information is required. NIAS has been given due notice of this action short of a strike, as per legislative requirements. RMC / line managers will be contacting Relief Staff to ascertain if they will be taking industrial action.
End of communique
