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UNISON believes only a significant rise will help protect services and enable staff to weather the growing cost of living pressures following a decade of local authority cuts and pay restraint.

The 2022 claim, which would apply from the start of April, would see council employees receive either a £2,000 rise at all pay grades or the current rate of RPI (presently 11%), whichever is higher for each individual.

This would lift all council and school employees back above the real living wage.

On the 12^th May the theme of International Nurse’s Day is “Investing in Nurses”, no better phrase at this time is more appropriate. The cost of living crisis has brought home to the UNISON Nursing Family that NHS pay is not sufficient for many to pay the bills, food, fuel etc. Many of our Student Nurses struggle to live on bursaries without supplementing their bursary with paid work. The UK Government has under invested in the NHS and has privatised many of our services and paid an exorbitant amount of money to agencies and locums.

Thousands of UNISON education support service workers have pledged to bring their demands for pay improvement right to the Minister in situ and make their demands the centre of election debates leading up to the 5^th May.

In a recent consultation the union has received the backing of its members to make their demand for an EA pay and grading review of how the NJC agreement applies in Northern Ireland.

"We were promised this as part of the 2019-2021 pay deal" stressed Noreen Robinson, Lay Convenor for UNISON education workers.

Today, 31^st March, the health union, UNISON, will be addressing the Southern Health and Social Care Trust Board meeting focusing on their ‘Put NHS Pay Right’ pay campaign, the crippling costs of fuel whilst they deliver care in the community and UNISON’s concerns about the recent temporary reduction in services in Daisy Hill Hospital.