Page 4 - Worker Strikes News Today

The centre of Belfast was brought to a standstill today, as thousands of striking workers converged on City Hall demanding better pay.

Thousands of workers across Northern Ireland joined mass rallies to demand a resolution to ongoing pay disputes within a number of sectors.

The Hands Across the Divide sculpture in Derry was symbolic on what could prove to be a seismic day of strike action in the north west.

Opening the curtains to a cold, frosty morning, with dustings of snow covering the branches of trees and cars half-disappeared under a blanket of white, it was quickly clear this wasn’t going to be a normal day in Northern Ireland.

All morning a song from Icelandic popster Bjork was rolling around in my head. It’s oh so quiet. And the Iceland link was all too appropriate.

Today’s strike hasn’t totally brought my life to a halt but it has impacted my day a lot more than I initially thought it would.

We will find out on Thursday what society could face going forward unless resolutions are urgently found to a series of pay disputes which have been rumbling on for years.

More than 150,000 workers will take to the streets in what is billed as the biggest day of strike action in Northern Ireland’s history.

Officials at the Department of Health have warned the disruption on Thursday will “be on a scale not experienced” from any previous strike action, with the health system and wider public services set to grind to a halt.

Almost 200,000 of Northern Ireland’s workforce across health, education and public services will take to the picket lines tomorrow in what has been billed as the most disruptive day of industrial action the country has ever seen.