On Wednesday 26th April, a full 57 days after a return vote of 85% in favour, Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance (NIPSA) members across the north took part in strike action. NIPSA were joined by comrades from PCS, GMB and all the Teachers’ Unions – including, for the first time ever in their 125 year history, the National Association of Head Teachers. Workers manned pickets before taking to the streets in Belfast for the biggest Trade Union rally in over a decade.
From 6.30am, NIPSA members began gathering in preparation for anyone trying to get into work early before the formation of pickets. They needn’t have worried. Workplaces were deserted. Services stopped. It was the same everywhere. Northern Ireland Civil Service ground to a halt.
By 8am the atmosphere was electric and felt markedly different in comparison to NIPSA’s previous strikes of 2019/20. At pickets all over the north people talked of senior management being fully supportive of industrial action for the first time. The undermining of strikes, all too common in the past, was practically non-existent this time around.
In Belfast the day ended at City Hall. A sea of Trade Union flags and banners began appearing at midday. An hour later, with the road closed and the crowd packing down Royal Avenue, the speakers took the stage. All had the same demands – it’s time workers were paid their true value.
Grassroots, branch-based, activism drove Wednesday’s success. NIPSA members, right across the board, demanded the result of their ballot be implemented and they came out in their thousands to show it. Let’s hope the momentum isn’t stopped. This has to be just the beginning.
Museum Worker NIPSA Members on strike
Gigantic Rally at Belfast City Hall 26 April 2023
Pickets all morning before the city centre rally with teaching unions 26 April 2023
Picketers striking back with family members in support at Lanyon Plaza, Belfast.
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