In October frustration and anger finally came to a head among the portering and catering staff in the Royal Group of Hospitals as they “walked out” over equality of treatment around overtime payments.

This dispute has been simmering for over a year. Middle management had been attempting to impose cost saving measures in a bid to claw back a portion of the Royal Hospital’s £317,000 deficit.

Management began to impose a system of allocating overtime only to part time workers, allowing the Trust to save money on overtime payments as these workers were only getting single time payment up to 37.5 hours.

The issue reached boiling point when Deirdre O’Brien, the newly made-up Chief Executive, re-commenced the allocation of overtime to part time workers only, stopping that overtime when the worker reaches 37 hours. She took this decision without going through agreed negotiating procedures. 

This message was clear to the workers; don’t expect to be treated fairly. It was at this stage the workers walked out to highlight their issues.  Under this pressure, the management agreed to have the Equality Commission review the policy. 

The Commission found that it would inherently treat one set of workers less favourably than another due to their employment status stating “it would have a dramatic negative impact on predominantly male full time workers”.

Management have been made aware of the strength of the anger among workers who are willing to take further industrial action over this fundamental issue of equality. 

It is clear the Royal Trust have decided to attempt to cut costs by cutting the wage bill and getting work done on the cheap.  The mood of the workforce is that they are not willing to let this happen.

This anger must not be allowed to dissipate into apathy and frustration. Follow up action should be organised to build the resistance to the ongoing attempts by the management of the Royal Trust to cut their deficit at the expense of staff in the run up to the amalgamation of the five Belfast Trusts in April 2007.

An exhaust company in Ennikillen has been forced into a U-turn on wages after being confronted by the Socialist Party. In August GT Exhausts cut the wages of Polish workers to less than £4 an hour while paying other workers a legal wage.

This resulted in heated confrontations between management and the workers who unfortunately were non-unionised. Some quit there and then while others remained.

When a Socialist Party representative approached the firm to query the situation it became obvious they were covering their tracks. Amid denials of any discriminatory policy they were obviously rattled and reinstated the previous rates of pay.

We later approached the firm with some of the migrant workers and secured outstanding wage packets although there are several issues outstanding. Among these workers there is now a hatred of rip off employers who, among other practices, deduct from wages for overpriced accommodation. Activists in Fermanagh are continuing to investigate GT Exhausts and may yet picket the firm to demand they pay up all the monies owed.

Canteen staff at Holywell Psychiatric Hospital in Antrim walked out on unofficial strike action in October.

They refused to serve meals for two hours to demonstrate their anger at the long delay in implementing “Agenda for Change”, the new system for pay and conditions which applies to nearly all staff in the NHS.

The Socialist Party opposed Agenda for Change when it was first proposed, arguing that it would have a detrimental effect on many staff. This strike shows the anger that it has caused. Unions must now fight to ensure that workers’ interests are protected as it is brought in.

Cooks in the North and West Belfast HSS Trust, currently on a paltry £5.33 an hour, are rightly disgusted at this poverty pay in the public sector. Despite repeated assurances by the management, still nothing has been done.

One of the workers told The Socialist that if this situation doesn’t change staff may well follow the lead shown by other health workers and take some form of industrial action.

It’s alright for some in the Trust mind you, Richard Black, head of the Trust, is on £129,000 per year. Some might wonder how his Christmas would go if he had to live off the poverty pay he enforces.

On 13 October, the Belfast passport office closed for the day as staff took strike action over their pay claim. The Identity and Passport Service (IPS) management have failed to come up with any pay offer for this year.

The strike involved 2,500 members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) in IPS offices across the UK. Belfast PCS rep, Stephen Farrelly, spoke to The Socialist on the picket line in High Street:

"The action is completely solid here. Out of 115 PCS members only four have gone in. Royal Mail workers have refused to cross our picket line so no post has gone through. No passports will be processed here today.

"We want our pay settled in time, not 15 months late. In the six years I have worked here, I have never once received my increase on 1 August settlement day."

The strike has been followed up with an overtime ban and further industrial action will have to be considered if an acceptable offer is not put on the table.

A 24 hour strike by the 16 workers who operate the Strangford ferry brought the service to a complete halt on 26 October.

The dispute is over pay. The workers, all members of Amicus, are paid £14,000 a year, plus up to £3,500 in allowances, well below the proper rate for this job. Crew members on the Rathlin Island ferry get around £29,000 per year.

Amicus have been pressing the Roads Service, who are the ferry operator, for over three years on this but without result. All that they have done is promise reviews and then further reviews.

In the background of this dispute is the issue of privatisation. The government are trying to sell off this essential service under a PFI scheme. Privatisation should be resisted. Instead it should be modernised as a public service and its staff should enjoy decent wages and conditions.

Union activists picketed Tesco’s Royal Avenue branch in Belfast at the end of October. The protest was part of a day of action which saw lunch time protests placed on Tesco & Sainsbury stores throughout Northern Ireland and Britain.

The Transport and General Workers Union initiated this campaign following contact from young strawberry pickers who are employed by S&A Produce. The workers, who are mainly from Poland, work 14 hour shifts with less than 30 minutes break and some earn as little as £40 per week.

Anger reached boiling point in October when hundreds of workers protested by blocking the road near outside the Herefordshire farm where S&A is based. Action like this is needed to oppose the super-exploitation of migrant labour and to let companies like Tesco and Sainsburys know we don’t want to buy produce produced by slave labour.