Northern Ireland Hit by Mass Strike of Public Workers

Public workers in Northern Ireland are taking part in a mass one-day strike to protest over public sector pay, a move expected to bring widespread disruption to the region. As many as 170,000 workers from 17 unions — including public transport staff, nurses, civil servants and teachers — will walk out Thursday in a coordinated action billed by unions as Northern Ireland’s biggest strike in over 50 years. Workers are calling for pay increases to bring their incomes into line with the rest of the UK. The strike has had a huge impact on activity, with buses and trains halted, schools closed and health services disrupted. The Department of Health posted on the social media platform X that “all aspects of health and social care are impacted and there will be delays for those seeking treatment.” The dispute has also become tangled up in the long-running political deadlock in Northern Ireland. The region hasn’t had a functioning devolved government since early 2022, when the Democratic Unionist Party withdrew from the power-sharing executive over a post-Brexit trade deal that they say undermines their position within the UK. -------- Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://trib.al/KM4k5RA Subscribe to Bloomberg Originals: https://trib.al/dJv9Uw8 Bloomberg Quicktake brings you global social video spanning business, technology, politics and culture. Make sense of the stories changing your business and your world. Connect with us on… YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Bloomberg Breaking News on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BloombergQuicktakeNow