A council worker from Co Tyrone has said the current strike action being carried out by employees is an ‘act of desperation’.
Employees from several councils across Northern Ireland have gone on strike for the next two weeks after members of the Unite union have called for improved pay conditions.
Council services have been disrupted this week as the industrial action is ongoing, including at Mid Ulster District Council where Eddie McNeice works in refuse collection.
Read more: Unite strike: Details as council services disrupted across Tyrone and Fermanagh
Eddie says the 1.75% pay rise agreed by other unions amounts to a pay cut due to the rising cost of living, and says Unite are calling for a 10% rise in pay.
“We’re out on strike as an act of desperation,” Eddie told MyTyrone.
“We’re out on strike over pay, council workers for the last 12 years have had a pay cut in real terms by 22%.
“The cost of living has gone through the roof due to rising fuel, energy and food costs.
“Council workers can no longer live on their current wage, we’re living day to day.
“We were left with no option but to vote for industrial action."
Eddie is part of the picket line set up in Dungannon in the ongoing strike, and says local councils have the power to negotiate new pay terms separately to the national agreement.
He added: “There’s certain scope within local councils for them to end this dispute.
“Within all councils they have the ability to end this industrial action through a local collective agreement.
“The cost of living has gone through the roof. Before there was even talk of a strike they put their rates up 3.9%, one of the highest in the North.
“To me that says that the council understands those rising costs, but yet we can’t sustain the wage we are on.
“It’s pay cuts we are getting, everybody needs to keep their heads above water.”
However, Mid Ulster District Council denies that they have the ability to enter into separate pay agreements.
“The action relates to a dispute over the 2021-2022 pay award, which is negotiated nationally by the National Joint Council (NJC) on behalf of councils in England, Wales and Northern Ireland,” a statement from the local authority said.
“Individual councils do not, therefore, enter into separate negotiations on pay with individual Trade Unions.”
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