We wish to take this opportunity to clarify the position of the Northern Ireland NJC trade unions listed above.
Following consultation by each union with its members the offer of a 1.75% uplift for workers covered by NJC terms and conditions has been resoundingly rejected. There has been complete refusal by NJC employers side to improve their offer.
The NJC pay award covers workers in Local Authority, Council's, and Schools across England. Wales. In Northern Ireland NJC covers Local Authorities, Education Authority, Housing Executive, Libraries, FE Colleges and arms-length bodies. Our members in England and Wales are bound by restrictive anti-trade union legislation which requires any Industrial Action ballot to obtain more than a 50% turnout before any action can be taken. This threshold was not met by any of the unions. While unions in Northern Ireland are not bound by the 50% threshold for industrial action, we have also had to take account of the forthcoming end of mandate of the current Northern Ireland Executive and Ministers.
Northern Ireland NJC trade unions met, under the auspices of ICTU, to discuss the results of each unions consultations and assess the responses of our membership.
This meeting was attended by Northern Ireland representatives of UNISON, NIPSA, GMB SIPTU and Unite. At that meeting, all unions confirmed a common view that this year's pay award has failed to address the expectations of our members.
On that basis the unions agreed to seek to explore a future common campaigning approach, up to and including future industrial action, to defend and improve our members' living standards.
While we recognise that individual unions are sovereign bodies, and that they must represent the decisions of their own members, we remain convinced that taking joint union action and working together provides us with the best opportunity for real success on collective living standards issues.
We will continue to contribute to union side NJC discussions already underway for future pay awards. We will continue seek a basis for a joint campaign by all the NJC unions across the UK and within Northern Ireland.