On Tuesday, a strike by thousands of employees in Northern Ireland's health and education sectors is scheduled.
For the first time in six years, four teaching unions are striking for a half-day over a pay issue.
This is another step in a pay dispute, according to the health and public service unions Unite, Unison, Nipsa, and GMB.
There will be a strike by hospital, ambulance, teachers, and nurses. It is anticipated that most schools in Northern Ireland will be closed until noon.
The Department of Education claimed that instructions had been issued to assist principals in evaluating and getting ready for a strike.
The Department of Health claimed that while it completely understood the staff's annoyance, local level solutions were not possible.
The Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO), the Ulster Teachers Union (UTU), and the National Education Union (NEU) are the four teaching unions that are involved. The National Association of Schoolmasters and Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) is another one.
Following a year of impasse over a pay agreement, the NASUWT is requesting a 12 percent pay raise.
Teachers had no choice, according to Dr. Patrick Roach, general secretary of NASUWT.
"Our members are not willing to stand by while their take-home pay decreases and their living expenses increase," he declared.
If the Department of Education and the employers want to put an end to this dispute, they must present a pay offer that has been significantly improved. " .
Teachers, according to INTO's Gerry Murphy, had no choice but to strike, while the UTU's Jacqui White said the unprecedented action was a sign of the intensity of feeling.
The money is there; all we need are the proper political priorities, according to Mark Langhammer of NEU. ".
According to the Department of Education, managers and teachers actively discussed pay.
But according to the statement, the negotiations were taking place as the education sector was facing increasing and unheard-of financial pressures.
It stated that management remained dedicated to finding a solution that ensured teachers were paid fairly.
Health union members will join teachers at several rallies taking place throughout Northern Ireland.
Workers were informed that they would receive a pay award of £1,400 for 2022–2023, but unions claimed that this would not end the dispute because it was below inflation.
A one-day strike by more than 20,000 healthcare workers in Northern Ireland took place in January.
Before the strike on Tuesday, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham stated that the health care system was in an existential crisis and that their members would be demanding fair pay and safe staffing levels.
The UK government, she said, is in charge of resolving this conflict in the absence of a functioning Stormont executive.
Health workers and patients, according to Unison's Anne Speed, were "paying a price" for the political impasse.
"The secretary of state's inaction says a lot. Taking orders from Westminster, who appears to be doing nothing, is simply unacceptable. .
Nipsa's Pádraig Mulholland said the combined action of the medical and teaching staff should serve as a warning to employers.
The chronic understaffing that endangers lives must stop, he said, and all health service workers must receive pay increases that outpace inflation.
The Department of Health claims that there is no doubt that the strike affects patient care.
However, it added that it understood fully the frustration felt by staff members who persisted in working under extremely trying conditions.
It can only be resolved at the national level because it is a national dispute. According to the department, Northern Ireland has a pay parity policy with English HSC employees who are covered by the Agenda for Change framework.
"Given that policy stance, the lack of ministers, and the present budgetary realities, there is no scope for a resolution at local level.
. "
