Strikes in Northern Ireland
On Thursday the 18th of January, strikes are happening across Northern Ireland. A strike is when a group of people decide to stop working to show they are unhappy with their work and want their work conditions to be better. In this case, the work conditions are about pay. Many of the jobs that the people striking do are paid much better in other countries like England. People want to be paid a fair and equal wage.
The people striking include:
- Nurses
- Teachers
- Train and bus drivers
There is believed to be more than 100,000 people going on strike in Northern Ireland.
As Northern Ireland still does not have a working government, the UK government won’t give Northern Ireland any extra money to raise pay for these workers. They say that the Northern Ireland government (called the Executive) must start working again and then they will give the extra money. However, not all the political parties (formal groups of people with similar or the same idea about how the country should be managed) in Northern Ireland will agree to restarting the Executive. You can read more about this in our next article which will be published next week on this website.
Many of the groups of people striking today have plans to strike again in the future if they are not given a pay increase. You may see the people striking in groups holding placards (signs) with slogans on them about why they are on strike.
It’s important to remember that the people striking are not taking a day off for fun! They are bringing attention to their situation and want to find a solution (answer) to the problem.