Council staff to commence work-to-rule from Monday

Easter Monday will see union staff from Newry Mourne and Down council start a work-to-rule which has the potential to cause considerable disruption to council services including bin collections and leisure facilities.

Members of GMB, NIPSA and SIPTU will commence the industrial action from Monday 10 April, to be joined by Unite from 12 April.

Union boses claim management have reneged on commitment to partnership-based job evaluation process. The unions have warned that the industrial action, although confined to a ‘work-to-rule’ at this stage, is likely to result in significant impact to council services including those at leisure centres and with bin collections. 

The industrial dispute proceeds after members of all four unions voted for both strike action and action short of strike action in ballots. The dispute centres on attempts by management to ditch an earlier commitment reached in 2021 to a partnership-based approach for job evaluations. Management are also seeking to remove allowances for new staff members – creating a two-tier workforce. Newry, Mourne and Down District Council is one of the last councils to meaningful engage with trade unions in the RPA process – despite the new councils coming into being 8 years ago.

The work-to-rule will see workers refuse to take on overtime, tasks outside their job description, providing absentee cover or using their own vehicles for work purposes. 

Spokesperson for the trade union side, Kevin Kelly said “Members of all four trade unions at Newry, Mourne and Down District Council have lost confidence in management. They are reneging on written commitments entered into when the last dispute was concluded and they are both wanting to move away from a partnership-based approach to job evaluation but also remove allowances from new recruits creating a two-tier workforce. This is not something our members will accept. 

“It is unbelievable that management believe they can insult the intelligence of our members. Do they think workers or their trade union representatives cannot read or understand the agreements reached. We are clear that this tactic will not work and we will take whatever action is required to ensure it stops.”