A TRADE union has warned that any strike action taken by harbour and fisheries workers would prevent fish catches being landed in Kilkeel and Ardglass.
In a weekend statement, Unite confirmed that it has written to DAERA (Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs) Minister Andrew Muir to “seek an urgent meeting on poverty pay afflicting harbour and fisheries workers”.
It also said that the union “represents the overwhelming majority of the workers employed by the Northern Ireland Fisheries and Harbour Authority (NIFHA), an arms-length body funded by DAERA”.
“A strike of NIFHA workers would immediately shut down the ability of Northern Ireland’s fishing fleet to land their catch at the primary harbours of Kilkeel, Ardglass and Portavogie,” the statement read.
“The union is seeking intervention by the minister to raise pay of all workers initially to the living wage and to provide pay increments, which were recommended in an external grading review conducted in 2019, but which were never implemented.”
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said that it is “disgraceful that most workers at the NIFHA are paid the bare legal minimum”.
“Even the harbour masters are paid only a few pennies more than the living wage,” she stated.
“The fisheries and harbours workforce can count on the full backing of Unite in their fight for improved pay.”
Unite regional officer Joanne McWilliams asked how Mr Muir could “claim his department is an accredited living wage employer when the NIFHA pays the bare legal minimum”.
“This is not acceptable or sustainable,” she said.
“Our members seek the immediate delivery of a living wage as well as the implementation of the pay grades recommended by the 2019 review.
“Unite is seeking an urgent meeting with the minister to allow our reps to explain to him the impact poverty pay is having on them and a vital service.
“The minister needs to urgently intervene to address this issue and avoid the potential for an escalating and highly disruptive industrial dispute.”
DAERA was contacted for comment, but had not responded by the time the Mourne Observer went to print.