Finn Purdy
Live page reporter at Belfast City Hall

The feeder march from the picket at Belfast City Hospital has now arrived at Belfast City Hall.

Along their route, those taking part were met with applause and honking of car horns from many of those that they passed.

Translink workers based at Great Victoria Street, as well as teachers and other staff from the Royal Belfast Academical Institution, joined the march as it made its way to to City Hall.

Finn Purdy
Live page reporter at Belfast City Hall

Striking workers, who were standing on a picket line outside Belfast City Hospital, have now starting marching towards the city centre.

There were chants of: "What do we want? Fair pay! When do we want it? Now!" and "the workers united will never be defeated."

These strikers are now making their way to Belfast City Hall to join a mass rally of those taking industrial action.

Peter Coulter
BBC News NI

Image source, PA Media

The level of disruption to services seen across Northern Ireland today can't happen across Great Britain after new laws were introduced to keep some services running during strike action.

In July, the UK government introduced legislation in England, Wales and Scotland, known as the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023, external.

The legislation means that during a strike a "minimum service" must be provided across a number of sectors including health, education and transport.

Some employees are required to work during industrial action and could be sacked if they refuse.

The legislation does not apply to Northern Ireland.

The chairman of the Northern Ireland Affairs committee, Robert Buckland MP, believes the legislation should apply in Northern Ireland to "guarantee that those in greatest need, whether it be through health emergency or other dire need, will get the service that they deserve,"

Read more about this issue and the unions response here.

Bus engineers at Milewater Service Centre in north Belfast were on the picket line before dawn.

Unite union members said they were striking because pay had fallen to such a low level that many were struggling financially.

One of the younger workers, Ellen, wants to get on the property ladder, but says it is extremely difficult.

“We have to take a stand, because the cost of living is hitting everybody hard," she says.

“All we are asking for is fair pay.”

The vice-chair of the Royal College of Nursing's NI board tells BBC Radio 5 Live it is with "a heavy heart" that colleagues are on the picket line today.

Denise Kelly says: "Whilst nursing staff across the rest of the UK have been awarded a pay rise for 2023-24, our nursing staff here in NI on agenda for change contracts have been left with nothing during one of the worst cost of living crises.

"We are once again the worst paid in the UK.

"The treatment of our public sector staff is disgraceful and our nursing staff will no longer stay silent.

"This is as much about patient care as it is about pay.

She adds that she fears for staff and patients if a resolution is not found soon.

Claire Graham
BBC News NI

Teachers from four schools in Jordanstown and Whiteabbey, in County Antrim, were on the picket outside Rosstulla Special school.

Amy Russell and Susan Hamilton, who are both learning support assistants, say they feel guilty being on strike, and the children will need to readjust when coming back to school.

But they added this was about long-term protection of services and looking out for the next generation of staff and pupils.

From Whiteabbey Primary School, classroom assistant Kelly McCullough says she blames both the DUP and the Education Authority for the situation schools find themselves in.

She points to pay disparity across the UK, and the need to pay classroom assistants a fair and proper wage.

Marie-Louise Connolly
BBC News NI Health Correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Services are going to take a massive beating today.

While the strike may only last 24 hours, the impact will last for months.

The amount of services that have ground to a halt is almost unthinkable - almost all appointments are cancelled, including chemotherapy and breast screening services.

But staff have been waving red flags for over a decade about pay.

Healthcare staff never want to go on strike - it's against their very ethos - but today is different.

They say there is a lack of leadership, a lack of accountability and services are below an acceptable standard.

This mornings ED figures are typical for this time of year. The difference is those people will remain stuck in a system that today isn’t moving - at all.

The lack of hospital bed discharges will be even more pronounced as community care is disabled too.

The headache will be for tomorrow’s staff as they deal with, not only the latest intake, but also today's numbers who will still probably be waiting to be admitted.

Northern Ireland's health service remains under "significant pressure".

Writing on social media, the Department of Health says aspects of health and social care are being impacted and there will be delays for those seeking treatment.

The department urges people to stay safe and use health services appropriately.

But the department adds: "If your case is an emergency, don’t put off seeking treatment."

Grainne Connolly
BBC News NI

Geraldine Hamill is a classroom assistant.

She says the cost of living and inflation means teaching and support staff need a pay rise now more than ever.

“I’m on my own - my husband died 12 years ago - I’m struggling big time," she says.

“Gas, electric, food - everything is going up but our wages aren’t. I live, I survive, but I’m struggling."

Image source, Getty Images

Michelle O'Neill also tells Good Morning Ulster that ministers could pay public sector workers "very quickly" if Stormont is restored.

She appeals directly to Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, saying it is an opportunity for the DUP leader to show "positive leadership".

"There's still time for them to do the right thing - to end their boycott - but ultimately what they need to decide is are they prepared to share power in the executive with all the other parties?

"I believe if we can do that, we can do good things."

Sinn Féin deputy leader Michelle O'Neill says it is a very difficult day for public sector workers.

Speaking to Good Morning Ulster, she says she regrets that workers have been forced onto picket lines this morning but understands they feel they have nowhere else to turn.

Image source, Getty Images

She calls on DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson to "make the right call" and return to power sharing.

"Let us do our best to support these workers and ensure they have proper pay and conditions for the job they so ably do and that we rely on as a society every day," she says.

Ciaran McCann, a Translink worker on the picket line at Portadown train station, says he has taken an 11% real-terms pay cut.

“Chris Heaton-Harris [NI secretary] has got the funds - they are sitting there, he’s just refusing to release them,” Mr McCann says.

"It's not fair on the workers.

"We are the ones suffering and it’s not on."

It’s a bitterly cold morning across Northern Ireland with snow and ice on the roads in many parts of the country.

The industrial action means many roads have not been gritted or salted.

Ashleen Quigley is a home care assistant from Limavady, County Londonderry.

She says she fully supports workers' right to strike, but cannot support any action that will see some roads not being gritted during a weather warning.

"For the likes of us, how are we expected to get to our clients or whatever whenever the weather is so bad?

"I am quite nervous to go out to work because I am up a lot of back roads, country roads and I feel a bit pressured getting to these individuals because they need care."

Nurse Janine Compston is on the picket line at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast.

"We have fallen behind England on pay," she says, adding that nurses have been patient.

"Members are finding it harder and harder and a lot of our nurses work many more additional hours to make ends meet," she says.

"It has an impact on our recruitment and retention," she says, adding that nurses are leaving for other countries and other jobs.

Road service worker Thomas Hanlon is on strike for a week.

With sub-zero temperatures in Northern Ireland at the minute, he admits the weather will mean road conditions are “treacherous” but says workers have no choice.

His own mortgage has increased and he says times are tough for his colleagues.

Andrew Doherty, from the RCN, is striking at Altnagelvin Hospital in Londonderry.

He tells the BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme workers feel forced to be on the picket line.

“Newly qualified nurses here are about £1,300 less off than a newly qualified nurse in the rest of the UK and as you rise through the ranks of nursing, that gap rises," he says.

Only the "fundamentals" of nursing will be provided to patients today, but the wards are "safe and they will be staffed safely".

Image source, PA Media

Matthew McDermott, from Northern Ireland's Education Authority, tells Good Morning Ulster he understands today may be difficult for parents.

“We do recognise the real difficulties this presents to parents, children, young people and their schools,” he says.

“But equally we understand the frustration of our teachers and non-teaching staff. They carry out an absolute vital role in our system and they do deserve a fair pay rate and a pay offer that hasn’t been made.

"We asked for a derogation from all trade unions across our teaching and non-teaching workforce for today and we asked for a derogation from Unite for the additional seven days for our special schools.

"Those derogations weren’t forthcoming."

Teachers in Northern Ireland have been pushed into taking industrial action, Tanya Wakeley tells BBC Radio Foyle.

She's an English teacher and rep for the National Education Union at St Cecilia's College in Londonderry.

No teacher, she says, wants to be on a picket line.

“Today we feel that we are legitimising our underpayment, recruitment and retention problems and the fact that our schools are crumbling – sometimes quite literally,” she says.

In her 29-year career, she adds, she has never seen education in such a “dire state”.

Clodagh Rice
BBC News NI business correspondent

Image source, Getty

It’s difficult to say.

Economist Dr Esmond Birnie estimated this one day could cost £10m, but in reality it could be much more than that.

His estimate is based on health and education contributing about £30m of output a day, and that about a third of that output will be lost.

That’s the direct cost but there will be indirect costs too.

Not just the teacher on a picket line losing a day’s wages but also the workers who either rely on public transport or because of childcare and school closures might not be able to work.

Today’s impact won’t just be on the economy - missing medical appointments and teaching will have a wider impact on society, including some of the most vulnerable

Read more from Clodagh here.

Among those on the picket line at Londonderry’s Altnagelvin Hospital is Laura McClintock.

She is a specialist nurse working in palliative care which is, she says, an “extremely tough role”.

“But what is tougher is watching our vulnerable patients stuck in a health system that’s crumbling, she tells BBC Radio Foyle’s North West Today.

“There are elected representatives in our country who have the power to change that, to improve the health of our population and to make life better for all of our patients.

“Every patient in the health system in Northern Ireland at the minute is vulnerable."

Local politicians, she says, are using nurses as “political pawns”.

“Let nurses be nurses,” she says.

“We deserve better, our patients deserve better, the whole of Northern Ireland deserves better.”