Trade unions have announced plans to hold a series of town hall meetings across Northern Ireland to discuss how to tackle the cost-of-living crisis.
The NIC-ICTU, an umbrella body of unions which represents more than 200,000 people across Northern Ireland, launched its Workers Demand Better campaign at Stormont today.
It said the campaign is in response to the cost-of-living crisis and called for "serious political solutions" to challenging economic problems.
The unions intend to take their message to the public with a series of town hall meetings in communities across Northern Ireland.
It also said that rallies and protests would be held at "strategic times".
Assistant general secretary Owen Reidy said: "The NIC-ICTU intends to mobilise workers across Northern Ireland and lead a progressive movement that demands better for workers after a decade of pay stagnation.
"Emerging from Covid-19, workers and their families expected a new approach to work and rewarding those who work.
"An economy that included everyone and worked for everyone.
"Many of the workers who were lauded as 'essential' during Covid are now being treated with contempt and they have had enough and are not prepared to see their pay fall further behind, hence the unprecedented industrial action we will see across Northern Ireland in the coming period.
"We intend to engage with workers and communities across Northern Ireland, lobby politicians both here and at Westminster, hold protests and rallies at strategic times and demand that we see stronger better workers' rights, where unions can collective bargaining with employers and demand for a better social wage, such as better access to affordable childcare, transport and other services."
The event was addressed by SDLP MLA Matthew O'Toole, who called for the return of power-sharing at Stormont as a means of providing direct support to workers.
He also repeated his party's call for 1,000 litres of home heating oil to be provided to every household.
Mr O'Toole said: "The pandemic was supposed to mark a watershed in how we viewed the contribution of workers to ensuring basic civilised society for all of us - but as yet the claps and the warm words haven't translated into meaningful legislation or a new approach to social partnership in this society.
"In opposition we intend to hold any new executive to account for delivering on this.
"In the short term, with real-terms pay cuts and political dysfunction hampering progress, we are proud to stand in solidarity with union members when they are striking not just for decent pay for themselves, but for better for everyone in this society."
