Northern Ireland grinds to a freezing halt over public pay dispute

FILE PHOTO: A general view of the Stormont Parliament Buildings on the day Britain is expected to publish a bill to unilaterally scrap some of the rules governing post-Brexit trade with Northern Ireland, as its dispute with the European Union over the protocol has not yet been resolved, in Belfast, Northern Ireland June 13, 2022. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne

BELFAST (Reuters) -Northern Ireland's biggest public sector strike in a generation shut schools, halted transport services and left icy roads ungritted in sub-zero temperatures on Thursday, with people warned to only travel or seek medical help in an emergency.

Unions representing around 170,000 of the region's 225,000 public sector workers called the 24-hour strike after failing to receive pay increases despite multi-decade high inflation, following the collapse of the region's power-sharing government in early 2022.