The Society of Radiographers and other health trade unions have reacted angrily to the announcement by the Department of Finance to limit pay awards to public sector workers to what "will have to be found within existing departmental budgets and prioritised against the other pressures facing essential public services."
The DoF says "it is recognised there may be flexibility in return for improvements to public sector productivity."
It is likely that the Department's announcement will mean a pay award of around 1% for health and other public sector staff, significantly less than the current rate of inflation.
"Our members will reject this insulting offer," Richard Evans, chief executive officer of the SoR, said.
"This does nothing to help the long-standing dispute that AHPs and other health staff in Northern Ireland have been battling with. It will fuel the feelings of hurt and rejection our members feel," Richard added.
The Department of Healthissued a statement saying it "welcomes the publication of the NI public sector pay policy for 2019/20."
"We also welcome the Department of Finance announcement on an independent study of public sector pay issues in N Ireland. It will cover key issues including cost of living factors and pay differentials in different parts of the UK. This is of particular interest to us in the context of the demand from health unions for pay parity (with the rest of the countries in the UK)."
The Society is continuing to consult members about balloting to take industrial action.