Unions to go on the offensive against cuts to jobs and services

15 Dec 2014

Cover image for WHY NI IS DIFFERENT Cover image for WHY NI IS DIFFERENT

At a special meeting of the Northern Ireland Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions held earlier today, there were calls for the trade union movement to engage with its membership and wider communities ahead of ballots for industrial action, up to and including strike action.

ICTU Assistant General Secretary, Peter Bunting said:

"Northern Ireland is facing cuts to jobs and services which this society simply cannot bear.

"The dam has burst after years of pressure from Westminster. Since 2010, £3.6 Billion has been removed from the block grant. Years of whittling away at all public services have reached down to the bone. There is now nothing else to cut without doing permanent damage to our social fabric.

"At the urging of the ICTU's affiliated trade unions and their 215,000 members, the leadership of the trade union movement is determined to make an effective and collective response to stop these cuts.

"To that end, a series of public meetings will be hosted by local Trades Councils in all of the major towns and cities across Northern Ireland from the beginning of 2015, at which trade unionists and locally-based campaigns will work together as part of a long-term strategy against all of the cuts proposed in the Draft Budget 2015/16 and the further cuts threatened for the rest of the decade by the Tories in Westminster.

"We also demand that local politicians refuse to impose these draconian measures on the people of Northern Ireland, including welfare reform.

"We commend the local political parties for standing up to David Cameron last week and speaking for their voters who have consistently opposed welfare reform and cuts to essential public services which benefit all of the people, whether they work in the private or public sectors - schools, universities and colleges, clinics and respite care, bus and train services, safer roads and workplaces, culture and tourism - none of these services is more deserving than any of the others.

"These services are all essential for the wellbeing of our people, the health of our economy, the skills of our workforce, the sustainability of our environment. We cannot allow ourselves to be trapped by false choices.

"The first false choice to reject is easy: If George Osborne thinks that we will slash welfare in order to cut Corporation Tax, the answer is simple - we don't want to do either. We need investment in order to grow, not neglect so that we may wither.

"Northern Ireland is different. The difference is the legacy of the conflict. We call this the 'Troubles Premium', six areas (poverty, investment, security, sectarianism, education and mental health) in which the usual false solutions of cuts and austerity will not work, but will make things worse and end up costing us all more."

The trade unions' response to the Draft Budget 2015/16 can be read HERE



