These cuts will have a drastic effect on all areas of the public service including health, education, housing etc. These cuts must be fought. Already there has been a recruitment freeze in many areas of the public service. This will have an immediate effect upon young people who look to the public service for a job. The special meeting of delegates must be the first step in a co-ordinated campaign by NIPSA in its defence of the public service.
But even the £365 million cut may be dwarfed by the cuts after the British general election, with both Labour and the Tories vying with each other on who can cut public expenditure the quickest and the most.
The Left-led NIPSA General Council has a proud and successful record of campaigning in defence of public services and against job cuts. Probably the biggest success for the Left was in achieving equal pay for the mainly female membership. The equal pay settlement was the biggest in the history of the union with some low paid workers getting annual pay rises off over £3,000 and lump sum payments, for some members, of up to £14,000.
Earlier this year, a decision was taken by some activists to set up a new Broad Left within the union. This decision was based on the need to give clear and decisive direction to those in the union who support the need to fight on behalf of the members and to lead the fight for jobs, decent pay and properly funded public services.
The fundamental task is to build the Broad Left to ensure that NIPSA becomes a fighting democratic union, with no return to the days of “pushover” trade unionism. It is vital that Broad Left members campaign to defend our members jobs, pay and the future of the services we provide.
It is with deep sorrow that we announce that Peter Hadden died at his home in Belfast yesterday (May 5th) after a courageous battle against cancer. Peter played an enormous role in the workers' movement in Ireland and internationally, and will be remembered with great fondness and admiration by the thousands of workers he struggled alongside.
A savage attack has been launched on working class people in Northern Ireland. The Comprehensive Spending Review announced by the Tory-Lib Dem Coalition government on October 20th represents around a 6.9% cut in public spending in the North over the next four years.This amounts to some £4 billion in revenue spending, and a 40% reduction in capital spending (on roads, hospitals and other public projects).
A huge protest brought Belfast city centre to a standstill as over two thousand young people, mainly school students, showed their opposition to £9,000 a year tuition fees for nearly 4 hours.
Donal O’Cofaigh works as an advisor to community groups across Fermanagh. Donal made headlines in 2009 when he resigned his seat on Fermanagh District Council and from Sinn Fein out of disgust with the right-wing policies being carried out by the Sinn Fein together with the other parties in the Executive. Donal has proven to be a principled fighter for ordinary people by resigning his seat and a potential career to instead help build a socialist alternative for ordinary people.