Under the Stormont House Agreement thousands of jobs and millions of pounds will be taken from the economy in both the public and private sectors with as many as 20,000 jobs going for good says GMB
GMB members employed in Translink, in Education and in the Northern Ireland Civil Service in the Road Service, the Rivers Agency, the Forestry Service and Northern Ireland Environment Agency have voted for industrial action on the 13th March over proposed cuts in the public sector in Northern Ireland. GMB members in the NHS in Northern Ireland have already taken action after an earlier vote for strike action. See notes to editors for copy of GMB press release dated 28th Jan 2015.
Alan Perry, GMB Regional Officer, said “GMB now have a mandate for members in Education, Translink, Northern Ireland Civil Service and NHS to take action on the 13th March against cuts in the public sector in the pipeline.
GMB members disagree with economic elements the Stormont House Agreement as follows:
- There is not £2 billion in new money.
- The Westminster Government is making the Assembly Executive take a pay-day loan to invest in redundancies.
- As many as 20,000 jobs could disappear forever.
- Hundreds of jobs have already been lost in the Community and Arts Sector. More will follow impacting on young people, the elderly and the most vulnerable across the community
- The savings from these redundancies could be used to pay for a tax cut for big business
- If corporation tax is lowered there will be a further reduction in the block grant and public services. There is no guarantee that a single job will be created because of this hand-out to businesses and large corporations.
- There is an absolute certainty that thousands of jobs and millions of pounds will be taken from the economy in both the public and private sectors – thousands will join the dole queues.
- Many thousands of public servants who have been made redundant as well as thousands of private sector workers who will lose their jobs as a consequence, face the prospect of fighting for minimum wage, zero hour or call centre employment or the everyday humiliations which are a growing feature of the cruel Tory “vision” of welfare.
- This is a bad financial deal fit only for a land of pound shops and food banks rather than the society members voted for at the last election.
GMB members with other union members are taking action for a decent society as there is a better and fairer way”.
