The largest gathering of trade unions on the island of Ireland opens in Belfast today, with more than 800 delegates representing workers in each economic sector doing every conceivable job.
The biennial delegate conference will set the policy agenda for the trade union movement for the next two years, and there are several motions on key issues for Northern Ireland, including:
Building the peace and restoring devolution;
Seeking mitigation from cuts and challenging austerity;
Defending and advancing both trade union and workers’ rights;
Seeking to improve pay for both public and private sector workers;
Brexit.
Irrespective of how people voted on the matter in Northern Ireland, we have to make sure that workers do not pay the price of Brexit, not just in Belfast and Dublin, but in London, Madrid, Warsaw and beyond. However, the reality is no matter how good a deal is negotiated, it will be inferior to the current arrangements.
And we have enough problems already.
Northern Ireland is and remains a low wage economy. Wages have consistently lagged behind the rest of the UK for more than 20 years and NI is one of the poorest regions in the UK.
More than 4,000 good manufacturing jobs have been lost in recent years, jobs of high quality which are incredibly hard to replace. Invest NI markets this place as a low cost economy where “salary costs are lower than the rest of the UK and are 30% lower than other European locations such as London, Paris and Dublin”.
This is really not something to boast about. On the contrary, this is something we must address now. We find ourselves in a vicious circle of low pay, feeding poor jobs, fed by low skills.
Clearly, this model is not working for either the society or the economy.
The trade union movement has commenced developing a multi-dimensional campaign which focuses on three key areas:
1. Low pay and the decent work agenda.
We are challenging the fact that NI doesn’t have an adequate industrial strategy that is fit for purpose. One in three workers in NI works in insecure employment.
We must now promote strategies for decent quality work.
2. Investing in public services.
The block grant has effectively decreased by 10.2% in real monetary terms since 2010. This has meant our public servants have had to do more with less, and all of our citizens have suffered the shrinkage in services.
The extra £1bn secured for public services in NI is important, but it restores the block grant to what it should be, and is a onceoff payment.
3. The 1% public sector pay cap.
Public servants have seen their pay decline in real terms by up to 10% in the last 6/7 years with this artificial straight jacket which the Tory government has imposed.
We believe the political winds are changing, that momentum and public opinion are behind us on this issue, and that we can contribute to shaping a more decent and prosperous society.