The Leadership of the trade union movement in Northern Ireland met yesterday to discuss the growing discontent among workers in both private and public sectors at the inability of the NI Executive and the UK Government to agree a Stormont budget.
Speaking after the meeting, ICTU Assistant General Secretary Gerry Murphy said:
In January 2024, trade union members across Northern Ireland took part in the largest day of coordinated industrial action witnessed here for decades. That day marked the culmination of months of strikes and stoppages across all sectors of our economy. This action was necessary because of political stalemate, the absence of a budget and the refusal of the UK government to provide adequate funding for Northern Ireland.
Here we are, over 2 and a half years later, and we are met with the very same conditions. While the Executive has been restored, we have no Northern Ireland budget due to political stalemate. While the UK government has since acknowledged its role in underfunding Northern Ireland, it still refuses to provide us with funding equivalent to that in Scotland or Wales.
Met with the same conditions, the response of the trade union movement will be the same. In 2024, we forced the political class to face up to its responsibilities, and we will do so again. There needs to be a fair and enduring settlement to funding for public services in Northern Ireland. A fair and enduring settlement from Westminster is the only route to delivering a fair and enduring budget at Stormont.
The Northern Ireland Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions is clear that delay or inaction in bringing about this settlement will lead to an intensifying programme of industrial action.
