On the subject of the NI Protocol, Assistant General Secretary Owen Reidy told 600 trade union delegates (attending in person and virtually) at the ICTU Biennial Conference
Northern Ireland needs stability and decent jobs. The trade union movement has consistently called for no border on the island of Ireland or in the Irish Sea and what we need now is for all parties to listen to the trade union movement and to civic society and engage in serious negotiation with respect.
There must be no going back to the old ways where workers, now deemed essential, were paid at poverty wages for work which is often precarious and stressful. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us who the essential workers really are and it has also shown us that these workers must be paid a fair wage and given secure, decent work.
