{"id":3238,"date":"2015-03-09T14:24:45","date_gmt":"2015-03-09T14:24:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=3238"},"modified":"2015-03-09T14:24:45","modified_gmt":"2015-03-09T14:24:45","slug":"austerity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=3238","title":{"rendered":"No to austerity"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Northern Ireland, where public sector spending represents almost three-quarters of the region\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s GDP, faces the worst cuts in 80 years.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe 2015-2016 budget, which follows four straight years of austerity, entails slashing \u00c2\u01411.3bn in funding in the next four years<\/a> \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a budget which public sector workers have unequivocally rejected.<\/p>\n

 
\nUnite members working for Translink, Education and Library Boards, Road Service, NI Fire and Rescue Service and the Housing Executive will join thousands of other NI public sector workers<\/a> in strike action against these cuts on Friday, March 13.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe results of each ballot for strike action showed overwhelming support for the strike \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Education and Library Boards members voted more than 80 per cent in favour and NI Fire and Rescue Service as well the Industrial Civil Service members voting about 75 per cent in favour each.<\/p>\n

 
\nUnite regional secretary Jimmy Kelly congratulated the union\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s members for their determination to defend public services against the Stormont Austerity budget and urged the public to demonstrate their support for public services.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWithout standing up to this, we can expect another four years of even more punishing austerity budgets,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe scale of these cuts will decimate our public health, education and transport services all of which are already pushed to breaking point.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nKelly pointed to the fact that only a few days ago Translink chief executive David Strahan, who is responsible for all bus and rail services in Northern Ireland, warned that the company would collapse if the cuts go forward<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 
\nKelly explained that the cuts will be even more devastating as the Northern Ireland Assembly parties attempt to seek tax varying powers to make the region a global tax haven<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe very lowest estimates suggest that this will force more than \u00c2\u0141325 million in even deeper cuts to public services funding,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bPublic sector workers and those dependent on public services cannot be expected to pay the price for a policy to facilitate a global tax-dodging corporate elite.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nKelly argued that the reasons for the new tax policy are fundamentally flawed.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bStudy after study has shown that large investors are attracted more by labour force skills and education, by the quality of infrastructural provision and public services than by corporate tax giveaways,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bYet these are the very things which will be devastated by the Executive\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s policy of brutal austerity cuts.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nEven the usually pro-corporate Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) questioned in a recent report<\/a> whether dramatically reducing tax rates in Northern Ireland would outweigh the unprecedented cuts to public services.<\/p>\n

 
\nKelly put forward what he called \u00e2\u20ac\u015ban alternative vision\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 to the cuts.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bInstead of policies which seek to make the most vulnerable pay for a crisis they didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t cause, Unite is calling for a growth strategy underpinned by public investment and strong public services,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe want to rebalance our economy through growth not through austerity.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nKelly said Friday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s full-day strike may be followed by further action before the general election in May.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI urge members of the public to show their support for workers striking to defend funding for hospital wards, schools, bus and rail services, roads maintenance and further and higher education,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Kelly concluded.<\/p>\n

 
\nStay tuned on UNITElive for the latest on the strike.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Northern Ireland, where public sector spending represents almost three-quarters of the region\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s GDP, faces the worst cuts in 80 years.   The 2015-2016 budget, which follows four straight years of austerity, entails slashing \u00c2\u01411.3bn in funding in the next four years \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a budget which public sector workers have unequivocally rejected.   Unite members working […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[76,132],"wps_subtitle":"Northern Ireland public sector workers respond to deep cuts with strike action","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3238"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3238"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3240,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3238\/revisions\/3240"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}