Unions urge Stormont to agree fair budget or face more industrial actionIt comes after the largest walout in decades in January 2024 during a period of political collapse at Stormont.Protesters outside City Hall in Belfast during a trade union rally in support of striking workers (PA)PA ArchiveRebecca Black3 minutes ago
Trade unions have urged Stormont to agree a fair budget or face an intensifying programme of industrial action.
The warning comes as the Executive continues five months into the latest financial year without a budget agreed.
This means Stormont officials currently have legal powers to spend up to 95% of last year’s funding in their departments.
The Stormont parties have all said they need more funding from London to agree a budget. However while talks have been ongoing with the Treasury behind the scenes, no progress to secure further money appears to have been made.
During Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s first official visit to Belfast last week, he said he wants to help “move things forward” with regard to solving Stormont’s budget crisis, but remained in “listening mode”.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham met First Minister Michelle O’Neill (left) and Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly in Belfast last week (PA)PA Wire
In January 2024 the unions co-ordinated the largest walkout in decades during a period of political collapse, with 100,000 public sector workers estimated to have taken part in rallies across Northern Ireland.
The leadership of the trade union movement in the region met this week to discuss what they have termed “growing discontent among workers” in both the private and public sectors at the inability of the Stormont Executive and the UK Government to agree a budget for Northern Ireland.
Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) assistant general secretary Gerry Murphy said they previously “forced the political class to face up to its responsibilities”, and “will do so again”.
“In January 2024, trade union members across Northern Ireland took part in the largest day of coordinated industrial action witnessed here for decades,” he said.
“That day marked the culmination of months of strikes and stoppages across all sectors of our economy.
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“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.
Gerry Murphy is assistant general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU/PA)PA Archive
“Here we are, over two 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.”
He went on: “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.”
Mr Murphy said the trade unions are clear that 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,” he said.
“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.”
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