NIPSA members in the NI Civil Service (NICS) are taking part in the most important strike ballot they have ever faced. The postal ballot for all out action is being held after a branch consultation showed that 74% of members were in favour of this option. In the same consultation vote 98% had rejected Peter Hain’s insult of a pay offer.

The anger in the branches is tangible. In October hundreds of low paid civil servants had to have their pay raised just to meet the new Minimum Wage. The government was the first major employer exposed under its own legislation designed to deal with those paying poverty wages!

It has also emerged that the average wage of workers in the Home Civil Service in Britain has left NICS rates far behind. The NICS have calculated it would take a 6.8% rise just to catch up with last year’s British civil service rates.

Last month Peter Hain imposed the pathetic 0.2% pay offer disregarding any commitments made after last year’s dispute and any attempt at arbitration. For thousands of NIPSA members the pay offer means a rise of less than 50p a week!

Any civil servant knows how poorly they have been treated - the only question has been what is to be our response.

The lessons learned from last year’s dispute and the use of selective action was clear - limited action didn’t work. Therefore the action this year is for an indefinite strike until we win.

Branches are now working hard to deliver the majority required and a strong turnout is important. Without doubt, many Nipsa members are wrestling with the stark question of an indefinite strike. But we have been left with no choice. We must win this dispute for this and every future pay rise.

It is vital that we don’t underestimate our own strength. We have an influence on virtually every part of society. From social security offices to planning applications to road gritting out, action will have a huge impact.

This won’t be a stay at home strike - the picket lines will be crucial. This dispute will be won with the support of the working class, the public and the trade union movement. It’ll be won on the streets and already Nipsa is planning for demonstrations to coincide with the likely start of the strike.

Other trade unions must now consider what solidarity action they can offer. For too long we have been too civil –we must do whatever it takes to win this dispute.
United and strong we have the power to win.

"It’ll be worth it when we win"

Niall Doherty is a 20 year old administrative assistant who has worked in the Civil Service for one year and 7 months. In October 2005 he received a letter to tell him that his salary was being increased to £11,030 per annum to comply with the minimum wage which, from 1 October, had been increased to £5.05 per hour. He tells his story to The Socialist.

TS: Is this your first job?
ND: Yes. I joined the Civil Service because I believed it was a well-paid job. I wanted a job in Derry, where I live, but I was told that it was Belfast or nothing.

TS: So, you travel to Belfast every day. That’s a lot of travelling.
ND: I get up at 5.30am and leave the house around 6.05am. I live about four miles outside Derry and the buses from my house don’t start that early. I have to get a taxi to the station to get the bus. I arrive into Belfast around 8.30. If I leave work at 5pm, I don’t get home until 7.45pm.

TS: You must spend a lot on fares.
ND: My taxi fare is £3.50 one way and my bus fare, on a yearly ticket, is £100 per month. My take-home pay is £150 per week so that means I spend one third of my wages on fares. After I pay bills and give £150 to my mother, I have about £150 to spend on myself - and that’s in a good month.

TS: What does this pay increase mean to you?
ND: You can’t call 1p an hour a pay rise! One taxi fare costs ten times more than my weekly increase. I would get a part-time job if I had the time, but that’s impossible when I have to travel five hours a day.

TS: Will you be voting for strike action?
ND: Too right I will and I hope everyone else does as well. We need to win more money. This pay rise is worthless and we need a strike to stop the government treating us like this. It’s going to be really tough to cope without money but it’ll be worth it when we win.

Seven socialist Party members are running in the NIPSA General Council (Executive Committee) elections taking place this month.

The seven are: Brian Booth, Carol Barnett, Paul Dale, Carmel Gates, Tanya Killen, Billy Lynn and Padraig Mulholland.

The Socialist Party members are running as part of the left Time for Change group and we are calling for a vote for all other Time for Change candidates. In the run up to the election Time for Change made an approach to the Uncivil Servant, a left group based in the Child Support Agency for agreement on a common slate. As we go to press there is still no information about their response.

CIVIL SERVICE members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) working in the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) in Britain are going on strike on 26 and 27 January.

The strike is against the DWP "modernisation", i.e. cuts, programme which has seen 15,000 jobs lost in the last year and is part of a campaign of ongoing industrial action.

With Northern Ireland’s civil servants preparing to strike over pay, it is important that full support is given to the PCS and that the two struggles are linked as much as is possible to force back Blairs’ anti-working class agenda.

Twenty-six school workers in Shimna College, Newcastle, have voted 100% in a consultative ballot for all out strike action if two colleagues are made redundant.

Caretakers, classroom assistants, administration staff and cleaners will all be involved in the dispute, effectively bringing the school to a halt.

The redundancies are just the latest indication of the financial crisis that is rocking the education system in Northern Ireland. Government policy has meant that schools no longer have the cash to maintain the service they are giving to children.

The government has peddled the lie that cuts are caused by dropping pupil numbers. The situation in Shimna reveals the truth. Pupil numbers are up but the school is still in crisis. The only reason is the government’s failure to provide sufficient cash to run the service.

A second government lie is that children will not be affected by cuts. Shimna has exposed this lie as well. The two redundancies proposed are both administration staff but the education of children will be directly affected as teaching staff will have to take time out from the classroom to carry out administration duties.

Shimna should become the focal point for all the anger that is building up against education cutbacks. It is critical that the trade union movement join with parents to come behind Shimna workers.

This is now the front line in the battle for the future of education.

Parents from Brooklands PS in Dundonald are continuing their campaign of protests against the removal of their school lollypop patrol.

The campaign has temporally forced the Board to retreat from making the cut, but they seem determined to try to force it through. The Board has tried to cut the local school crossing patrol even though road surveys have clearly shown that a patrol is still needed.