Thousands of local authority workers and others who follow the terms and conditions of the "Green Book" will be on strike in Northern Ireland together with tens of thousands in Britain on the 16 and 17 July.

Unite, Unison, NIPSA, SIPTU and some UCATT members will be taking part in what could be a crucial test of our resolve to halt the relentless attacks on our public services.

We have for years put up with below inflation pay agreements while at the same time delivering £3 billion in "efficiency savings" in local government over the past few years, with more expected. If the private sector had to do this, it would completely collapse.

In Belfast City Council and other areas, a determination is building up to show employers and government that we have had enough. Quite a few council workers survive by doing second jobs or overtime - often a seven day week.

The leadership of Unite along with Unison have responded to members’ pressure by calling the two-day action.

Unfortunately the GMB, with the second biggest number of local authority workers have broken ranks and refused to back the action apparently on the grounds that their members can’t afford to strike (as if anyone can).

This nonsensical attitude is tantamount to strikebreaking. If it happens that the GMB membership does not support the strike, then it surely means the end of the national JNC negotiating body which determines the pay and conditions of hundreds of thousands. In Belfast City Council, the GMB have disgracefully circulated an unsigned notice giving out false information. The third paragraph is designed to justify scabbing and has aroused a lot of anger and confusion.

It advises members who do break the strike to “only undertake your normal work” and “not to carry out duties normally done by those on strike.”

Paragraph 2 of this “advice” advises “if your place of work is closed on the strike days you should notify your employer that you are available for work to ensure you get paid.” This pathetic nonsense is completely untrue. If you are not at work, unless you are sick or have pre-booked a holiday, you will not be paid. In spite of this, many GMB members have told us they will join the strike. Some are talking of leaving the GMB.

There is a clear need for democratic accountability in the running of the dispute which at present is largely led from the top down. Workers need to become much more heavily involved both in the running of the strike and the negotiations. There are suspicions that an offer not much more than the 2.45% rejected could be used by the senior officials to call off the action. Only the rank and file shop stewards should decide what a good enough offer is. This may not be 6%, but should be a lot more than 3%.

This could be a major conflict with those who run our local authorities and the government – whose entire economic strategy revolves around virtual wage freezes.

It is crucial that we in Northern Ireland stand firm on this. If not the government, local politicians and business leaders will see it as an indication or otherwise of the willingness of workers to hold on to what they have in the public sector. If we lose this, it could mean the end of the public sector as we know it along with thousands of jobs.

Where to next?

- Follow up 16th & 17th July strike with escalating united strike action

- Build shop stewards committees involving all unions in all workplaces to organise and co-ordinate the action

- Link the struggle of local government workers with other public sector workers

- For a 1 day public sector strike to defeat Brown’s pay freeze and defend public services

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UNISON health workers have voted to accept a three year pay deal, in effect a pay cut. The vote was no endorsement of the pay deal but a reflection of the lack of a campaign by the Unison leadership to oppose the offer or to pose the prospect of industrial action to improve it.

It is evident that it is not the membership of Unison in health who did not have the stomach for a fight for decent pay, but the leadership. At Unison’s Health conference in May the vote was split down the middle whether to accept the 8% award or to ballot for industrial action.

It was obvious from the start that the Health Executive were not prepared to fight for a decent pay deal. A message was sent out to fulltime officials to have no debate on the pay award at branch level. While Unite and GMB advocated a rejection of this disgraceful pay award, the only statement that came from the Unison regional leadership was “Unison is the only union to allow its members a voice!”

While it is fundamental that democracy comes from the voice of the members, it is equally important for the leadership to lead in times of struggle. If they refuse to do this at a time when the membership is unsure and not confident in their own strength, it sends out a message of defeat before the fight has begun.

The report by Electoral Reform Services shows that just over 16% of the total Unison membership in health decided to vote. This cannot be seen as an endorsement of the pay award but a rejection of the Unison leadership’s slavish acceptance to Gordon Brown’s demand for public sector restraint. 

The result of the ballot is a reflection that health workers are fed up and frustrated with their union leaderships’ refusal to fight for a fair pay claim. But this will not last forever. As a result of mounting pressure from below, the leadership of Unison has been forced by local government workers to move into backing industrial action in July.

Health workers in Unison should now seize the opportunity to demand their leaders re-open the pay claims and move to an immediate call for industrial action inline with local government workers.

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The National Shop Stewards Network’s second conference got off to a great start in London on 28 June with over 200 delegates and 75 visitors attending from unions throughout Britain. Chairperson Dave Chapple’s opening remarks reiterated the NSSN founding principles of independence and support to TUC affiliated trade unions, workplace committees and trades councils.

The first speaker Bob Crow (RMT) gave a rousing speech on the development of the NSSN and the need for more political debate and representation across all sections of the labour movement. He stated to rapturous applause that “the foundation of the NSSN was based on the essential need in developing closer links between stewards in all unions…. The right wing leadership of the TUC do not want us to have closer links to each other, they are frightened of this and rightly so….”

This was followed by short speeches by Onay Kasab, Unison Greenwich and one of the four stewards who is currently being witch-hunted by the Unison NEC, Karen Reissman, Unison steward and Brian Caton (POA). The conference then opened up to speakers from the floor. Most speakers gave support for the NSSN, with many speakers telling their own stories from their own experiences as shop stewards.

 The conference concluded with a summation on the way forward for the NSSN by Secretary Linda Taaffe, highlighting the need to establish NSSN in all union branches and committees.

Final words came from Janice Godrich, PCS President, who stated that “the conference was another resounding success” and pledged unconditional support from the PCS for the fledgling NSSN.

The follow up to the Conference locally must be to consider the launching of a similar shop stewards network across Northern Ireland.

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