NIPSA Union Attacks Budget
NIPSA Union Attacks Budget
22/06/2010
NIPSA, Northern Ireland's largest public sector trade union has warned that George Osborne's budget will severely damage the Northern Ireland economy and destroy many thousands of important jobs in the public sector that the whole community in Northern Ireland relies upon.
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Brian Campfield, NIPSA General Secretary commenting on the budget stated:-
“The 25% cut in public expenditure over the life of this Parliament together with the increase in the VAT rate to 20% from January next year will reduce aggregate demand across the Northern Ireland economy and will lead to severe job losses in both the public and the private sectors. A generation of young people will be condemned to unemployment as a result of the loss of many thousands of jobs in the public sector while the prospect of securing employment in the private sector greatly diminishes.
The Government has shown its true colours, unashamedly, a tax reduction for businesses and a hike in VAT for the population generally; a measure which will have a disproportionate impact on the poorer sections of our society.”
Commenting on the decision to freeze public sector pay for those earning over £21,000 Mr Campfield said:-
“There is no justification whatsoever for this vindictive decision to single out low and medium paid public servants for what is effectively a real pay cut. The Coalition Government has promised that it is also going after public service pensions and any forced increase in contribution rates will result in a further cut in take home pay.
In Northern Ireland this will impact upon the economy as further spending power is removed from the equation. The private sector has never delivered sufficient jobs for the people of Northern Ireland so there is no reason to think that this budget will change that.
NIPSA is calling upon all trade unions and those who believe in a fairer society to mobilise to resist the cuts in public spending and the other unacceptable and unfair measures in this budget.”
ENDS
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