NIPSA Union Attacks UK Government Ministers
NIPSA Union Attacks UK Government Ministers
29/11/2011
NIPSA, Northern Ireland's largest public sector trade union 43,500 of whose members have been asked to strike tomorrow (30th November) has hit out at UK Government Ministers who have criticised the strike as unnecessary and the work of trade unionists itching for a fight.
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NIPSA, Northern Ireland’s largest public sector trade union, 43,500 of whose members have been asked to strike tomorrow (30th November) has hit out at UK Government Ministers who have criticised the strike as unnecessary and the work of trade unionists itching for a fight.
Brian Campfield NIPSA General Secretary, stated:-
"It is unbelievable that government ministers can continue to claim that the strike is unnecessary and premature when it was the government which launched a unilateral and unprovoked attack on public sector pensions when in April of this year, without any consultation with pensioners, trade unions or even John Hutton, the man the government appointed to review public sector pensions, it changed the inflation measure for uprating public sector pensions leading to a substantial loss in the value of all public service pensions. Yet it wants public sector workers to play by rules by which it itself is not prepared to adhere.”
Commenting on the wild statements of certain Ministers that the trade unions are itching for a fight the NIPSA General Secretary stated:
"If that were indeed the case then how would these ministers explain why the union for head teachers as well as a number of other unions have decided for the first time ever to take strike action. The truth is that these claims are nonsense. It is the trade unions which represent mainstream opinion."
It is the government which is pursuing an extremist and unrelenting attack on the public services, pensions and the welfare state which was created following the trauma of World War Two. Neither of the two coalition parties that make up the government received any mandate in the May 2010 general election to pursue such a destructive course of action with regard to public services or public service pensions.
We are witnessing government ministers who were involved in the MPs expenses scandals preaching that public sector workers and their trade unions are irresponsible. These politicians have no moral authority to preach to hard working public servants who pay their taxes and also contribute rather than feed off society.
ENDS
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