pamela dooley vice chairperson ictu ni committee and unison
TRANSCRIPT
Pamela Dooley Vice Chairperson ICTU NI Committee and UNISON
•Equality and Rights under greatest threat at time of recession
•Commitments in Good Friday Agreement largely ignored by politicians
•Draft budget constitutes a real threat to the socio economic rights of the people
Women
Children
Everyone living in poverty
The low paid
Pensioners
Working class people in general
Restricted access to community care Closures of beds Hospital beds will get blocked Waiting lists will extend, both for hospital and community
services Reduction in grants to the voluntary sector No new patients on high cost drugs Jobs will be lost – c.4,000 A moratorium in employment Cash control on necessary agency and locum spend
leading to unplanned closure New buildings currently in construction left unopened Co payments and Greater contributions from service users.
Over 4 years £300m funding gap Capital 30% shortfall
ISSUES NOT ADDRESSED
Attainment Outcomes
Existing Inequalities
Real need
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Promise of some growth in Free Meals, Early Years
BUT
School meals budget cut by 6%
School Budget Cut (2014-2015 - 15%)
LMS issue
Home to School Transport cut
Capacity Building (4.8m) cut
Job loss
DEPARTMENT OF CULTURE ARTS AND LEISURE
Library Closures (x10)
15-20% reduction opening hours (redundancies)
Recruitment freeze
Book Stock (0.29!)
Department of Employment
Student loans
Education Maintenance Allowance
Universities and Colleges
Major cuts in services and job
‘Flat Cash’
Little or no growth in public housing
Waiting list increase
Regeneration initiatives under threat
Obscene cuts to the welfare benefits system
Introduction of charging for services
Universal Benefit a threat to individual rights
Pay Freezes
Pay Cuts
Attacks on agreed conditions
‘Sweating’ the workforce
Attacking the benefits system
UK and NI governments side-stepping legal obligations on equality and human rights
Legal challenges in UK winning at operational level if not at Government level
Trades unions taking industrial action Unions and communities mobilising,
marching , lobbying and taking direct action A sustained programme of strategic action on
all front can bring about change