|
Fighting austerity: A truce with the bosses – war in the unions? It's not so long ago that the trade unions declared war on the austerity provisions of the Stormont House Agreement. “No deal!” they declared, and mobilised over 100,000 workers in a public sector strike. However the shouts of defiance had hardly died away before ICTU declared a truce - no industrial action this side of election day - no plan for after the elections. Sections of the movement have come out in opposition. NIPSA have called for further strikes and UNITE have announced - then withdrawn - threats of industrial action by bus workers opposed to privatisation plans for Translink. The debate is on narrow ground. One side believes that we should use diplomacy to urge politicians to change their minds. The other that militant action will force a change of heart and, if not, can prepare the way for a left party in Stormont The problem here is the trade union leadership’s unconditional support for the reactionary political settlement here and their refusal to face up to the clauses in the Stormont House Agreement that will ensure a future of sectarian division. A successful struggle against austerity will involve the fall of Stormont. It is time that we faced that reality and had the courage to propose a democratic, working class alternative. |