Yesterday’s recall petition at Stormont included a Sinn Féin motion on public sector pay settlements, which “emphasises the pressing need to urgently reinstate the Executive to tackle the unprecedented challenges confronting citizens and our public services, particularly the immediate matter of public sector pay”.
No matter what the outcome of that debate, nothing was going to avert today’s strike by tens of thousands of public sector workers. They include teachers, nurses, civil servants and transportation workers who have not seen even so much as a cost-of-living increase in their salaries for a number of years.
Last week Rishi Sunak said that the public sector pay dispute could be resolved rapidly if the Executive was restored and that was the very strong message given to politicians by union members who picketed Hillsborough Castle during Monday’s meetings. Most people here agree this is what needs to happen, even though Chris Heaton-Harris could have addressed the public sector pay issue with the stroke of a pen at any stage.
I have only ever been a member of one union and I no longer am as I work in a different field now, but I have never knowingly crossed a picket line. I respect the rights of workers to fair treatment and collective bargaining. I simply cannot understand why it is sometimes the case that people judge the legitimacy of strike action based upon the potential impact such a strike would have on them, whether in terms of economic impact or inconvenience.
Public perception is also shaped by the media coverage and framing of issues at the root of the strike and this was apparent last week when the BBC news bulletins led with the potential impact of the strikes on children with special needs.
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Yes, it is awful that the most vulnerable of our children could face up to eight days of missed education and that this has the potential to impact on their wider families in ways that are disproportionate compared to other families. The solution, however, is not for the Education Authority to appeal to Unite the Union to make an exemption for staff in special schools to allow them come to work. The solution is for parents and the Education Authority to stand with the staff, whose services they rely upon, in demanding fair pay. It is not fair or just to round on the staff or their unions for taking the option of last resort.
A short-sighted position on the strikes fails to recognise that if we don’t pay public sector workers a living wage, then many of them will just leave. If you can earn more money as a supermarket shelf-stacker than as a classroom assistant in a special needs school then why would you stay? Why wouldn’t you opt for an easier life where you don’t have to run the risk of being assaulted by a child in your care, or have to constantly stretch educational resources to meet that child’s needs?
Why would young teachers stay in schools where they are underpaid in comparison to their colleagues in England, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland, when dozens of their university classmates leave Ireland each year for well-paid jobs in Dubai, Canada and Australia?
If we don’t pay public sector workers a living wage, then many of them will just leave
Why would a nurse stay in a hospital where resources are so stretched that they spend more time doing paperwork than caring for patients and where they can make more money as an agency worker than as a member of staff?
Vocation and commitment to a job only last so long when faced with a choice between heating and eating or being put in a position where two working parents are having to rely on a food bank in order to feed their children.
If you’re striking today for better pay and conditions, you have my solidarity. If you’re not, then pause for a moment before you round on those who are and reflect on what your public services would look like if even 10% of those striking workers moved on to other jobs.
A few days of inconvenience now is not that difficult to bear when faced with the alternative.