Motion no: 6
Congress endorses the anti-austerity campaign waged by NIC-ICTU and our affiliates and commits the full support of Congress across the entire island of Ireland. In the deeply divided and unequal society that is Northern Ireland the stance taken by Congress to protect the welfare state, public services, the NHS and publicly owned assets from attack by both the UK government and the NI Executive underscores our long held belief that sustainable peace can only be achieved through tangible commitment to equality and human rights. The welfare system and strong public services framework in Northern Ireland make a highly significant contribution to creating a rights based, just and equal society. The attack on them has demonstrably deepened poverty and inequality, further fragmented social cohesion and intensified division between working people. Hardest hit are the groups and areas of greatest need Consequently Congress reaffirms its commitment to bring pressure to bear to reverse the structural adjustment imposed by the Stormont House Agreement and to lift the veto on equality and human rights contained within it. Our commitment was most recently and strongly expressed by industrial action and public protest on 13th March 2015. Congress pledges to continue to exert pressure on the Irish government and the UK government as cosignatories of the Good Friday Agreement to honour all commitments contained within it and to reverse any actions to which they are party which run counter to the GFA. Congress further recognises that the deepening of our relationships with the other trade union Congresses in England, Scotland and Wales, through the TU Council of the Isles, can play a positive role in leveraging the respective governments away from austerity and into rights based societies rooted in social justice with the full democratic participation of the people.
