The Socialist: Industrial Bulletin

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Cost of living soars while wages stagnate…

Organise for a real living wage “Power NI becomes latest energy provider to announce major price hike” “Firmus energy 33.57% gas price hike” “Budget Energy and SSE Airtricity announce further increases to electricity prices” These headlines however are only telling us what our bank accounts already show. Inflation in the UK is now forecasted to hit 8% by April. This isn’t just a blip, the Northern Ireland Utility regulator warned that the high gas prices are likely to remain for at least 3 years.

Meanwhile the real term basic rate of out-ofwork benefits is at its lowest for 30 years after adjusting for inflation. A perfect storm of inflation, higher energy bills, increase in National insurance and planned tax rises could lead to the sharpest fall in UK living standards since 1956. With 43% of households in receipt of universal credit described as food insecure. For the more than one million people in the UK facing destitution, it’s often neither eat nor heat.

A worldwide squeeze on energy supplies has pushed the price of gas up to unprecedented levels. the Russian government has been playing politics with the gas supply to Europe, reducing supply by 25% over the past

year, therefore not filling up Europe’s storage capacity to deal with the winter surge in demand. The invasion of Ukraine will further destabilise the market. The market volatility highlights a structural weakness in overreliance on imported gas. This ‘market’ is inherent to capitalism, the idea that everything is a commodity that can be used to generate massive profits for multinational corporations and their shareholders.

The real beneficiaries of the deregulated energy markets have been a few large oligopoly private corporations. These large corporations dominate a captive market, supplying totally uniform goods. Electricity bills have gone up by a third and gas by a half in real terms since the mid-1990s, European gas transmission operators and their parent companies made €4 billion in profits in the first six months of 2021. British Gas profits increased by 44% to 118 million and SSE forecasts profits of nearly £1bn.

Maximising profits also means underinvestment in infrastructure such as storage facilities and low carbon technologies to meet future needs. The Rough storage facility in the North Sea, owned by British Gas owner Centrica, provided 70% of the UK gas storage capacity shut in 2017.

The entire energy industry should be renationalised and the profit motive removed

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from our essential services. Massive investment is needed in renewable energy and energy efficiency such as insulation in our homes. We need democratic control over our energy systems to end energy poverty and end the climate crisis.

The trade union movement must build a united response to the cost of living crisis.

The various strikes organised for this week show workers will be forced to take action for real pay rises. The brutal threatment of P&O ferries workers shows how ruthless employers can be in this context. We must adopt the approach that an injury to one is an injury to all

The Socialist Party says: -Solidarity with P&O workers. Nationalise companies which threaten job losses -Fight for real pay rises: For a serious campaigns to win action on pay -Build solidarity and co-ordinated action of al workers currently engaged in industrial action -The trade union movement should build mass protests on cost of living crisis and in defence of public service like our NHS

@Socialistpartyni TheSocialistPartyNI

Young trade union activists to contest Assembly Elections

Fighting for an anti-sectarian, socialist alternative Young trade union activists, Amy Ferguson and Neil Moore are to contest the upcoming Assembly elections for the Socialist Party, in West Tyrone and South Belfast.

Neil is a climate activist, anti-war campaigner and socialist feminist who has organised to oppose gender violence and sexual harrasment in workplaces.

Neil Moore (28) played a key role in unionising hospitality workers and now works as a trade union officer, representing workers across various sectors of the economy. Amy Ferguson (24) works as a barista and is the secretary of Unite's Northern Ireland Hospitality branch, representing workers in cafes, bars and restaurants. She is a member of Omagh Trade Union Council.

Speaking on his selection as Socialist Party candidate for South Belfast, he said:

Speaking on her selection, Amy said: “Now is the time for workers and young people to get organised - to fight for an end to poverty; for health services that meet need; for urgent action to stop climate catastrophe; to challenge gender violence and sexism in all its forms; to stop war; and to take society’s wealth and resources out of the hands of the billionaires. I’m not just asking people to vote for me on 5th May. I’m asking them to get involved in the fightback.”

“We need to challenge the ‘Orange versus Green’ carve-up. Unfortunately, the two sitting MLAs from outside these blocs have abysmal records when it comes to standing up for working-class people. In just the past few weeks, the Alliance MLA voted against strengthening workers’ right to organise, while the Green MLA didn't bother to even vote by proxy. They also favour measures that would add to the cost of living crisis, including the introduction of water charges.

I’m standing in this election to provide an anti-sectarian, socialist alternative in South Belfast that is about uniting Protestant, Catholic and other workers to fight for our common interests.”

Fast food couriers strike against low pay against low-pay, long hours and bogus self employment.

Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats workers organised in the App Drivers and Couriers Union have initated strike action in Belfast

In the midst of a cost of living crisis which is weighing heavily on workers in all industries, low-paid gig economy workers are increasingly unable to make ends meet. The ADCU says workers for these apps can earn as little as £100 for a 12 hour shift with fuel and vehicle maintenance to come out of that. On top of that, they don't get holiday pay or sick leave as they are classed as "self employed independent contractors". The

workers are demanding a minimum income guarantee of at least £10 per hour plus operating costs.

The Socialist Party sends our full solidarity to these workers and encourages everyone to get down and show their support. The action comes as workers across many industries in Belfast are taking strike action, as prices rise and wages fall in real terms. These workers are showing the way forward for all working class people - we need to get organised and fight back!

Public meeting:

Cost of living crisis, War, Gender violence: Building a socialist alternative to this broken system 7pm, Wednesday 6th April Clayton Hotel, Ormeau Avenue Speakers to be confirmed -Mick Barry, Socialist TD (to be confirmed) -Neil Moore, Socialist Party’s South Belfast representative -Activist from ROSA-the Socialist Feminist movement and Trade union activist

Ferry workers sacked: Organise to save jobs In the midst of an extreme cost of living crisis, 800 workers have just been informed by P&O that they are sacked.

This is nothing but an attack on terms and conditions of workers and a move driven by profiteering as the company is set to replace this workforce with agency staff.

The company made this announcement on a public holiday here, probably hoping to cut across resistance and opposition. There are reports that private security staff equipped with balaclavas, tasers and handcuffs boarded vessels in Larne Harbour as the news was given to staff - a clear tactic of intimidation and threat that must be called out and resisted by the wider workers' movement.

These workers are skilled and essential workers providing transport services for people and goods. These services should be publicly run to ensure they are designed to meet the needs of society rather than lining the pockets of shareholders. This plan for replacement of workers with agency staff is a warning to all of us as bosses adopt more extreme measures to defend profits. All trade unionists and workers need to support the P&O workers in the fight to save their jobs and to send a warning to all employers considering similar

union busting tactics.

This move must be fought by the 800 workers and their unions, their colleagues in ports and the wider union movement.

The RMT have already called on their members to remain on board of vessels. The workers should continue to occupy the ships and refuse to allow P&O to operate until this scandalous decision is reversed. The company should be forced to open their full financial books to inspection by workers' representatives.

The pressure must also be built on politicians to ensure all aspects of the transport network and especially essential routes are not left in private hands as this will always mean decisions are dictated by a drive to increase profits. Instead they should be nationalised and run democratically - this would ensure they are run to meet needs!

Local government workers stage strike co-ordinate the action!

Local government workers across the north are staging industrial action in March after rejecting a petty 1.75% increase. This means in real terms this is a pay cut, a familiar situation for most workers, especially since the pandemic. Unite, the union organsing the strike action is seeking locally-agreed improvements through raising pay grades, reduced working hours, more paid holidays and other benefits.

Co-ordinate the action to win Unfortunately, Unite members are standing alone in this struggle.

The GMB have recommended an acceptance of the 1.75% ballot and the Unison ballot was unsuccessful. The Unions combined must, alongside building the strike action, seek to launch a campaign to address members' fears and concerns over industrial action, including raising the funds to pay adequate strike pay were necessary and offer a clear and combative strategy to win the dispute.

Co-ordinated action between all of the unions in local authority would be the most powerful weapon to win this dispute. A united stand across the workforce would force the employers to meet the demand for a real pay rise of 10%. Given the spiraling cost of living which looks likely to worsen, the urgency for action is accelerated.

The workers involved include care workers, youth and community workers. These are some of the key workers who kept public services running through the pandemic. The government has proven

before that initiatives like “clap for our carers” will remain an empty gesture while they continue to offer below-inflation pay offers, such as the measly 3%/1% pay offer to nurses last year.

Disputes like this will not be solved by cordial discussion with politicians or employers. The successful ballot of Unite workers shows that they recognise that strike action is necessary. A squeeze on living costs as workers are caught between soaring prices and stagnant pay is felt throughout the workforce. Workers across every sector should strategically link with each other, to build a fightback against the spiraling cost of living.

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Victory to the EWOs!

Equal Pay Now!

Who we are:

The Socialist Party sends its full solidarity and support to the Education Welfare Officers (EWOs) currently taking determined action to fight for equal pay.

EWO's employed all across the North by the Education Authority (EA) are paid on average £5,000 less per year than their counterparts employed by the Health and Social Care Trusts. It is very unfortunate that after an extended period of negotiation the actions taken by management have meant that the workers were given no alternative than to take strike action during the most significant cost of living crisis in a generation– just to obtain pay parity.

The EWO's should be commended for their determined campaign of escalating action initially taking two half strikes at the start of February, conducting a protest at Stormont then taking two full days strike action before a key meeting between EA management and NIPSA officials. Unfortunately, this meeting ultimately ended in stalemate as the EA management board rejected a set of proposals put forward by the EWO workers This led to a counter-proposal which was immediately rejected by workers, before agreeing to substantially escalate their action throughout March.

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed an almost intolerable pressure on key workers, especially in the healthcare and education sector. Chronic underfunding, short staffing and reliance on private agency staff have decimated our public services. Workers continue to be expected to shoulder unrealistic workloads.The EWO dispute as well as the ballots of teachers, health staff and other public sector workers prove the myth that public sector workers had "gold plated" terms and conditions is false. There is real potential that the sustained action taken by the EWOs, absent for a long time in the public sector, could easily win a significant victory. It's not hard to see how a significant victory could inspire other workers in the public sector. A victory for the EWOs could be an important step in cohering the anger against the current crisis in the public sector and its impact on staff.

The Socialist Party is part of International Socialist Alternative. Across Europe as well as in the US, Russia, Brazil, China and elsewhere, our members are to the fore in the struggles of the working-class to end inequality, oppression and explotation. We're organising an international movement of working-class solidarity against climate disaster, war, exploitation and oppression. We fight for a socialist future, where society's wealth and resources are publicly owned and used in a planned and democratic way to meet the needs of people and planet. Help us build this essential movement, get involved today!

Join the Socialists! Text “JOINSP”, your name and postcode to 07783225344

UCU Strikes: Resist employer bullying 50,000 staff are taking five further days of strike action over two weeks in both the USS pension dispute and the pay and working conditions dispute. On 22 February, university employers forced through pension cuts which will see 35% slashed from a typical member's guaranteed retirement income.

Employers are responding to strike notifications with aggressive and bullying punitive measures. Currently, employers at 6 universities have threatened 100% pay deductions for action short of strike, with other employers threatening partial deductions. Not only this, UCEA, the employers body, has officially advised all employers to make similar punitive deductions.

Bosses adopting these tactics can be forced back, as has been

demonstrated by Cambridge UCU members and students. In response to united staff and student anger, Cambridge University has already been forced to withdraw the threat of 100% deductions.

A response to deductions accross the union is nessecary. Recently, the union leadership has shifted from a position of attempting to challenge deductions in the courts and is now advising branches to escalate strike action locally. That is a positive step and to be welcomed – but it cannot be left to branches to do this on their own, particularly when so many branches are also calling for additional action as part of local disputes. What is needed is to prepare members and branches to build towards indefinite all-out strike action accross the union.

your name and postcode to 07783225344