Thousands of civil servants walkout yesterday
antrim |
miscellaneous |
news report 
Friday February 06, 2004 15:02
by NIPSA - Branch 8 member
Thousands more take action today
500 members of Branch 8 downed tools yesterday and took to the streets of Belfast to join their colleagues and comrades
At 11.30 am yesterday branch 8 members walked out and went onto the streets of Belfast. 500 strong they marched up Great Victoria street's roads in central Belfast and passed Belfast city hall in what the media called 'wildcat strikes, and the civil service management called 'illegal'.
Like the first 'unofficial wildcat actions' a few weeks prior that lead the Northern Ireland minister to state that 'Branch 8 actions are deplorable' because they had brought many hundreds on walkouts onto the streets from Belfast to Derry against low pay. Management threats this time seen similar actions by workers who showed that we are up for the fight.
As we marched through the streets on our 'illegal wildcat strikes' workers from other offices opened their widows from on high and started leaning out waving, cheering, clapping and chanting with us as we made our way on the main roads and avenues and through side streets from one side of central Belfast to the other. This as so we could meet up with other workers who had also walked out in solidarity and against the threats by civil service management.
Ryan Chair of Branch 8 interviewed in yesterdays Belfast Telegraph stated that 'workers were angry at what they viewed as threats and intimidation by management and today’s walkout is about expressing our anger'
Management in the same piece stated that 'this industrial action has begun to impact significantly on services'.
Today’s official action is taking place and as I walked around civil service departments in Belfast city centre many are simply shut or with their shutters down with pickets outside. Management have underestimated the strength of workers feelings on the issue and the bully boy tactics and threats by management, workers have and are showing will not work.
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NIPSA background details:
http://www.nipsa.org.uk/MembersCircularNo5.pdf
SP view in January Voice:
http://www.socialistparty.net/
SWP view
http://www.swp.ie/socialistworker/215/215-web.pdf
The original issue is in relation to a pay increase or in this case no pay increase. The first 'unofficial wildcat strikes' a few weeks back was where when management imposed the 'deal'.
So with that the rank and file members lead by branch 8 and with the solidarity of many hundreds of others from Belfast to Derry downed tools and walked out. Many of those would be grouped around the rank and file network of the 'uncivil servant'.
This time management have started to move against activists and members by a threat to remove their flexible working hours. So again Branch 8 members for the second time in weeks in their hundreds, now with the solidarity of and in solidarity with thousands more, again downing tools in another 'wildcat strike action'
Between that there have also been two days of 'official' strike action including today as well as work to rule and selective strike actions.
These actions while important and historic within NIPSA's history is more importantly though in the process of building both the confidence of workers in all aspects of society and secondly showing that this group of workers are up for the fight against the government agenda of poverty pay. If successful it will give inspiration to others
just a light hearted-thought:-
500 members of NIPSA Section 8 downed tools-??!!
I wonder what that was really like:-
Yesterday morning at 11h30, 500 beurocrats put the cap on their biros and placed them with an air of finality on the desk, whereupon the photocopiers were switched off (or at least into low energy mode), the microsoft button was hit on hundreds of qwerty keyboards in the heart of the Northern Ireland state, and the "suspense" mode was enacted. Without even pausing to tidy the paperclips or empty the shredder bin, they then resolutely took to the streets of Belfast.
Oh You'll never stop a wild cat.
Must have been strange this morning rebooting the PC.
Just one point though, we were not in today either. So we working class bureaucrats will have to leave the rebooting to some time next week!
Just wanted to express a hardy WELL DONE! to branch 8, it's about time that the north seen some back to basics politics!
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