Workers Solidarity Movement

WSM members & supporters in northern Ireland provided live coverage of the N30 Pension strikes  via our Twitter feed. Anarchists in Derry  put a banner up in the city centre in solidarity with today's strike and a WSM leaflet (below) was  distributed across the north.

The strike was part of the UK wide public sector strike against attacks on public sector pensions, attacks similar to those imposed on public sector workers in southern Ireland over the last couple of years.  They are part of a Europe wide offensive against the pensions rights of workers.

(Pic: Anarchist solidarity banner at Derry rally)

In Northern Ireland the main unions involved include the Northern Ireland Public Service Association (NIPSA), Unite, UNISON, the teacher's union NASUWT, the National Union of Teachers, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, the National Association of Head Teachers and the Irish National Teachers Organisation.  Those unions in italics also organise in the south.  The strike involves workers in  health, education, transport and the civil service, workers in local councils, the assembly, the PSNI, Human Rights Commission, the Equality Commission and the Labour Relations Agency a wide range of other non-departmental public bodies are also taking part.

All buses and trains services were shut by the strike including all the cross border services.  About 70% of schools and colleges were closed, and most council delivered services werenot available. BBC admitted that the strike had a massive impact on health services.  Trade union organised demonstrations are took place at lunctime in Belfast (pictured right), Derry, Newry, Downpatrick, Omagh, Ballymena, Portadown, Magherafelt and Cookstown.

WSM members & Derry anarchists were reporting via twitter, tweets included

• Mainstream media reports tens of thousands on belfast demo today. Biggest in decades. Now to organise for general strike
• Rally just finished here (Derry) , maybe 2000+ overall.. Not bad!
• Tens of thousands outside city hall. Biggest march in belfast since anti-war movement
• Crowds are swelling. Alot of support from passers an horns being beeped. Militant but carnival atmosphere
• Altnagelvin Hospital and the picket line there has est. 150 people.. Traffic and passers by are very supportive! Horns beeping!
• The historic linen hall library closed for the day mannned by 10 picketers
• In solidarity, printer has given me dicount on leaflets. 300 for a fiver. Hows that for a deal!
• Good spirit on picket line outside city hall. A bit of good banter between taxi drivers an strikers#n30
• City centre is for a change in a sea of red flags-mainly nipsa from city hall to dole office#n30
• Just driving round Derry and some of the pickets.. Streets are like a sunday morning.. Picket lines are well attended!
• Anarchists in Derry have put a banner up in the city centre in solidarity with today's strike..
• One poster reads-millionaires mugged me for my pension.
• My first picket outside central station. Everything shut. 100 on picket line. Morale strong

WSM leaflet - N30 Strike - Unite against the cuts- Solidarity is Strength
Today’s industrial action builds on the momentum from the education and healthcare strike last month and sends out the message that we mean business. Congratulations to all who have taken part and especially to those who have over the past few weeks and months built for today’s action.

Pensions & corporate tax - the reality behind the public sector pensions strike
Despite a concerted propaganda campaign waged by the mainstream media and the corrupt political class tens of thousands of public sector workers in Northern Ireland will be taking to the picket lines this Wednesday joining millions across the UK in the biggest single strike action since the 1926 general strike.

Anarchists welcome public sector strike and calls for “a mass militant campaign against all cuts and attacks on services” - press release
Anarchist organisation Workers Solidarity Movement (WSM) has welcomed Wednesday’s public sector strike and called for this to be “the start of a sustained campaign of opposition to the government’s attacks on workers and the unemployed.”

Millions to strike on Nov 30th against cuts in the north & Britain
Millions of public sector workers will be taking to the picket lines across the UK including tens of thousands in the North on the 30th November against the latest Government austerity measures that seek to force workers to work for longer for less. All the mainstream unions from NIPSA, Unison to GMB have successfully balloted their members, from teachers & council workers to bus drivers for the co-ordinated industrial action against the proposed new pension scheme. The scheme which will see people who day in, day out, care for our young, our frail, our elderly, our homes, streets and parks; the people who, after decades of service, be lucky to have £5,600 per year to live on when they retire.

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