'Resist cuts that could cost 3000 jobs'

Liam Gallagher, Chairperson of Unite in the North West, said public sector workers and their families are extremely concerned for their futures in the North West with impending cuts looming across the board.

The trade union warns that a third of workers in Londonderry are directly dependent on the public sector and that the Conservative/Liberal inspired drive to further liberalise the economy and boost the private sector will inevitably result in thousands of redundancies here.

He stated: “One in every three workers here depends on Public Sector jobs and many ancillary jobs and services relay on the disposable income generated by that employment.

“These are real jobs and not - ‘might be, have the potential to be jobs’ - that we hear so much about these days.

“Derry already has the highest number of unemployed and economical inactive. The expectation is that one billion pounds will be axed from the Assembly block grant over the next three years and this will result in at least a 10 per cent reduction in Public Sector jobs in the 2011 to 2014 spending cycle.

“Working on the figures for the eligiable working population between the ages of 16 to 67 the net effect of 10 per cent cuts or more on the North West economy will be catastrophic.

“This could represent 2,500 to 3000 job loses, with at least 300 small closures. Given the hugh decline in manufacturing and construction jobs the cuts will heap more misery on an already depressed economy.”

Mr Gallagher went on to call for resistance to the cuts and said local politicians cannot credibly protest state budget cuts one day and support Ministers wielding the axe the next.

“The Unite union with other public sector unions are going to resist these cuts and will support the voluntary and community sectors in opposing this attack on the poor,” he said.

“By the autumn the exact size of the problem will become apparent. Our politicians will have to make their minds up on their positions on the implementation of the cuts and in what areas.

“They cannot wear two hats in attending protest meeting in casual clothes one day and donning their suits at Stormont to instruct their departments to carry out the cuts the next day,” he claimed.