Sinn Féin MLA Declan Kearney has said the Executive must work together with employers and trade unions to deliver a new deal for workers and families. 

Speaking in the Assembly today, the Sinn Féin workers’ rights spokesperson said:

“We need a new deal for workers and families. 

“Those who suffer the indignity of wage inequality, poor working conditions, and discrimination at work; and who are pushed to the margins of society, are young people, women and disabled people.

“They are our family members, friends, and neighbours. Those who are the essential, front-line workers who give the most, and get the least in return. 

“A new deal needs negotiated for them. And that is possible. It can be done by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, local employers, and our Assembly and Executive working together.  

“Collectively we must campaign for and secure a financial settlement which allows the reversal of historic underinvestment, and the consequences of Tory austerity.

“And we also need to strategically engage with how the island economy; our north south bodies; and the North-South Ministerial Council itself, can become new drivers for economic growth and productivity, on the basis of good employment and working conditions.

“This motion seeks to unlock a new economic debate, about a different approach to industrial and employment relations.

“If we embrace that discussion as a shared opportunity, the end can take the form of a public policy framework, and programme for government, which conforms to democratic, equality and needs-based outcomes.

“And most importantly, a political and policy consensus which puts the priorities of workers and families at the heart of these political institutions.” CRÍOCH/ENDS