Sinn Féin MLA Declan Kearney has said public sector workers are entitled to and deserve fair pay now, and are paying the price for one party’s ‘inaction’ and ‘indecisiveness’.

Speaking after trade unions Unite, GMB and SIPTU announced transport staff will strike four more times next month, the party’s workers’ rights spokesperson said:

“Our transport staff, like all our public sector workers, deserve fair pay and conditions. 

“While workers and families choose whether to feed their children or heat their homes, the DUP’s refusal to respect democracy is heaping further pressure on already hard-pressed ordinary people.

“Time is being wasted, and essential financial resources to fund our public services and to pay public sector workers are being jeopardised.

“As a result of the DUP’s continuing boycott, politics is stalled indefinitely, and our public services are at a standstill. 

“In the absence of an Executive, the British government and Chris Heaton-Harris should pay workers now, and stop punishing them for one party’s failures.

“The upcoming strikes can be averted. An Assembly and Executive can be restored and we can get to work with the other parties in tackling the real issues facing people here.

“It is a scandal that the DUP is attempting to wash its hands of responsibility for these crises at a time when people from all sections of society are crying out for political leadership. They should end their reckless blockade and get back to work now.”