People Before Profit Councillor Shaun Harkin has expressed his solidarity with a protest by P&O workers at Larne ferry port today.
Ahead of the trade union organised P&O Ferries protest at Larne port, Cllr Harkin said: “P&O Ferries bosses openly flaunt breaking the law to fire 800 workers. They brazenly tell us they’d do it again.
“There’s howls of indignation but ‘one rule for elites and another for the rest’ criminality has been facilitated by the Westminster and Stormont political establishment for decades.
“Executive parties, including Sinn Féin and the SDLP, kept criminal Thatcher-era anti-workers rights rules on the books for decades because they didn’t want to challenge the rigged set-up for elites and corporations. That’s how we’ve got here.
“Slashing taxes on big corporations was a priority for the big parties but teenagers in Derry getting paid less than a £5 an hour wasn’t a problem.
“The five Excecutive parties have spent two decades privatising public services leaving tens of thousands of workers without rights and without decent pay.
“Stormont gave its friends running private care homes handouts worth tens of millions but imposed a pay cut on health and social care workers.
“We need root and branch change. That’s why the strikes, the cost of living protests and the ballots workers are taking now are so important.
“What’s happened at P&O Ferries shows bosses will keep taking until there’s determined resistance demanding stronger workers rights, strict legislation against profiteering and public control.”
