Unite protests against cuts outside DUP and Sinn Féin offices

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/nov/28/unite-protests-cuts-dup-sinn-fein-offices

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Ireland’s largest trade union, Unite, has organised unprecedented protests outside the offices of Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist party on Saturday.

The demonstrations at the door of the Sinn Fein and DUP offices in Belfast, alongside regional offices in Newry and Ballymoney, were held in protest against the two parties’ decision to accept welfare reforms imposed by London in order to save power sharing from collapse.

Unite is also demonstrating against the DUP and Sinn Fein’s backing for a lower corporation tax regime in Northern Ireland, which the union claims will be paid for with hundreds of millions of pounds of cuts to local public services.

Fifty union activists staged a protest outside the Sinn Fein office on Belfast’s Falls Road, while another 50 took part in a parallel demonstration at the DUP’s constituency advice centre across the peace line on the loyalist Shankill Road. Two smaller groups staged the Newry and Ballymoney protests.

Another protest by Unite Community has also been organised for Derry’s Guildhall this afternoon to synchronise with the other demonstrations.

The sight of a major trade union, which organises on both sides of the Irish border, protesting at the two big parties’ main offices is particularly embarrassing for Sinn Fein. In the Irish Republic, Sinn Fein has been winning votes on an anti-austerity programme and hopes to gain power in a coalition after the general election, which is expected in late February/early March.

But far-left parties such as People Before Profit have accused Sinn Fein of double standards by allowing Tory-inspired cuts to public services in Northern Ireland while opposing austerity in the republic.

Albert Hewitt, the Unite Community organiser in Northern Ireland, said the deal to save the Stormont government will result in “devastating” cuts to social welfare as the price David Cameron and George Osborne extracted for allowing the power-sharing executive led by Sinn Fein and the DUP to set a low 12.5% corporation tax.

Speaking ahead of the four demonstrations, Hewitt said: “Perhaps of greatest concern is the deal’s proposal to reduce corporation tax to 12.5% in an unwinnable race to the bottom on global tax-haven status. No one knows just how much this will cost but we can be certain that this will mean hundreds of millions of pounds of further cuts to public expenditure budgets at a time when we cannot afford them.

“Our communities deserve better. These protests send a clear signal that Unite in the community will be at the forefront of the campaigning against austerity in Northern Ireland.”

Dr Erik Cownie, the west Belfast chairman of Unite Community, said: “Working class people are fed up with cuts and they are fed up with the politics of just orange and green. This is unprecedented and is a nascent movement.”

Unite Community is affiliated to the Unite union and is an alliance of community organisations, students and pensioners’ rights groups across Northern Ireland.