SIPTU General Secretary John King contrasted the ‘democratic legitimacy’ of trade union strike action with the ‘mob rule’ of the fuel protests in April this year, in his address to the Union’s Public Administration and Community Division Biennial Delegate Conference in Galway today.
“I call on the Government to recognise the democratic legitimacy of the public sector strike. Over 300,000 workers and their families, with mass public support, want their voices heard through their trade union organisations. It stands in stark contrast to the mob rule, to which power was conceded in April of this year,” King said.
He added: “Despite all the challenges, we are still winning for our members right across the economy. Across health, community and the private sector, we are campaigning. The public sector strike proves a simple truth: when workers organise around a clear demand, build public support and act together, employers and government can be moved.”
King continued: “Budget 2027 is not the workers’ budget we were promised. It offers too little relief to low-paid, precarious workers, while failing to address the causes of the cost-of-living crisis. Workers can have no confidence that this budget will do anything to improve their plight on a sustainable basis.
“Workers will be expected to carry the burden when temporary subsidies expire, public services are squeezed and the tax system fails to ask enough of those with the greatest capacity to contribute.”
He concluded: “A decent future for workers will not be secured by hope alone. It will be secured by organisation, activism and power. So let us grow this Union. Let us improve the deal for working people.”