Northern Ireland says NO to Austerity

#M13 Over 50,000 public service workers, including UNISON members, across Northern Ireland took 24 hour all out strike action against austerity cuts yesterday. Education, health, transport and council services were brought to a halt in response to the cross-party Stormont House agreement which will cut 20,000 public sector jobs over the next 4 years. A well supported march and lunchtime rally was held in Belfast and 10 other towns.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-31858483

UNISON to the fore in Belfast G8 protests

Yesterday’s protest in Belfast ahead of next week's G8 summit included a large contingent of UNISON members. The Belfast rally was chaired by UNISON’s Pamela Dooley, Chair of the Northern Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions said ‘there is an obligation on the trade union movement and civil society to stand together to demand a different and better way. We know that we are facing the consequences of a corrupt capitalist system bereft of moral standards. It is a system which puts profit before people and always will. It is a system for the few and not for the many.’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-22909025

A sea of purple across the land

Hundreds of thousands hit the streets of London, Glasgow and Belfast yesterday to fight back against austerity. Marching for 'A Future That Works' and a 'Better Fairer Way'. In London the front of the rally was at Hyde Park before the end had left the Victora Embankment. The same in Glasgow where people were still in George Square when the GMB pipe band at the front was entering Glasgow Green.
..The Mirror follows the London March in words and pictures at http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/a-future-that-works-live-blog-from-tuc-1388672   The UNISON story is at http://www.unison.org.uk/20102012/  and http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/oct20/