Alliance Party industrial spokesperson Quentin Findlay today confirmed the party’s unwavering support for the 23 October nationwide public sector strike.
“The Alliance backs the 100,000 workers protesting the decades-long failure of successive governments to deliver quality public services and fair wages,” says Mr Findlay.
“The frustration of public sector workers over pay, conditions, and resourcing is a direct consequence of the neo-liberal policies that have ravaged our communities since the 1980s.
“This strike is the inevitable result of a failure by consecutive governments to invest in public services. Instead, they have prioritised lowering taxes on the wealthy, starving our hospitals and schools of the funding they need.”
Mr Findlay slammed the Government’s attempts to blame workers for the disruption as a “cynical and hypocritical move.”
“The real disruption isn’t this one-day strike, it’s the years of chronic underfunding that have left our services at a breaking point,” Mr Findlay says.
“The real disruption is the hospital waitlist, the overcrowded classroom, and the wage that doesn’t pay the rent. This government is asking the public to be angry at nurses and teachers, rather than at the politicians who created this crisis.”
He also condemned the Public Service Commission’s recent advertising campaign as “taxpayer-funded propaganda” designed to demonise its own staff.
“Instead of spending public money on PR ads to attack workers, the Commission should be at the table with a fair offer.”
“The Alliance asserts that the underfunding of public services is a deliberate choice. This crisis comes down to a failure of tax policy.”
Mr Findlay said the Alliance is campaigning for a complete overhaul of the tax system to lift the burden from working people and tax unproductive wealth.
“A fair tax base would provide the revenue to properly fund our public health and education systems, restore public assets to public hands, and ensure all workers receive a good wage for their hard work and skills.”