Author: neilmoore

[caption id="attachment_755" align="alignright" width="300"]  Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images[/caption] The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scandal - which has prompted Martin McGuinness's resignation as Deputy First Minister and looks set to trigger a fresh Assembly election - sums up everything which is wrong with Stormont: corruption, cronyism and sectarian sabre-rattling. While the DUP and Sinn Féin are slashing jobs, benefits and public services, hundreds of millions stand to go up in smoke through the ‘cash for ash’ scheme, overwhelmingly benefitting wealthy bosses. The DUP’s cosy relationship with property developers and business-owners has been exposed by a series of scandals, from Red Sky to NAMA. But Sinn Féin and all the other main parties buy into the neo-liberal ideology that society must be run for profit. They all support cutting corporation tax,…

Labour Alternative representative Conor Sheridan has hit out at East Antrim MP Sammy Wilson's comments about HIV in response to a constituent's request that he back World AIDS Day. Conor said: "Sammy Wilson has implied that people suffering from HIV are somehow less worthy of sympathy and treatment because they likely contracted it as a result of 'lifestyle choices'. This cold attitude mirrors the Victorian concept of the deserving and undeserving poor. Many of the diseases which cause the most deaths in Northern Ireland can be linked to lifestyle factors such as poor diet, smoking and alcohol consumption. I hope Mr Wilson would not dismiss the sufferers of these illnesses in the same haughty way."   "On a global scale, HIV affects millions of people. While the numbers in Northern…

On 30th November, teachers in the NASUWT trade union will take strike action in Belfast and Newtownabbey - the first in a series of regional strikes - in response to the insulting decision of the Minister of Education to withhold the money allocated in the block grant for last year’s pay award. Teachers have lost thousands of pounds as a result of year-on-year real pay cuts since 2011. Labour Alternative stands in solidarity with the teachers taking strike action. We call on parents, students, other education workers and everyone who stands for decent education to show their support for this strike. We also call for the other teaching unions to join future strike action as part of serious campaign for pay restoration. The story of pay cuts and pay freezes…

Caterpillar projects worldwide profit of almost £1.7 billion this year, received £3 million in NI public funds last year NI Executive must introduce legislation which "restricts profitable firms’ ability to simply throw workers on the scrapheap" "Executive have taken £700 million loan to fund redundancies in the public sector. Why can't they find money to save jobs for a change?" "The Stormont politicians' economic strategy of combining austerity for ordinary people with handouts for big business has failed utterly" Labour Alternative has reacted to the news that Caterpillar is to cut 250 jobs over the next two years, with the likely closure of its Monkstown plant, by calling for the Assembly Executive to take the factory into public ownership and introduce legislation to discourage profitable firms from making large-scale redundancies.…

The Hands Off Our Libraries campaign is celebrating victory today after Minister for Communities Paul Givan announced that extra funds have been found to prevent cuts to opening hours at fourteen branches. The campaign organised a day of action on Saturday 25th June, supported by Unite the Union, which saw protests and campaigning at all the libraries under threat. The campaign also picketed Minister Givan's constituency office in Lisburn and delivered thousands of petitions against the cuts to the Department of Communities. Campaign spokesperson Sean Burns said: "This is a significant U-turn on the part of the Minister, under pressure from community activism. We have halted the 'death by a thousand cuts' to which our libraries have been subjected by successive administrations, both at Stormont and Westminster. We can't be…

Corbyn's opponents branded "Red Tories" and "Blairite wreckers" who "fear he will win" next general election Cross-community left-wing party Labour Alternative has thrown its support behind Jeremy Corbyn's campaign to remain leader of the British Labour Party. South Belfast spokesperson Sean Burns said: "Labour Alternative sends its support and solidarity to Jeremy Corbyn and those fighting to defend his leadership of the British Labour Party. The Blairites who are attempting to unseat him are Red Tories who represent the interests of big business and the 1%. They want a return to the discredited politics of austerity, privatisation and war."   "Corbyn’s opponents have shown an arrogant disregard for the mandate he received from over a quarter of a million members and supporters of the Labour Party less than a year…

A protest was called by the Hands Off Our Libraries Campaign outside the constituency office of Minister for Communities Paul Givan in Lisburn. Lisburn library and thirteen other branches across Northern Ireland are threatened with having their opening hours reduced. Minister Givan has responsibility for the library service. Organiser Peter Dynes said: "This is only the latest round of cuts to our libraries as a result of Stormont austerity. These community hubs provide vital resources, especially for some of the poorest and most vulnerable in our society. If we don't resist this attack, more will come down the line. Our libraries will be run down to the point that they are no longer viable. We must defend public, free access to knowledge and culture." "The politicians tell us there is…

Labour Alternative representative Courtney Robinson has responded to the Chilcot report: "The Chilcot report is a damning indictment of Tony Blair and those around him who pushed for war in Iraq in 2003. They did so based on the blatant lie that Saddam Hussein - an erstwhile ally of the West - had weapons of mass destruction. This was a fabrication aimed at justifying a war for oil and control of the region." "The invasion and occupation left a million dead and many more displaced and seriously injured. Rather than undermine Islamic fundamentalism, the devastation wrought on the country and the corrupt, sectarian government propped up by the West created the conditions in which groups like Al-Qa'eda and later Islamic State could grow. The people of the region continue to…