I work in the Royal Hospitals; my job is under threat, so are thousands of others, not just in health but in education.
Jobs in the community are also being targeted. The people who visit our elderly relatives, give our children new hope instead of alcohol, drugs and suicide, are being done away with.
Our communities can’t afford to allow this to happen. If we do, then the problems we have faced in the past will be nothing compared to the future our young and old will be forced to live in.
Our communities have always been our strength and it’s our communities I ask now to stand up and be counted.
The Con/Dem British government has returned to the Thatcher era. How many of you remember her and her policies? Ask the miners.
The Stormont Assembly has been asked to introduce these cuts. Edwin Poots has visited the USA to look at their health services. That means he is considering introducing charges for healthcare.
Leading trade unionists James Connolly and Jim Larkin, heroes of days gone by, called on the people to stand up for their communities. They did and they won.
I can’t afford to go out and strike, but in the first week of October I will. I would ask all my colleagues and the general public to join me.
One other thing I’d like to add is all of us will lose a day’s pay for taking part in industrial action. I don’t mind that, it’s for our long-term future.
However, our protests normally draw a lot of political representatives from different parties. I’d like to ask those people if they want to join our protest if they’d like to donate their day’s wages to the Children’s Hospice.
Pat Neeson,
RVH Porter
