SEPARATE motions in support of the "triple lock" pensions guarantee, and for a substantial pay increase for NHS staff were passed during September's meeting of Belfast City Council.
Councillors returned from the summer recess in conciliatory form as they agreed both motions without dissent.
With committee decisions being taken by the Council's Chief Executive under delegated authority, August's committee minutes were agreed in near record time and without a cross word uttered.
Ulster Unionist Councillor Sonia Copeland brought forward a motion to oppose British government plans to end the triple lock guarantee, which was introduced in 2010 to make UK state pensions inflation-proof.
People Before Profit Councillor Matt Collins proposed a motion that called for a "substantial pay uplift" for health workers.
Up first was Councillor Copeland's motion which commits the council to write to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, to urge him to ensure the "real time, real value of the state tension".
"This complicated issue can be reduced to a single question: will the Chancellor honour the obligations placed on him by the triple lock guarantee regarding state pensions?" Cllr Copeland said.
SDLP Councillor Brian Heading added an amendment opposing Tory plans to remove the £20 Universal Credit uplift in October.
Cllr Brian Heading
He said the move would take "the food out of people's mouths", branding it "one of the cruelest things a government can do".
The motion, as amended by Cllr Heading, was accepted unanimously.
Councillor Collins then moved that the Council note "with concern the three per cent pay offer set to be made to health workers," which he said, "falls far short of satisfying trade union demands for a substantial pay uplift in this period."
Cllr Matt Collins
The motion also expressed concern at "understaffing" in the health service and called on the Council to write to the Health Minister, Robin Swann, and the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister to implore them not to implement the three per cent pay offer.
"We think that in order to retain a vibrant and world class health service, we have to reward staff with decent wages," he added.
"The pandemic has shown very clearly to us all how vital our health service is, yet many of our NHS staff who are still on the front line suffer poverty wages."
Speaking in favour of the motion, Sinn Féin Councillor Ronan McLaughlin said: "The healthcare workers and the health service are the backbone of any society and I think everyone has seen over the past year the dedication to the fundamental ideology of the NHS, which is free at the point of entry."
Cllr McLaughlin said it was "incumbent" on the devolved assemblies in the North, Scotland and Wales to seek an improved pay offer for health workers.
Cllr Ronan McLaughlin
The West Belfast rep added an amendment to call on the Health Minister, alongside the First and Deputy First Minister, "to lobby the British government to award a substantial offer."
With the Sinn Féin amendment accepted by People Before Profit, the motion passed with no objections.
Four other motions were referred to committee without debate. These included a Green Party motion – referred to the Strategic Policy & Resources Committee – that seeks to "strengthen protections for people, place and planet."
A Sinn Féin motion calling for the introduction of an application process for bonfires on Council land was also referred to committee without discussion.
The party also brought forward a motion asking the Council to work with trade unions to implement a four-day working week trial for Council workers.
