Workers’ Rights.
We believe that if a government is failing to provide social justice for all citizens equally, then it is failing in its first duty as a government. A healthy and prosperous society is where workers’ rights and trade unions are protected, poverty is tackled and not normalised, and where we provide a safety net for those who fall on hard times.
Northern Ireland has suffered greatly as a result of a decade of austerity imposed by the British Government and has resulted in stagnation of wages, increasing numbers of people living in in-work poverty. The SDLP has always opposed the rollback of workers’ rights and we will continue to do so.
Workers and employees need job security and should not be exploited. We are also greatly concerned about the practice of zero-hour contracts and the growing experience of precarious and variable employment. We have always supported efforts to curtail such practices.
In Northern Ireland in 2019 we had 292,000 adults and 85,000 children living in poverty. As a society we cannot allow survival by food banks, increasing levels of poverty, homelessness, debt and despair to be normalised or denied. The truth is that women, children, the disabled and low income working families, are among the hardest hit groups by Welfare Reform. Tackling this poverty and empowering our citizens has been, is now and will always be a key priority for us. Austerity isn’t a necessity, it is a political choice.
Our policies on social justice are contained both on this policy page and our Equality & Human Rights policy page.
Our Workers’ Rights Policies.
SDLP Youth is campaigning for:
the establishment of a real living wage for all employees, as recommended by the Living Wage Foundation; (subject to inflation and the cost of living).
the introduction of the living wage for all local council staff as SDLP Youth believes it would help to improve the standards of local council work and act as an incentive for other companies in the area to introduce the living wage.
the Northern Ireland Executive to bring forward proposals aimed at creating jobs that pay above the living wage.
the abolition of the unfair disparity in the minimum wage based on age groups.
an end to the age bands for minimum wages, with the same minimum wage being provided to all employees.
a ban on zero and low hours work contracts that do not offer a guaranteed number of hours per week above a certain threshold, with certain industries being exempt if fixed hours per week are unfeasible.
the repeal of the Trade Union Act 2016 and strengthening of the position of trade unions in wage and conditions negotiations through collective bargaining and the Co-ordinated Market Economics (CME) model.
enshrine the principle of equal pay for equal work, ending the gender pay gap.
for a minimum stipend to be paid to all interns and urge all members of the SDLP Assembly/Parliamentary Group to pay interns at least the living wage.
Our Social Security Policies.
SDLP Youth is campaigning for:
the scrapping of Universal Credit, the Bedroom Tax, the two child limit policy and to end the benefits freeze.
the end to the austerity cuts to welfare being implemented by the Conservative government.
the welfare system to be proactive in its response to unemployment; providing better education and skills training.
to create a social protection floor which would provide for universal access to essential public services free at the point of use and subsistence security.
the establishment of a grant system for those who wish to environmentally modify their homes to help to cover the initial expenses.
the alleviation of the impact of poverty as set out in the Queen’s University Belfast report into fuel poverty.
the establishment of a centre for retrofit excellence to develop and oversee a comprehensive programme for the insulation and improvement of housing in Northern Ireland to ensure a major reduction in problems caused by fuel poverty.
the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Northern Ireland Executive, the British Government and the Irish Government to do more to promote energy efficiency and reduce the levels of fuel poverty.
the Northern Ireland Assembly to work with the Irish Government in order to establish an Irish version of the Warm Home Scheme across the entire island.
