Boycott ensures monthly Council meeting is scrapped

The monthly full meeting of Derry City & Strabane District Council was sensationally scrapped after only two minutes follow a boycott by a huge majority of Councillors.

Mayor Graham Warke decided to adjourn the meeting after less than 10 Councillors showed up.

The rules state that a quorum of at least 10 members must be present for a full Council meeting to proceed but as that figure was not reached, the Mayor decided to bring a very early halt to proceedings.

Councillors who did not show up made the decision to do so in support of council workers in the city of Derry who are currently out on strike this week.

They felt that attending today's monthly meeting – either in person or online – would be akin to crossing the picket line which they felt would betray the striking workers.

A re-arranged full meeting of the Council will now take place on Monday, May 9.

Some Councillors had made it clear in advance of today's meeting that they would not be attending and that by doing so, they would be showing solidarity with the striking workers.

Cllr Shaun Harkin of People Before Profit, who represents the Foyleside ward, had said: “Everybody is aware that council workers, Education Authority bus drivers, Housing Executive workers and others will be taking more or less two weeks of continuous strike action starting on Monday. This is going to be very, very disruptive for council services in particular.

“I’ve spoken to a lot of council workers and union representatives and they are very aware of how disruptive the strike is going to be and they would prefer not to be in a position where they feel forced into taking strike action but it is a last resort.

“We are in a cost of living crisis and it’s clear that council workers and many others are rightly aggrieved that they can’t get a decent pay raise to try and meet the spike in costs everybody is facing.

“There are a number of things we as a council should be doing. I know some people will be frustrated but we shouldn’t allow workers who have kept vital services going through the pandemic to be demonised now that they are taking action for a pay increase.

“As councillors we should be actively challenging anyone, whether they are radio personalities or anyone else that is attempting to demonise workers for standing up for themselves.

“The second thing I think we as a council should do is we should reiterate our corporate position which is that we have given our support to the demands of the trade unions for an above inflation ten per cent pay increase.

“That was a motion we passed in relation to this particular set of negotiations. That was done over a year ago and I see no reason to change that. I think it is more important right now that we stand behind that.

“As far as People Before Profit is concerned we will be joining the workers on the picket line as we did during the last strike and as others did as well and we won’t be participating in any council meetings which is unfortunate but we believe that this is an important way to show solidarity with workers and we encourage other councillors to do the same which means there won’t be a full council meeting.

“It seems to me that this will be the last meeting we will be participating in for a couple of weeks and we encourage others not to cross over the picket line even virtually.”

Independent Councillor, Gary Donnelly – who represents The Moor ward – also added his support for the striking council workers.

He added: “We have an absolutely great opportunity to put pressure on behalf of striking council workers by refusing to cross the picket line either physically or virtually. If all councillors and elected representatives stick to that then it should be a great boost for those who are striking.”

Former mayor and current SDLP representative for Ballyarnett, Brian Tierney, backed up Cllrs Harkin and Donnelly by stating: “You can’t stand in solidarity and then cross the picket line virtually and physically.”