People Before Profit Cllr Shaun Harkin said,
“Unite the Union agreed to postpone its month-long strike on the basis of receiving a better offer from Council. This will come as welcome news to people depending on Council services across Derry and District.
“People Before Profit commend all UNITE members who were forced to strike for 3 weeks to demand more than the disgraceful 1.7% wage offer imposed on them by the Tories.
“The proposed offer is not yet properly agreed by Council nor voted upon by members of Unite and NIPSA so I can’t comment on the details. However, any gains made have been won by trade unions and workers prepared to take action, stand united, defy demonisation and challenge political scaremongering.
“The extremely modest demands put forward by unions were backed up consistently in Council by People Before Profit and a number of other Councillors.
“Too many Councillors and parties engaged in union bashing, scaremongering and demonisation that they would be embarrassed to stand over publicly. Left unchecked they would have given unions no option but to take further strike action.
“The same Councillors have been the first out of the blocks claiming credit that solely belongs to workers and union representatives.
“What matters here is workers taking action to win their demands. It’s turning “impossible” into “possible”.
“We salute the determination and unity of our Council workers and trade unions. All workers need cost of living pay rises and we will continue to back up anyone taking a stand.”