This past week saw reports that trade unions, including UNITE and UNISON, were warning of the possibility of strike action in Leisure Centres across Belfast. 

This is the continuation of a dispute which has been ongoing since 2015, when Belfast City Council privatised leisure facilities in the city and handed control of them to British company Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL).

The result has been a deterioration in the pay and conditions of those working in these leisure centres and the siphoning off of money from Ireland to Great Britain.

Unite regional officer Kieran Ellison said: 

“Belfast council’s decision to outsource leisure services to GLL has been disastrous for both users and workers. GLL has imposed a two-tier workforce which undermined leisure workers’ pay and conditions.

This echoes the warnings made by Socialist republicans, including future Lasair Dhearg members, who at the time services were first privatised warned,

“Conditions for workers are nothing short of ridiculous. Many of the staff working in these leisure centres are long time staff and have provided an invaluable service to our community for many years. Staff who have left are not being replenished adding to further strain on existing staff.”

Almost a decade later, those warnings, and others since, have proved to be correct and, not for the first time, workers in these leisure centres may be forced to strike to be given the fair pay and conditions they deserve.

As with so many public services, profit is being placed above the well-being of workers and those who need them. 

This is yet another example of the damage that capitalism has done to our people and our communities. Over many years Socialist Republicans have stood by those working in public services and we will continue to stand with them into the future in their fight for better pay and conditions.

The sooner Belfast City Council realise their mistake and brings these services back under public control the better. The £2m per year that the privatisation was designed to save has been dwarfed by, for example, the almost £38m spent on a new “digital centre of excellence” in collaboration with death merchants Thales and Spirit Aerosystems, who profit from the murder of working class people across the world.

In a future socialist republic, all of our public services will be under the full control of the people of Ireland, and run solely for their benefit. It is time for the workers of Ireland to stand up and take back control of the country from the disastrous capitalist system we have been duped into accepting.

Onwards to a Socialist Republic!

Pádraig Scott – An tOifigeach Caidrimh Phoiblí, Lasair Dhearg