‘There hasn’t been full employment since partition. This must change’ says Sinn Féin anti-poverty spokesperson Martina Anderson on launch of new labour position paper

A new position paper compiled by Sinn Féin sets out a number of proposals aimed at addressing unemployment, underemployment, job insecurity and low wages.

“Derry has the highest level of joblessness. There hasn’t been full employment since partition. We want to provide people with the ability to avail of opportunities and gain meaningful employment so that the people of Derry can provide for themselves and their families,” said the party anti-poverty spokesperson.

The ‘Tackling Regional Inequalities: Breaking the Barriers to Employment and Opportunity’ policy document points out how Derry suffers some of the highest levels of multiple deprivation in income, employment and health and has a high level of working age adults, (25-64) with either low levels of qualifications or none at all.

Ms. Anderson says industrial and labour policy must be geared towards helping those most remote from the labour market get past the various barriers preventing their entry to the workplace.

“It means supporting young single mothers, the long-term unemployed, those struggling with mental health and those struggling with substance abuse and addiction. Sometimes those that are furthest away from the labour market are going to stay there and we need interventions that are going to help people rather than just all of us being aware of the difficulties people are experiencing around us,” she said.

The paper claims ‘a historic legacy of deliberate neglect of the long-term unemployed, coupled with regional inequalities has exacerbated a situation where Derry was fractured from its social and economic hinterland of Donegal.’ Government departments - including the Department for the Economy, the Department of Finance, the Department for Communities and the Central Procurement Directorate (CPD) should work in an integrated way to improve access to employment for the long-term unemployed, says the SF regional inequalities lead.

This should include a set of measures, including bespoke training, local labour clauses, amendments to maximise procurement of local services and regional job investment targets.

“We’ve had a number of failed programmes implemented by the British Government like ‘Steps to Success.’ That was an abject failure. What we need is a bespoke employability programme. We need to be able to design it to address the needs of the labour market. If we are talking about apprenticeships and training we need to train people and bring in those apprenticeships for where there is going to be employment,” she said.

Employers could use a local skills barometer to outline skills gaps and requirements and then commit to giving decent contracts, working hours and wages.

“Those who are furthest away from the labour market need soft skills for job interviews. They need mentoring. Employers aren’t equipped to deal with some of those difficulties that some people experience as they are trying to get to the labour market. We need to get employers to ‘think social’. We also need to ‘buy social’. There is £3 billion of public money spent every year on procurement. How can you use the £3 billion of public money to make sure you’re looking at - not just value for money but what is most economically advantageous? You don’t just award contracts based on value for money but you build into the contracts the social value so contractors take a number of people off the long-term unemployed or those furthest away from the labour market, supported by council, supported by mentors. We have a number of organisations in Derry who can do this.”

Ms. Anderson says it is unacceptable that only 82 civil servants in the north are under the age of 23.

“If you are looking to work in the civil service you have to got to Belfast Met to train. I want them going to Derry. I want young people in Derry to be able to access jobs in the civil service. Only 82 people in the civil service out of a body of 25,850 are below the age of 23. Some departments have nobody of that age. Most of them don’t,” she says.

Ms. Anderson has urged the Finance Minister Conor Murphy and the Permanent Secretary for the Department of Finance, Sue Gray, to establish a regional civil service hub in Derry.

“We’ve been taking to Sue Gray about regional hubs. We have to do things differently. We have to build back better. We want a regional hub. People have been working from home and it has worked extremely well under the circumstances. I want a regional hub in Derry.’

The new paper states ‘economic development and investment must look beyond partition.’

It suggests that ‘Derry/Strabane could do this through the North West Regional Development Group which should bring together Invest NI, Enterprise Ireland and the Industrial Development Authority to build business partnerships that will lead to meaningful job creation and economic growth.’

“In the NW where so many individuals live and work on different sides of the border it is ludicrous to maintain two currencies, two health systems, two education systems and two tax systems. Partition has resigned Derry and Donegal to periphery status and has stunted our huge economic potential,” said Ms. Anderson.