26 September 2003
Northern Ireland's public sector unions have been criticised by the acting regional development minister for the province, John Spellar, after they walked out of a meeting on water reform.
'I recognise that the unions have strongly held views on water reform, but there are also major issues of concern to their members that need to be discussed,' said Spellar.
Officials present at the meeting from the T&G union and the Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance failed to return calls to explain the walkout.
But Peter Bunting, assistant general secretary for Northern Ireland at the Irish Congress of Trades Unions who was not at the meeting, called on the government to abandon its current plans for water reform.
The ICTU is leading a campaign by unions and community groups against water charging and job losses.
Bunting said: 'ICTU opposes the attempt by the government to implement water charging.'
He added that the ICTU believed that it was wrong to cut 600 jobs when the water service needed to recruit more staff to achieve improvements.
PFsep2003
