Dáire Hamilton-Toner Election Address

Dear Fellow Member

I am asking for your vote in this vital election because I believe NIPSA urgently needs real change. We all see the challenges around us: political decisions are hitting our pay, pensions and job security daily. To defend our living standards in this volatile time, we must equip NIPSA with the right tools to deliver tangible results. Sadly, under the current approach, that has not been happening.

Our union’s establishment likes to recite their decades of “experience” and the positions they’ve held. But what have they actually achieved in those positions that any other postholder wouldn’t have?

The truth is stark: in my decades as a NIPSA activist (from branch rep to President), I’ve watched extremely poor returns for members as a result of bad decisions, lack of strategy, and media soundbites. Our pension schemes have been cut and real pay has declined across the board on their watch. Think about it: the only above-inflation pay rise we saw in the public sector was driven not by NIPSA’s leadership but by nurses forcing a Stormont deal. This cannot continue.

If elected General Secretary, I will immediately put in place an ambitious co-design programme of reform at all levels of our union to ensure we negotiate effectively and win. The days of ineffective one-day strikes will be over. We will modernise the NIPSA Fighting Fund so that it is well-resourced, allowing truly targeted industrial action when we need to put pressure on employers – rather than symbolic protests that achieve little.

I firmly believe NIPSA stands at a crossroads that will define our next two decades. We need root-and-branch reform. Outdated systems and processes must be modernised, large sections of our constitution reviewed, and democratic accountability instilled top to bottom. Some establishment figures hoped to skip this contest, expecting a coronation for the status quo. That is undemocratic and I refused to step aside on principle. NIPSA members deserve a fair election with a genuine choice between two very different candidates: one continuity candidate who will carry on as things are – managing decline, failing to adapt to a changing world – and me – the members’ candidate, elected directly by and from the membership, who will put members at the heart of everything NIPSA does, at all times and at all levels.

It’s time to throw open the doors and make NIPSA a truly democratic union. Not one where we merely hold the occasional committee election, but one where members are kept up-to-date in real time about what’s going on – and actually consulted in real time, with your views given priority. That’s the union I offer to build: confident, modern, and member-led.

I appreciate your consideration and would be honoured to earn your support. Together we can transform NIPSA into the effective, transparent and member-first union you deserve. If you would like to learn more visit my website dairefornipsa.com

Thank-you.

(As printed in the Election Addresses Booklet that will arrive

with your Ballot Paper)