As you will all be aware the next Elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly will take place on May 5th 2022. While the coverage of these elections will be extensive, precedent suggests that the media campaign will be dominated by issues that the political parties themselves choose to lead with. This is likely to mean that a range of issues, those most pertinent to our members and their families, especially during a catastrophic cost of living crisis, will be ignored or given an insufficient importance.
In terms of voting don’t forget that in multi-member constituencies the transfer of votes can be crucial. Let’s force candidates to worry that their election may depend on transfers won or lost on their attitude to our concerns. Over the next few weeks in the run up to the Assembly Elections, you can consider writing to/contacting candidates in your electoral area and raise some of these issues directly with candidates canvassing for your vote. In short this is a chance to say to them: “I’m a public sector worker…why should I vote for you?”.