Cllr Martin is calling for the ICTU in Mayo to re-establish the Westport Trades Union Council which was amalgamated with Castlebar. Councillor Keith Martin of the Westport Branch of the Labour Party has also appealed to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions to revoke their decision to close the Westport Resource Centre.

Cllr Martin says the Westport Centre for the Unemployed is a vital piece of Westport’s social and economic infrastructure which must remain in place at all costs and says the centre could and should be run under the auspicious of a newly established Trades Union Council in Westport.

Cllr Martin, who serves on the Westport Town Council Enterprise Taskforce, says the centre is a vital tool for the unemployed, the marginalised and those in need of advice in the town.

According to the Labour councillor “The centre provides skills and services to those seeking employment that are unavailable elsewhere. It provides information on social welfare and work entitlements and is a link to advocacy, consumer rights, and union membership and is a great resource for employers who can advertise positions at the centre. Indeed, the centre often puts applicants in touch with employers there and then.

Westport Centre for the Unemployed was there for this town when things were bad and in a successful economy it is still a vital tool for those seeking work and for those in need of help and we must not walk away from it now.

There are no other resources like the Centre in town. We have no Citizens Advice Bureau, Money Advice and Budgeting Service, FAS, Consumer Affairs or Trade Union offices in Westport.

We have never been as well off as a society then we are now and it is ironic that it is the ICTU who are closing up this workers’ resource over funding. I am calling on the ICTU in Mayo and at nationwide level to re-examine the situation and to give the centre local management who are best able to source additional funding and decide on how best to meet the town’s needs.”

Westport Labour councillor Keith Martin has, this morning, contacted the David Begg, General Secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, to request that the closure of the Westport Centre for the Unemployed be abandoned. Cllr Martin says he was dismayed to learn of the planned closure of the Centre in the local media.

“This decision has been made without consultation with the local community, town council or labour movement. As a member of the Impact Trade Union, as a Labour Councillor and a socialist I am dismayed at this decision and by the complete lack of consultation and notice by the ICTU in reaching this decision.”

There are no other resources like the Centre in town. We have no Citizens Advice Bureau, MABS, FAS, Consumer Affairs or Trade Union offices in Westport. The role of these organisations as Information Gateways was fulfilled by the Centre.

It is my understanding that the Centre is to be closed because it is not being used sufficiently. That is not the same as there being no need of its services but rather indicates a lack of awareness of the Centre’s resources and facilities among those who need the service most. Just two years ago Westport lost 325 jobs at Allergan the town’s largest employer. The town is also home to over 600 to 800 non national workers who travel here to work in Westport’s service industry and they too rely on the centre for CV’s, employment information and rights information like the minimum wage and advocacy information.

How are we to be expected to standup to the downsizing of businesses, job losses and relocation of labour if Westport is abandoned by the ICTU and the union movement?

I am calling on every person in Westport, every Trade Union member, every unemployed person and everyone who ever used the Centre in Westport to contact the ICTU on 01 8897777 to call on them to leave the centre open. Times are good now and they want to take this valuable community resource away, God help us when times get bad again.”