There were many familiar faces from Finglas and Ballymun and I am sure a lot of people from the area I didn’t recognise. As well as local contingents, there were contingents of bus workers, and workers from Waterford Crystal, who have been mounting an impressive occupation to save their jobs and their industry.

The mood of the march was angry and militant. With the scandal surrounding Cowen’s covering up for the developers who got billions in loans they cannot pay back from Anglo-Irish Bank and the huge bail-out the government is mounting at enormous expense to the financiers, it is no surprise that many, many trade unionists want to see the leaders of the movement turn words into deeds in co-ordinating the action to really put the squeeze on the government.

We in the SWP have been arguing that this march must be the kicking off point for a co-ordinated campaign against the government. We need a one-day national strike to build up the momentum so we can do what they did in Iceland—force the government from office.

Below is the text of the 10,000 leaflets the SWP distributed on the protest.

Let’s follow Iceland
A National One Day Shutdown

Clear out this government

The scandal at Anglo-Irish Bank shows the golden circle that is running this country.
Fianna Fail’s connection with this bank run deep
• Sean Fitzpatrick was a backroom advisor to Fianna Fail
• Fintan Drury, was on the board of Anglo-Irish Bank and only retired after his friend Brian Cowen became Taoiseach.
• Bernard McNamara and many other are FF supporters in the building industry are on Anglo’s loan books.
Despite all their talk about ‘patriotic duty’, Fianna Fail’s main interest lies in protecting their rich friends. And they want us to pay for it.
PENSION LEVY
The pension levy is an outright attack on organised workers. It has been pushed by IBEC, for months through the corporate media.
IBEC backed Irish Ferries when they tried to reduce workers’ wages. Now they want to use the recession to reduce the living standards of ALL Irish workers by about 20%.
If they get away this wage cut, it will set a headline for more to come.
That is why we have to stop them.
BUILD FOR ONE DAY SHUT DOWN
Before this gigantic demonstration, the response of the union leaders was weak. And they still have to be pushed much further from below.
We need emergency union meetings to make our unions speak out with a strong voice. We need one united national shut down.
• Instead of talking just about ‘fairness’, we have to demand the full withdrawal of the levy.
• There should be no ‘solidarity pact’ with this corrupt government and their friends in IBEC
SOLIDARITY
There should be no division between public and private sector workers – it has only been fomented by the employers and their hacks on the corporate media.
When we get the one day strike we should stand shoulder to shoulder and demand BOTH the withdrawal of the pension levy AND the introduction of a pension protection scheme for workers in the private sector.
In Britain, this bond guarantees 90% of entitlements – but for our government ‘it is too costly’. As a result hundreds of workers at Waterford Crystal will retire with no pension – even though they contributed for 40 years.
DRIVE THIS GOVERNMENT FROM OFFICE
There is a whiff of revolution in the air as tens of thousands go on the streets to voice their grievances.
The current government has no mandate to subsidise bankers. They never won any election on the slogan of wage cuts!
In the coming showdown the stakes are high:
Either the pension levy will be withdrawn and Cowen will be driven from office
OR
A huge defeat is imposed on workers that will push us all back for some time.
After this march, we have to rise up and drive out this government –as the people of Iceland did.
If you want to help in this, then join the socialists and prepare for the battles ahead.

In addition PDFORA organised a contingent of soldiers, who themselves face wage cuts through the Pensions Levy and who the government may try to use as strikebreakers in the looming industrial action in the weeks ahead.

Socialist Worker produced a leaflet for the soldiers reproduced here.

Soldiers and Workers Unite
FIGHT THE PENSION LEVY!

Congratulations to PDFORA for taking a stance for the rights of soldiers.
Why should men and women who risk their lives in missions such as in Chad take a pay cut?
Like the public sector generally, we are being singled out as scapegoats for the economic crimes of bankers, speculators and the super-rich.
The people who should pay for this economic crisis – are those who caused it.
During the good times, they never listened to any call to ‘Share the Wealth’.
So why should we take the pain now?
Socialists say: Take the money off the super-rich through nationalisation of their assets and special taxes – and leave soldiers and workers alone.
DON’T BE USED AS STRIKE BREAKERS
The people of Ireland are in revolt against this unjust government who protects its rich friends.
On the 26 February, thousands of low paid civil servants will come out on strike against the levy.
On March 1st, bus workers will strike against lay-offs and cuts in the bus service to working class areas. After that there may be a full scale shut down.
We urge you not to allow yourself be used as strike breakers in these conflicts.
The more we stick together, the more we will defeat this levy and bring some justice to this country.

Interestingly, on the same day that 120,000 trade unionists were on the streets, the Irish Labour Party held a conference in Dublin on the economic crisis. Alan Aherne, from the NUI Galway, told them that it is likely that the crisis will get so bad that the IMF will be called in. The IMF, he said, is likely to demand wage cuts in the public sector of 30-50%. So there is no need to take our word for it, even Labour’s experts are now predicting unprecedented attacks on the working class not seen before in Ireland. And can anyone seriously believe that this crisis will be sorted in a year or eighteen months? We are instead facing a 1930s style world depression which has been unimaginable for generations of people. The class conflict over whether working class people and the poor can be made to pay for it by the visitation of desperate poverty on hundreds of thousands is the scenario for the next decade or more. In the face of that radical measures far beyond what the soothsayers of the newspapers and television are prepared to consider have to be applied. And that means a mass movement of change from below or dire reaction.

One early reflection of this is the growing disillusionment with Fianna Fail, is now more unpopular than it has ever been. The Labour Party leaders, who in the past were quite happy to play the role of junior partners to Fianna Fail in coalition, are now talking left. Of course, they have hardly had a Pauline conversion but they do know where they can get votes. The fact that hundreds of thousands of people are abandoning support for FF and switching to Labour is a welcome development, despite Labour’s appalling record.

This itself shows the huge thirst for radical change and can open up opportunities for those of us who really believe in socialism from below to become a far more serious political force in Ireland. Many of those working class people shifting to the Left under the hammer blows of Cowen’s attacks, are unlikely to remain satisfied with the verbal left shift of Labour and will want to see words translated into deeds. If genuine socialists can organise on a scale that matches the challenges ahead, there is no reason to suppose, ahead of time, that this movement can be confined to the narrow horizons of labour reformism.

Feel free to append a comment at the foot of this article.

Or perhaps you agree with the thrust of this and might be interested in getting involved? Then give us a call to talk it over. 086-3074060 is the number.

Join ICTU National Demonstration

Saturday 21st 2pm Parnell Sq

WE NEED A NATIONAL WORK STOPPAGE

On Saturday 21st of February the Irish Congress of Trade Unions is calling all workers to protest because we are being made to carry the can for the economic crisis. The protest will start at 2pm in Parnell Square, Dublin.

The bankers and the super-rich caused the economic crisis by gambling the fruits of our labour in a global casino. In an economic system driven by the greed for profit –not human need – this is inevitable. Brian Cowen and his government are more interested in saving the bankers than in supporting people who have lost jobs. Instead of pumping billions into the banks, we should create one state bank and use its credit facilities to launch a massive public works programme to give work to the unemployed.   

PENSION LEVY AND PAY CUTS

 IBEC and the government have launched an all-out war against public sector workers. Someone on a moderate wage of €35,000 a year, for example, will end up loosing €43 a week because of a pension levy. It is just another name for a wage cut. The trade union movement should respond with a huge mobilisation. Yet the union leaders have been extremely weak. Instead of demanding the withdrawal of the levy, they are asking for a ‘ ‘solidarity pact’ with the government and the employers. But these are the very people who are robbing our wage packets! The calls to ‘patriotism’ that are coming from both Brian Cowen and the union leaders are just a cover to dampen down our anger.

Instead of this fake patriotism we need a one-day national strike to sweep this rotten government from office. The people of Iceland have just done that – and we should do the same. Remember: Cowen has no mandate to cut our wages in order to subsidise the bankers.

   BRING YOUR OWN PLACARDS ON THE DEMO

Socialists urge you to come on the demonstration on Saturday with your own placards calling for a one-day strike. We urge you to call an emergency meeting in your job and to vote on whether you want a national strike. If you do, then make up your own placards to get this message across. There is a wind of change sweeping this country and it is coming from the grassroots. Let’s turn it into a storm that blows away the corrupt politicians who are ruining this country.

Mass demonstrations against in Reykjavik, Iceland forced the government to resign

Socialist Worker Leaflet

• No Pay Cuts or Pension Levies

• Bail out Jobs and Services not the Bankers
• Support the Waterford Crystal Sit In.

The pension levy on public sector workers is an outrage. Many low and middle income employees, who have taken out large mortgages, simply cannot afford to pay it.

The levy is another name for a pay cut:

• An employee on €45,000 will pay an extra €63 a week.
• An employee on €35,000, €43 a week

This pay cut is on top of a 1 percent levy on gross income and the deferment of all wage rises due under the current partnership deal. Public sector workers did not cause the economic mess.

Nor are they the ‘bloated’ over-paid sector portrayed by the media. According to the OECD, Ireland has the third lowest rate of public expenditure compared to Gross Domestic Product, just ahead of Korea and Mexico. Public sector workers already pay a 6.5% contribution to their pension. The real problem is not public sector workers but private sector employers who want to pay nothing to their employees’ pension funds.

While public sector workers are being attacked, the government is putting up €8 billion to ‘re-capitalise’ the banks. Despite all the talk of a ‘national effort’ to solve the crisis, no extra taxes have been imposed on the super-wealthy. Instead of bailing out bankers, the government should put money into saving the jobs at Waterford Crystal and other areas where workers are being made redundant. We need a massive programme of public works to help people who have been made redundant. In this ecocomic crisis, workers are once again being asked to carry the can – while the super rich, who helped to cause the economic collapse through speculation, get off scott free.

A NATIONAL SHUT DOWN

This is entirely unacceptable. The unions need to organise serious action to resist these pay cuts. Talking and complaining is not enough when the very future of the trade union movement is at stake. We need a one day national shut-down – and French style protests to demonstrates our opposition. Public sector workers should initiate this one day shut down and invite private sector workers, who are facing pay cuts and redundancies, to join the action. If such action is not organised by union leaders, it will have to come from the grassroots.

The over-70s showed how ‘people power’ could bring about some measure of social justice. Now is the time for the trade unions to do the same.

 
]]> http://ballymunsocialist.wordpress.com/2009/02/08/we-need-a-one-day-national-stoppage/feed/ 0 ballymunsocialist ICELAND-FINANCE-ECONOMY-PROTEST http://ballymunsocialist.wordpress.com/2009/02/04/as-dublin-bus-drivers-ballot-for-strike-against-the-cutsdefend-our-servicessupport-the-busworkers/ http://ballymunsocialist.wordpress.com/2009/02/04/as-dublin-bus-drivers-ballot-for-strike-against-the-cutsdefend-our-servicessupport-the-busworkers/#comments Wed, 04 Feb 2009 21:12:53 +0000 ballymunsocialist http://ballymunsocialist.wordpress.com/?p=446 ]]> Bus drivers in Dublin have delivered an overwhelming mandate for strike action if Dublin Bus implement its cuts programme as it plans to from 28th February.

The cuts will mean the decimation of the bus service throughout the city and especially hitting Ballymun and Poppintree with the elimination of muchj of the service on the 13/13A route. A recent article on this site gave some of the details of the cuts planned read it by following this link. Also check out the Dublin North West People Before Profit website for up to date info by following this link.

The cuts will mean 190 sacked bus drivers in Dublin Bus and more in Bus Eireann.

Today, the busworkers rank and file group–the Busworkers Action Group–issued an issue of The Busworker for drivers around the city. We have reprined extracts below which give a good indication of the discussions that are going on in the garages. As can be seen, the drivers are concerned to defend their jobs and conditions as well as fighting the threats to the service to the public.

The Socialist Workers Party in Dublin North West calls on all its supporters to get behind the drivers if they are forced into taking strike action as seems extremely probable. This is the best way to preserve out bus service.
More generally with the Cowen attacks, including the cuts in the under-5 payments and the swingeing levy on Public Sector Pension contributions (which will mean a pay cut of up to 7 and even 10 percent for average workers in local government services, the health, fire and ambulance services, etc, we believe we need to pull together all those whether consumers of services under attack, or workers in those industries (and often both) community groups who face cutbacks in funding, trade unionists, etc into a fighting movement of people against the cuts.

The recent joke “Whats the difference between Iceland and Ireland? One letter and six months!” illustrates that it is possilbe to build that resistance. In Iceland the government recently fell following weeks of protests by working class people agianst the crisis and the determination of the government there to make working class people pay. We need some Icelandic spirit here. We in the SWP are working closely with our allies in the People Before Profit Alliance to help build this much needed resistance. If you would like to get involved contact us on 086-3074060.

THE BUSWORKER FEBRUARY 2008

VOTE TO DEFEND ALL OUR JOBS AND SERVICES.

The NBRU are holding ballots across the bus garages this week. It is vital they receive a huge mandate to defend the jobs and conditions of ALL drivers. A large vote to strike if necessary will send a clear signal to management and Government that will have a huge fight on their hands if they try to sack any driver or change the pay and conditions of anyone.

The NBRU are absolutely right to put our 160 drivers in Dublin Bus and hundreds more in Bus Eireann at the top of the agenda. (Let us not forget there are hundreds more in maintenance facing the same bleak future)They are being treated in a callous manner by a management that has demonstrated no interests in their workers or public transport.

But drivers are not just voting on the jobs of new workers, or indeed the rights of some Euro drivers. This cost cutting package will have devastating effects on ALL drivers pay and conditions. It will wreck the bus service in many parts of the city and lead to bigger gaps and a poorer service throughout the town. Remember we are not just fighting for new drivers, the company want to;

# Remove traveling time, leading to longer working days and more journeys.

#Remove shift pay from bogies leading to a pay cut of about 100 euros.

#Get complete flexibility from drivers, no route, or even garage identity.

#Eliminate overtime with a pool of part time drivers, no Sunday, bank holiday or concert work.

# Force hundreds of marked in drivers back spare and move dozens of drivers from their depots to other garages.

#Freeze our pay indefinitely.

#Bring in the 48 hour week WITH NO COMPENSATION.

Management have shown they are incapable of running a transport service for the people of this city. Any cost cutting has to start at the top by axing those responsible for this outrageous attack on workers and the traveling public. We should not be fooled by appeals to help out “our company”. It will cost the country more money to scrap these services than retain them. CIE drivers do not earn mega salaries like some of our supervisors and cannot be asked to cartry the can for others greed and incompetence

.

TIME TO MARCH.

While the NBRU are absolutely right , we need to widen the campaign against these cuts and their logic. There is huge support in the communities to defend basic services like transport. We need to see our union leaders making a public case to retain the level of bus services and look at new ways to encourage people out of cars. As the recession deepens it is likely MORE not LESS people will come to depend on public transport. Not only should we fight for all our jobs and conditions BUT also for the bus service. If we allow 160 drivers to get sacked in any deal it means accepting the company can cut the service as they like. We need to get out into the areas affected and get community and environmental groups on the streets demanding the transport service is kept intact.

Our union need to organize a March to the Dail for all CIE workers and call for support from the people of Dublin to save their bus service

GREEN PARTY PICKET

We held a successful and lively picket outside the Green Party Head office for two hours this week. Carrying placards attacking the Greens record of silence on these cuts, we forced their spokespersons and ministers in to a debate . Cieran Cuff had to publicly admit that the cuts where not sanctioned by Government, and he went on to blame gross mis management at the company . They Greens where embarressed that they where shown to be unable to stand up for one of their core principals. More pickets and protests against them are planned in the coming weeks. We need to get our unions to do likewise. One placard pointed out that the country will pay over 270 million in Carbon levies for failing to reach targets set by Europe. Yet at the same time the Govt will oversee the mothballing of over 300 buses that could lower our emissions. Shame on the greens , but lets get our unions to put them under real pressure!

THE BIGGER PICTURE

This is just the start of a bigger offensive. The Government have announced they will cut public service workers pay by 7+ % under the guise of a pension levy. Have no doubt that the CIE group will try to use this attack to look for massive increases in our contributions as well, and there is open talk of abandoning our medical scheme. The fact is these next weeks and months will determine who pays for the recession over the next few years. Either ordinary workers will or those in the banks, financial and building industry will. The Govt plans mean that workers on the same pay as your average driver will see their pay cut by over 2500 euros per year, on top of the 1% levy and on top of more cuts and changes in each workplace. In the same week that they find 8 billion to refinance the very banks that caused this crisis! While the media bays for the blood of public service workers we need to put the case to retain all services and jobs during the recession. The very economists and commentators who sang the praises of our banks and builders are now tr yin go blame ordinary workers for the crisis. In other parts of the world, even the US, Govt are trying to build their public services in the recession. Here they are trying to dismantle them. As more and more people lose their jobs in the private sector they will need the support of a decent public service, be it in health, education or transport. That is why it is essential we fight for every job and every bus.

Politicians like Martin Cullen will try to get the workers to lift their occupation by claiming that it frightens away potential buyers. But the new buyers will only be frightened if their intention was to impose slave labour conditions. Over the past few months, the government has had only one strategy for dealing with the recession: saved the bankers at all costs. They have already saddled us all with huge debts – just to keep their favourite banks afloat. A UCD Professor of Economics, Morgan Kelly, has estimated that the bail out of Anglo-Irish Bank alone will cost each household €20,000 in future years.

But the message of the Waterford Crystal occupation is : Why bail out bankers, when it is far more important to save jobs. The occupation of Waterford Crystal should be kept up and turned into a major campaign to demand government support to save jobs at the plant. The government should be told to taker a stake in the factory and to put money in to save jobs. If they say there is no money available, they should be told to cut back on saving bankers.

Hundreds of former Waterford Crystal workers have also found that their pensions are in jeopardy because of Irish government policy. In Britain, a special pension protection scheme exists which guarantees 90% of pension payments if a company goes bankrupt. Funding for this comes from a special bond which all companies pay into – just like the travel agents bonds. The Irish government have systematically opposed bringing this measure into Ireland, arguing that it would cost employers too much. As a direct result many Waterford Crystal workers stand to loose much of their pension.

This is another reason to keep up the occupation – and to give it support from the outside. We should demand:

• Government funds to save jobs.
• Government guarantee for the pension of the glass workers.

Waterford Crystal: ‘We’re occupying this plant to save our jobs’

by Simon Basketter
Workers at the Waterford Crystal factory in Ireland have delivered a powerful example of how to take on the recession – they are occupying their plant to keep it open. The factory is owned by Waterford Wedgewood, which went into receivership on 5 January. The receiver suggested that the plant move to a three-day week. Workers were reluctant to go along with this and were suspicious of the motives behind it. Many believed that the factory would close as soon as they were out the door. It turned out the receiver had the same idea. Last Friday afternoon the receiver declared that manufacturing would cease immediately at the Waterford factory – with the loss of 480 jobs out of a 700-strong workforce.

News that the plant was closing was greeted with anger by workers. The union was only told of the immediate sackings when it directly asked if the rumours were true. Tony Kelly is the Unite union’s chief shop steward for Waterford Crystal. He told Socialist Worker, “The plant is on a three day week – so they chose Friday afternoon because it isn’t a production day. “I was driving home when I heard the news and drove back to the plant. Over the phone we agreed we had to get inside.” Workers texted and rang round each other, urging as many as possible to get to the factory. The receivers had already hired in private security guards to secure the site. “The security tried to stop us getting in – but they failed,” one worker told Socialist Worker. “They closed the doors, but there were too many people. We stormed our way in – some 400 workers entered the plant.

Support
“We’ve been in occupation since 2pm on Friday. Food, money and support have been flowing in.” The occupation is on six-hour rotating shifts with up to 100 workers on each one. The Starry Plough – the flag of James Connolly and the Irish labour movement – was raised over the plant. A rally was held outside the plant last Saturday. Over 3,000 people turned up to show their support despite torrential rain. Across Waterford taxis stopped running, while shops and businesses closed for an hour in solidarity.

A van was touring the area to hand-deliver letters telling the Waterford Wedgewood workers that they had been sacked. It was spotted on one estate and chased away – so many workers have yet to receive official notice of their dismissal. Tom Hogan is a former Waterford glass worker and president of Waterford trades council. He told Socialist Worker, “People are just saying, ‘Thank fuck somebody is doing something!’ They used to go home to their fires at night and contemplate which window in the dole office they were going to line up at. But the occupation has turned that mood around.”

A worker from the occupation added, “The bosses thought people wouldn’t fight because they were too fearful. People are fearful – but they are also very angry.” John joined the company in 1962 and worked at the factory for 46 years before being made redundant just before Christmas.

Long haul
He told us he had received the statutory portion of his 55,000 euro redundancy package – but was still owed 30,000 euro from the company. “We’re going to stay here for the long haul. We have nothing to lose,” he said. One of the workers’ demands is that the Irish government guarantees that all previously agreed redundancy payments are made. Joe, another worker in the occupation, told Socialist Worker, “We’re staying until we get the receiver’s decision to close the plant reversed.

“We want there to be an opportunity for someone to come in and buy this company and save jobs. And we want reasonable conditions for any that have to leave. Most of us have put in between 20 and 40 years of service. We are not being thrown on to the scrapheap by a receiver appointed by some accountant.” Within 24 hours there were talks between the unions, the government and the receivers. As Socialist Worker went to press a number of firms were looking to buy the company and at least one is promising to keep 300 of the jobs.

As one worker told Socialist Worker, “They are private equity companies, which isn’t good – but we can fight them over conditions if we keep the manufacturing plant open. At the very least we want money from the government to guarantee pensions and redundancy money. If the private sector won’t keep open the plant, then it should be nationalised.” People across the trade union movement – and in particular, workers at the Wedgewood plant in Stoke-on-Trent which is owned by the same company – should draw two lessons from the Waterford occupation. They should be wary of what little promises to look after workers really mean when a company goes bust. And they should be inspired by the example of Waterford workers, who have shown that you can fight back and turn the situation around.

Send messages of support and donations to Unite Hall, Keyzer Street, Waterford County, Waterford, Republic of Ireland, phone +353 5187 5438, or send an email to walter.cullen@unitetheunion.com

More Brecht, read by the late Adrien Mitchell:-

Another take on things…

And …