ICTU March 30th Strike!

by Teachers United - Teachers United Tue Feb 24, 2009 18:51 teachersunited09 at gmail dot com

"The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has decided to hold a national strike on 30 March because employers - including the Government - are not abiding by the National Wage Agreement. After a two-hour meeting, the ICTU Executive Council said it had hoped that its ten-point plan on tackling the economic problems could be the basis for a three-year agreement to take the country through the crisis. However, it said congress had so far been unable to persuade the Government and employers of the merits of this approach."

Full story at:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0224/economy.html

Desperate attempt now by ICTU to try get partnership back on track now!
Partnership is dead & gone- there is no ressurecting it now!

by Jerry Cornelius Tue Feb 24, 2009 19:04

Rally around the flag of Freedom!

We have the burocrats on the run but they will still betray us if they can. The architecht of the pension levy - Dan Murphy is still there. Still ready to sell out.

You might not know but Dan Murphy was a member of the Trilateral Commission!

http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:mxfZhaxApF0J:digit...gl=ie

http://www.defconmen.com/CFR/benribqqq/trilateral1978.html

http://www.defconmen.com/CFR/benribqqq/trilateral1985.html

Not sure if hes still there but he gets his ideology from them.

by Andrew - WSM (personal capacity) Tue Feb 24, 2009 21:05

This is good news, the pressure from below on ICTU and the huge turnout on Saturday clearly had an impact. But its only a start, the depth of the crisis means that it will take more than a one day strike to force the burden onto the shoulders of the wealthy. And there is a question over quite what the qualifier about companies not implementing the agreement means although hopefully its not more that a smart move to allow individual employers to break ranks and weaken IBEC. In any case March 30th needs to see every worker in the country out, no mean achivement when union membership has been allowed to decline to less than 1/3 in the 'partnership' years.

by sper Tue Feb 24, 2009 23:48

don't get carried away, ictu have called a national strike to get the government and the employers back into social partnership, you are signalling its death too soon there is a big chance that partnership talks will resume and a sell out deal with be done before the 30th march. We need to build a real opposition in the unions.
Reminder Socialist Party Workers Rally with Joe Higgins Thursday night 7.30pm Wynns Hotel Middle Abbey Street Dublin

by shaner - without illusions Wed Feb 25, 2009 02:19

I have no illusions about ICTU leadership's motives and intentions, it is what this has the potential of becoming that I am allowing myself to get excited about. There are many pitfalls, I know, including the diversionary tactic of getting people to fall-in behind socialist parliamentary candidates.

This is going to be the first national strike since what? the one in 1918 against conscription? The first in the history of the State?

by pat c Wed Feb 25, 2009 10:25

A meeting of the National Public Service Alliance will take place next
Thursday at 8.15 in The Teachers Club, Parnell Square

ICTU has recommended March 30 as a day of common industrial action. But David Begg has described this as a "default position" should government refuse to enter talks. In the same interview with RTE, he stated ICTU acceptance of the levy in principle provided it was altered to reduce the burden on those with lower incomes.

The NPSA meeting will discuss the way ahead for NPSA, in the light of the ICTU position

Here is a press statement issued following the march

Figures quoted include updated income distribution from revenue
commissioners supplied by Tom O'Connor (Economist CIT) and key extract from Patrick OSullivan, Wealth of Nation, July 2007 citing 2006 figures onwealth distribution

Paddy Healy 086-4183732

Statement

The huge turn-out on the ICTU demonstration shows the extreme anger of public servants at the imposition of the selective penal tax on them. The participation of many private sector workers including Waterford Glass employees underlines the need to rescue private sector pensions by the creation of a national pension protection fund as required by an EU directive.

The levy must be unconditionally withdrawn.

For ICTU to enter talks with government while the levy is in place would be a capitulation. It is regrettable that ICTU have not called for the complete withdrawal of levy.

Why the delay in taxing the rich. According to revenue commissioners
reports, approximately 20,000 people -senior executives of private sector companies and self-employed-declared incomes of 200,000 Euro per year. Why no levy on them?

According to Central Bank Reports the richest 1% of the population have assets of €87 Billion. Why no levy on these super-rich individuals?

When ICTU meets next Tuesday, It must clearly recommend a one day national stoppage and name an early date

A meeting of the National Public Service Alliance will take place next
Thursday at 8.15 in The Teachers Club, Parnell Square

Paddy Healy 086-4183732 paddy.healy@eircom.net

by D_D Wed Feb 25, 2009 13:24

It should be noted that ICTU General Secretary, David Begg, on radio this morning,  presented the strike as happening if the government does not enter into a three year deal* with Congress. Any deal now can only be based on ICTU acceptance of cuts. Why else would either side negotiate? A three year deal implies accepting a package for three years and standing down the movement of resistance that is only beginning in the unions.

Begg also accepted the need for massive public spending cuts (RTE Radio 1 'Morning Ireland', 25 Feb 09). [Does this include the newly proposed €1.1 billion HSE cuts for this year?] And that the pension levy would not go, but would be modified for lower paid workers (without defining them).

* We are supposed to be in the middle of a ten year deal. Social partnership is tripping over itself.

by Blacbloc Wed Feb 25, 2009 14:51

David Begg is described today by a columnist in the Irish Examiner as a 'responsible union leader'! But goes on to criticise him for suggesting that the banks should be nationalised.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/irishexaminer/pages/story....1.asp

by Hugh Murphy - Sacked by ITGWU and Belfast employers Wed Feb 25, 2009 19:24

Would someone at the march ask MoneyBeggs and Fas McLoone - exactly how much money they receive from their many directorships
They could also ask, Fas and MoneyBeggs, do they and ICTU not feel - even slightly hypocritical - about having representatives of the employers and the Central Bank organising workers.

Personally, I think ICTU is treated as an employers joke.

If ICTU been looking after the interests of workers and not had their snouts in the employers trough, this crisis could have been averted. It was by keeping wages low that capitalists thought they could do what they like with money. Had ICTU demanded that workers were given a fair proportion of the wealth they created, the Capitalist exploiters would not and could not have used this country, its banking system and its workers as a conveyor belt for creating vast wealth for themselves. ICTU, Fas and MoneyBeggs allowed Rampant Capitalism to take over and were well rewarded for it. Now, because of their desire for WELL PAID directorships countless thousands of workers will lose their homes - AND ICTU Fas and MoneyBeggs still hold onto their Traitorships.

ICTU wants the government and employers to meet them and to implement their ten point plan as a way to save the country and the economy. ICTU has been meeting the government and employers for the past 18 years of so-called Social Partnership and THAT is where the trouble lies what has brought this country to its knees.

Enough money has been made by exploiting employers and their Lackeys in the Trade Union Movement to pay the required 2 Billion themselves. This is what workers need to tell ICTU. AND they also need to tell ICTU that they won't follow anyone - never mind a Trade Union Leader who has a string of Well Paid Directorships with make him an equal of the employers rather than ordinary union members.

MoneyBeggs, Fas McLoone and all the other Union/ Employers Directors, IF they want to be taken seriously by union members MUST - firstly, tell how many traitorships they hold, and then relinquish them. Only when ICTU are equal with workers should they be taken seriously. IF they refuse to give up their secret WEALTH then their ICTU salaries should be forfeited - and they should be disowned.

Personally - I ASK, what sort of Trade Union Leader can be in the pay of the employers - OR want to be - and still call himself a Trade Union Leader.

by Hugh Murphy - Sacked by ITGWU and Belfast employers. Thu Feb 26, 2009 09:39

Yes we must all "Pull Together" to get out of a crisis that is not our making. Why are the wealthy not "Pulling Together". Is it too disdainful for them to even contemplate "Pulling Together" with the lower orders. The fact that the wealthy have uttered not one word of protest against the government making the workers pay for their misdeeds speaks volumes - and smacks of an Ireland of two hundred years ago where we had to 'touch the forelock'.

With reference to my above post: While the wealthy Union Leaders are able - without the slightest feeling of hypocrisy - to lead the workers in large marches against the patent unfairness of 'government solutions' to the crisis, - they still partake of the seemingly never-ending flow of financial Good Will and Lucrative Positions which flow from their Social Partners.

To be perfectly honest, this goes far beyond Hypocrisy , Cronyism or Sycophantism and smacks of Abject Betrayal of the working class.

I'll put a physical representation on this betrayal. imagine a battalion of FAT overweight revolutionaries leading a charge up-hill to storm the barricades, while laden down with treasure, good food and wine all supplied by the city's inhabitants. How far up-hill would they get...? When the starving and dispossessed foot soldiers catch up, they can't get past because a solid barrier of FAT, finery and treasure prevents them.

Lets be rid of the sycophants and get some lean hungry soldiers leading the charge. The wealthy and and their Trade Union Lackeys will only REALLY Pull Together when made do so. Until then it's "Let them eat cake".

by A.R Fri Feb 27, 2009 18:12

Andrew wrote

"union membership has been allowed to decline to less than 1/3 in the 'partnership' years"

Whilst I agree that social partnership has not substantially delivered for workers in Ireland over the past 15 years I dont think it is the causal factor behind falling union membership. Trade union membership has actually increased over the past 15 years but trade unions density has declined. There are more people in work but less are in unions. Density is the problem not membership.

Most of the jobs created over the past 15 years were in a) the private multi national sector, b) services and c) professions. Professional workers have historically always been less inclined to join trade unions. Service sectors are notoriously difficult to unionise (flexible, transient, part time work and large turn over of staff, increasing reliance upon migrant workers). It would seem to me that it is in the Multi National sector that unions have failed. However, they have failed because these organisations do not recognise workers right to collective bargaining. They dont allow unions. This is a more plausible 'causal' factor behind a fall in trade union membership than social partnership. This is not to say Unions could not have done more to demand the right to collectively bargain. Arguably, (and I sense you may make this argument) they should not go into partnership with a collective body that in principle does not favour the statutory right to collective bargaining.

A detailed study has been completed recently by John Geary in UCD around the issue of unionisation in the private and public sectors. The recently published a paper (Do Unions Benefit from Working in Partnership with Employers? Evidence from Ireland) found that most workers in the private sector would join a union if their employers allowed trade unions to organise in their workplace. It also found that most workers in the private and public sectors viewed Trade Unions positively and would join under certain conditions. Most workers were found to prefer dialogue and partnership in the workplace over militant action. Militancy was viewed negatively. Thus, whilst many trade union activists personally prefer more militant action they have to reflect the preference of their members. Such is reality of labour-democracy. And such is the reason why unionised workers have voted in favour of social partnership agreements. The challenge for unions is not 'partnership' but mobilising solidarity amongst workers to demand a paradigm shift in the societal organisation of work.

by Alan MacSimoin - Workers Solidarity Movement Fri Mar 06, 2009 11:40

Following an emergency meeting of the SIPTU Education Branch committee last night the following was unanimously agreed.

++++++++

The Pension Levy

You will soon be asked to ballot on industrial action on by your union, SIPTU.

The ballot concerns a breach of the current partnership agreement by the employers and the government.

It is hoped that March 30th will represent such a strong show of strength, that the government will have to re-consider its strategy of making low paid and middle income employees the main group pay who will pay for the current economic crisis.

There is also, however, a particular concern in our own ranks about the response of the wider union leadership to the difficulties we face.

Namely that the focus of the campaign is being taken off the key issue of the pension levy. The ICTU, for example, has not clearly called for the withdrawal of the levy.

Yet the levy will impact on our pay packets this month and will represent a shocking pay cut.

In order to bring the issue back into focus and to ensure that it remains a live issue, the Education Branch is embarking on the following path which we hope you will support.

In the forthcoming ballots, we are including an additional ballot paper for action on the levy specifically. This will indicate that the main reason for taking action on March 30th is to pursue a campaign to withdraw the levy. We hope that you will vote positively on this ballot to convey the strength of feeling on the issue and to allow us to pursue it as a live issue.

We are organising a special forum for public sector branches in SIPTU to discuss how we strengthen our opposition to the levy.

We are writing to all political parties to state clearly what they intend to do about the levy should they be elected to office. We will circulate responses to our letter in plenty of time for you to take it into consideration before voting in coming local and European elections.

We are encouraging workplaces sections to consider holding small scale public protests between now and March 30th to continue highlighting the issue.

Our aim is to pursue a clear and determined strategy to ensure that public sector workers most of whom already pay 6.5% for their pension entitlements are not saddled with a wage cut for the rest of our lives.

by Shoegirl Mon Mar 23, 2009 10:52

Andrew, your analysis is good and gets to the root causes of the issue of union power dissolving. I have worked for many years in the MNC sector and witnessed incredible statements such as "a dim view would be taken" where unions asked how the company would feel about unions (despite being forced to recognise them in virtually every other country in Europe). These companies do not recognise the right to collective bargaining ONLY in Ireland because here we have given them an entitlement to ignore union membership. Despite supposedly robust laws to protect workers who do, in reality most workers will not join a union for fear that it would lead to extensive victimisation (as it has been known to do in certain airlines).

In 2003-2004 I attempted to engage one of the major unions in the Cork area to help us build up a representative unit for a 100 person output of a major French company in East Cork. They virtually ignored me. There were one or two emails but that union had no real interest in even contemplating that particular battle at any level. They were NOT INTERESTED in the plight of the workers there. After years of subpar wages, atrocious working conditions and deeply unfair policies, the majority of workers were laid off in Dec 2008. This was an inevitable end to a poor business plan, but also one that gave a very raw deal to most workers employed there.

Ireland has been the European dumping ground for large non-union outposts in the EC region. Even the UK has mechanisms for enforcing recognitions for collective bargaining (its complicated but workable). Only Ireland stands alone, not only in denying workers their rights, but in enforcing it as part of a system which puts total power in the hands of business.

What I find most worrying is that a considerable proportion of workers in MNCs have been either brain washed by their paymasters into seeing trade unions as treacherous, or else they have come to that belief themselves as they watch unions effectively negotiate large pay rises which they have no share in and no say in. The saddest thing is that its some of the weakest and most vulnerable workers who feel this most strongly. I think the union movement is now reaping the "benefit" of years of systematic collusion which has effectively left the union movement themselves powerless.

by Hugh Murphy - Sacked by ITGWU and Belfast employers Mon Mar 23, 2009 15:09

The unions by their behaviour may have left themselves powerless, as the final statement in the above post suggests, but are they "Moneyless " or "Jobless". NO - . ICTU Trade Unionists have many jobs all which come with a lot of money. For this rich bounty they just have to sit in the boardrooms of employers and NOD.

by A.R Mon Mar 23, 2009 17:00

Members of the country's largest public sector union Impact have narrowly failed to approve participation in next week's planned national day of industrial action by the required two-thirds margin:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0323/...0.htm

http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0323/partnership.html

by dept ag Mon Mar 23, 2009 18:03

Apparantly only 60% of a 60% ballot approved of the action. In other words, 40% didn't care enough to vote. This means that only 36% of the eligible electorate voted for strike action in spite of very considerable encouragement by union reps (in my workplace at least). The reasons are probably because most government workers believe that the levy is a fait accompli, or that any review or rebalancing of the levy would only leave them worse off. Where I work most of the people in the higher paid supervisory grades didn't bother voting. Some of the people at the bottom probably didn't either because of fear of being docked a days pay when they are having difficulty in meeting their mortgage repayments as it is.

by Hugh Murphy - Sacked by ITGWU and Belfast employers Mon Mar 23, 2009 21:04

This is what happens when Trade Union Leaders behave like employers, ie Trade Unionists won't behave like Trade Unionists. Brendan Hayes vice president of SIPTU must be congratulated for declaring to SIPTU members that he doesn't claim the 700 euros per day for sitting on the taxation committee, TO which he's supposedly entitled.

Would it be too much to hope for that MoneyBeggs and Fas McLoone make a similar statement...?

by Hugh Murphy - Sacked by ITGWU and Belfast employers Thu Mar 26, 2009 10:10

Maybe now the workers of Ireland will see why MoneyBeggs and all the other Trade Union Company Directors are so useful to the employers. TO CONTROL THE WORKERS.

A n English King - I can't remember which one - said: about Ireland "one priest is worth a thousand soldiers". Today, a slight change of wording is all that's required to sum up Irish Trade Unionism.

One ICTU Trade Unionist is worth a million euros.