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Workers in Struggle

25/01/12

Primark workers vote for strike action

Workers in the eight Primark stores in the Six Counties have voted overwhelmingly for strike action against attempts by management to impose a pay freeze for the second year in a row.

Around 750 people are employed in Primark stores in the statelet, and 85% of the workforce is unionised in the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (Usdaw).

Usdaw Area Organiser Nicola Scarborough said: “Most of our members at Primark earn just £6.84 an hour and they are finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet. With prices continuing to rise and government cuts to tax credits and other benefits beginning to bite, most people simply can’t afford to accept what is effectively a pay cut for the second year running.

“There is no question of Primark being unable to afford a rise. Sales at the company continue to increase by double digits and in the past two years Primark has made profits of £644 million. It’s time for Primark to recognise the exceptional contribution its staff are making to this success.”

Vita Cortex Sit-In Enters Sixth Week

Thirty-two workers have begun their sixth week occupying the Vita Cortex manufacturing plant on Kinsale Road in Cork to obtain redundancy pay owed to them.

Some of the assets belonging to company owner Jack Ronan had been seized by NAMA. Ronan was expected to work with NAMA to identify funds that could be released to pay the redundancy package, but Ronan reneged on this, leading to the adjournment of talks at the LRC over the weekend without resolution.

SIPTU Organiser Anne Egar accusd Ronan of trying to use the Vita Cortex workers as “pawns in a cynical attempt to pressurise NAMA into resolving his financial issues with them.

“We were led to believe the agreed redundancy payments would be forthcoming through the LRC process. Now it seems the owner is using that process to advance his own financial interests.”

26,000 Job Losses Predicted for Six Counties

26,000 jobs are expected to be lost in the public sector by 2017, according to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. They warn that the Six Counties will be hit harder than any region in Britain as a result of the British government’s planned cull of the public sector.

The statement, released last Tuesday [January 17], drew immediate response from Six-County finance minister Sammy Wilson, who fumed: “If they haven't anything positive to say, then they should shut up.”

ICTU Assistant General Secretary Peter Bunting responded: “The trade unions are not interested in a pointless rhetorical bun-fight with Sammy Wilson. We are interested in the NI Executive formulating policies which are humane and evidence-based.

“One of the great achievements of the NI Civil Service is the quality and professionalism of their research, and their willingness to make public the facts of our society and economy, despite attempts to spin the evidence in press releases and briefings by Ministers and their Special Advisors.”

13/01/12

Minihan Commends La Senza Workers

éirígí Dublin City Councillor Louise Minihan has commended workers at the La Senza store in Liffey Valley for staging a sit-in protest in support of their demand for wages and overtime owed to them.

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24/11/11

Building for November 30

Twenty trade unions representing around 175,000 public sector workers in the Six Counties have voted to strike next Wednesday, November 30. They will join million of workers in Britain for what union leaders there believe will be the biggest strike action since 1926.

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01/09/11

Firefighters to vote on strike action

Members of the Irish Fire and Emergency Services Association [IFESA] are to be balloted for strike action over proposed cuts to Dublin Fire Brigade.

Management at Dublin Fire Brigade wish to introduce €1.7 million in cuts to the service on top of the €3.8 million that had been agreed during the Croke Park talks.

IFESA represents over 500 firefighters and paramedics in the capital. Union chairman John Kidd said, “They are either going to take vehicles off the road or personnel. We are asking people to support their local fire and emergency services.”

The ballot will take place at an emergency general meeting on September 2.

Nurses’ union warns of bed crisis

Members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation in Beaumont Hospital have expressed concern at the level of overcrowding which exists within the hospital.

HSE cutbacks have caused 60 beds to remain closed, while patients are forced to wait in trolleys in the Emergency department.

Speaking on Tuesday [Auguust 30], Edward Mathews of INMO said: “We are calling upon the Health Service Executive to see the reality of health service cutbacks and the effect that these are having on ordinary people who are attending one of the largest hospitals in the country. Urgent action is necessary to ensure that patients who are fit to be discharged from the hospital have a long term bed where this is required.”

Union moves to save Munster newspaper

Unite has said it will develop a plan to save the Munster Express newspaper, following management’s proposal to slash 11 of the paper’s 24 jobs.

The management proposal included ‘outsourcing’ eight of the positions in the production and printing of the paper, which is based in Waterford.

Unite regional secretary Brendan Byrne said the union “will put forward proposals to maintain the newspaper in Waterford. They will require input from all those who are involved at the Munster Express, from the owners through to all staff and those who care about maintaining a strong local resource.”

“We cannot and will not allow the proposals put forward yesterday to be implemented as they would effectively kill the paper.”

18/08/11

Mass Strike Action on the Horizon in the Six Counties

As unemployment continues to grow and the Tory cuts agenda as implemented by the Stormont administration begins to bite, the two largest public sector unions in the Six Counties have declared their intention to ballot members for strike action.

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27/05/11

Restaurant Workers Demonstrate to Defend Conditions

Members of the Restaurant and Catering Workers Forum held a demonstration at the Annual Irish Restaurant Awards on Wednesday. The Awards are hosted by the Restaurants Association of Ireland, which is behind an attack on the wages and conditions of workers in the industry by calling for the abolition of the Catering Employment Regulation Order.

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19/03/11

Renewed assault on workers’ rights commences

As the post election fog lifts and the new Dublin government settles into implementing a savage austerity programme – it is obvious that there has been no new dawn for workers. In fact, it seems that Enda Kenny’s so called “democratic revolution” is one in which the rights of workers to decent pay and conditions and to strike in support of those demands will come under sustained attack.

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22/02/11

Locked Out – Support the Workers at Davenport Hotel

The new minimum wage rate of €7.65 [£6.45] an hour came into effect on February 1, a reduced rate which, according to Brian Lenihan, would not affect existing employment contracts. Yet, over the last month, bosses at the Davenport Hotel attempted to bully workers into accepting a wage cut. Five women workers from Lithuania and Poland refused to agree to a wage cut and management have now effectively locked them out of their employment.

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13/02/11

Attacks on wages and working conditions continue

This week has seen the discredited outgoing Fianna Fáil government launch yet another shameful attack on workers. Not satisfied with cutting €1 per hour from minimum wage workers and crucifying workers through income tax hikes and the so-called Universal Social Charge, the Twenty-Six County Department of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation announced what it termed as an ‘independent review’ of the Registered Employment Agreements (REAs) and Employment Regulation Orders (EROs).

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28/01/11

Gallaghers Job Losses will Lead to Fresh Wave of Emigration

The socialist republican party éirígí has condemned the owners and management at Gallaghers Bakery in Ardara, county Donegal, following the announcement of the loss of 124 jobs with the remaining 65 jobs also at risk.

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11/01/11

Unemployment: The Only Growth Industry in Ireland

The massive rise in unemployment in the Twenty-Six Counties as indicated by the publication of last week’s Central Statistics Office live register figures for December has been described by éirígí chairperson Brian Leeson as “a clear indictment of the failed economic model and evidence that the imposition of the Dublin government/IMF austerity programme is severely deflating the economy”.

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14/12/10

Resistance to Cutbacks Grows Across Ireland

The last three weeks have seen a dramatic escalation of street protests and other forms of opposition to the cutbacks that are being introduced by the Leinster House and Stormont regimes.

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11/12/10

Students show the lead against fees and cuts in Belfast and Derry

Hundreds of students and school-children took to streets of Belfast and Derry on consecutive days this week during protests organised in opposition to proposed increases which could see university fees rise to £9,000 [€10,800] annually.

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