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Workers in Struggle

15/03/10

Hospitals on the Brink

Talks between public sector trade unions and the Twenty-Six County government resumed today [Monday] against the backdrop of the planned 48-hour hospital strike in April.

Today’s talks were facilitated by senior officials of the Labour Relations Commission.

Unions are engaged in a six-week dispute over pay cuts introduced in last December’s budget. A series of work stoppages in schools, hospitals and other public services will ensue if workers’ rights are not secured.

Some 4,500 lower-paid staff in seven hospitals, including porters, catering personnel, security, healthcare assistants and supervisors, are to go on strike from 1am on Wednesday, April 7 until 1am on Friday, April 9. The public hospitals to be affected are St James’s, St Vincent’s, Connolly Memorial, Mater, Beaumont, Tallaght and St Colmcille’s in Loughlinstown.

SIPTU health sector organiser Paul Bell said the action would be proceeding. He said hospital management had sought to cancel a meeting planned for this week to discuss the proposed dispute and the union felt the organisation was not taking the strike threat seriously. There would be a “sharp, short withdrawal of labour” in Beaumont hospital as early as the week after next if the organisation did not take it seriously, he said.

Private Sector Joins Action

Staff at Mount Carmel private hospital in Dublin staged a second protest today [Monday] in a dispute over pay cuts.

Impact, SIPTU and the Medical Laboratory Scientists’ Association, which represent the workers, have served strike notice on the hospital for Monday, March 22. It will involve administrators, radiographers, scientific and support grade staff at the hospital.

The unions said the action was as a result of a decision by management to cut pay without consultation or agreement.

The three unions said that, as most of the procedures taking place in the hospital were elective or non-urgent, it was expected industrial action would cause disruption to services at the hospital, including pharmacy and laboratory services.

The hospital provides maternity services, as well as orthopaedic and eye and ear services on a for-profit basis.

Firefighters demand strike

Firefighters in the Twenty-Six Counties have increased the pressure on SIPTU to serve strike notice with immediate effect.

Members have called for a statewide fire brigade and ambulance strike with complete withdrawal of cover.

John Kidd of SIPTU’s full-time fire officers’ committee said firefighters were working in unsafe conditions due to staff cutbacks.

“In addition to the pay cuts, 108 members retired last year, around 30 so far this year, and there have only been no new recruits over the last two years. We cannot continue to provide a service like this.”

Members of the branch met with union officials over the weekend to discuss the demand for a strike.

02/03/10

Hunger Strike Into Third Week

Dublin City Council last night [Monday] backed an emergency motion by éirígí activist and city councillor Louise Minihan in support of the striking Green Isle workers in County Kildare.

The council extended solidarity to the striking workers and those currently on hunger strike and called for a just resolution to the dispute.

There was little progress in talks yesterday on Monday and a third Green Isle Foods worker is to join the hunger strike tomorrow [Wednesday] if there is no breakthrough in the meantime. No information is available on the substantive issues as the company would only enter talks on the basis of a legally binding confidentiality agreement.

TEEU general secretary designate Eamon Devoy said: “We are continuing to make every effort to resolve this dispute before it assumes more critical dimensions. I do not believe the company fully appreciates the wider implications it could have if we do not find a solution at this stage.”

TEEU shop steward Jim Wyse is entering his 14th day on hunger strike today, while fellow worker and former All-Ireland footballer John Guinan is in his seventh day. A colleague will join them on hunger strike tomorrow if the dispute is not resolved today.

They are protesting at the unfair dismissal of three colleagues and the refusal of the company to allow them union representation. The Labour Court recommended the full reinstatement of the dismissed men and said they should be paid €180,000 compensation if the company does not reinstate them.

See www.teeu.ie for more information and Hunger Strike Diary.

More Cuts to Come in Construction

Direct employment in the Twenty-Six County construction industry has decreased by 130,000 jobs since 2007, according to a new study.

The report, compiled by the construction consultancy firm Davis Langdon PKS (DLPKS), forecasts a further 40,000 jobs will be lost in the sector this year.

In their annual review of the sector, DLPKS predict that the construction industry will see a decline of approximately 23 per cent in 2010.

From a high of €38 billion [£34 billion] in 2007, the sector is predicted to have reduced in value to the region of €19 billion [£17 billion] in 2009 and is expected to fall by a further €14 billion [£13 billion] this year.

According to Davis Langdon PKS, direct construction employment totalled 260,000 in the second quarter of 2007 and is now at about 130,000.

260 Jobs Under Threat at An Post

Postbank, the joint venture between An Post and European bank BNP Paribas, has announced that it will close at the end of the year due to loss-making savings rates being offered in the highly competitive Irish deposit market.

The company is the second retail banking business in as many weeks to announce its closure following the decision of Bank of Scotland (Ireland) to shut down Halifax, with the loss of 750 jobs.

The bank said that it hoped to secure “a significant proportion” of the 260 jobs at Postbank.

Some jobs may be relocated to An Post as it will continue to offer life, motor and home insurance products, though the semi-state company has itself been cutting back on staff over the past year.

Steven Fitzpatrick, general secretary of the Communications Workers Union, said the decision to close the bank was “a major missed opportunity to provide straightforward banking services to ordinary people” through the most extensive branch network in the Twenty-Six County state, An Post’s post offices.

17/02/10

Hunger Strike Begins at Green Isle

Workers at Green Isle Foods in County Kildare, who have been engaged in strike action at the plant for the last six months, today [Wednesday] began a hunger strike.

The Technical, Electrical and Engineering Union [TEEU] said last night that shop steward Jim Wyse would be the first to commence the fast in protest at the continued refusal of Green Isle Foods to accept Labour Court recommendations for the settlement of the lengthy dispute over the dismissal of union members.

The Green Isle workers accepted Labour Court recommendations to resolve the dispute in December last year and again in January. The Court ordered Green Isle to pay the dismissed men €40,000, €60,000 and €80,000 compensation respectively last December. When the company refused to pay the awards, the Court recommended the reinstatement of the men with full pay.

The union said that, if the company continued to refuse to accept the court’s recommendations or engage in talks with the TEEU, a second member would join the hunger strike on February 24, followed by another worker each Wednesday.

A number of employees at the plant were sacked after a confidential file was sent in error to a staff member. The file contained restructuring proposals, and the employee shared that information with staff.

“They told staff inside that we could stay out here until we rot, and they obviously meant it”, said Wyse.

“We mean what we say too.

“For five of the last six months, the company has refused to talk to us. In spite of all we have been through, we contacted the company after Christmas to ask for talks on the basis of the Labour Court recommendations, which were in our favour. They wouldn’t meet with TEEU officials but agreed to meet us in direct talks. We accepted as we felt we had the Labour Court findings as a guide.

“There were three meetings over four weeks. Each lasted about 10 minutes. They didn’t even bring a notebook with them. We even offered a compromise based on less than the Court’s terms.”

Wyse says that, in light of past events, the hunger strike will not be called off until there is a resolution of the dispute.

“They want us to go back on new pay and conditions and leave the three lads dismissed. This protest has to start. We have to save our dignity and self-respect. We’re not going to be walked on.”

Jim and any others who join him will be staying in a caravan on the picket line during the hunger strike.

Jim is 58 and has been working at the plant for 13 years. He is married with five grown up children, four grand children “and another one on the way”. His youngest son is with him on the picket line.

“It is the younger people it is affecting most”, he says.

One of the dismissed men, who has been with Green Isle for 16 years, has several young children.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has granted the TEEU an All-Out picket against Green Isle Foods. Its products include Goodfellas and San Marco pizzas, Donegal Catch, a variety of savoury filled pastries, potatoes and other vegetables.

The TEEU has called on fellow trade unionists to support the protest rally in Naas being organised by the Kildare Council of Trade Unions on Saturday, February 27.

The rally will be at the Storm Cinema car park in Naas and a march will follow to the Green Isle Foods plant, where the men have been on strike since August 2009.

Dublin Port Workers Back on the Picket Line

As reported previously [see below], the locked-out MTL workers at Dublin Port have voted to resume active strike action.

Pickets at the company will recommence on Monday, February 22 and the plan to renew the struggle has received the full backing of the Dublin Port Workers Support Group. The Support Group includes residents from the East Wall, Ringsend and Irish Town areas, trade unionists and political parties, including éirígí.

The companies that are linked to those in dispute, Marine Terminals Ltd and Peel Ports, include Deutsche Bank, Glasgow Celtic Football Club and Dunnes Stores.

15/02/10

Support the Dublin Port Workers

éirígí activist and Dublin City councillor Louise Minihan has said that the party will continue to actively support the MTL workers at Dublin Port as they announced renewed strike action today [Monday].

The Marine Terminals Ltd staff at the port in the capital endured a 111-day strike last year in protest against efforts to implement arbitrary compulsory redundancies by MTL management.

Click here to read on. >>

03/02/10

13,000 More on the Dole

Figures released today [Wednesday] by the Twenty-Six County Central Statistics Office have revealed that the number of workers signing on jumped by 13,341 in January.

On average, 430 people a day have lost their jobs since the start of the year.

434,700 people in the Twenty-Six Counties are now without regular work; when the figures from the Six Counties are added to this, the national total of unemployed workers stands at over a half a million.

In the Twenty-Six Counties, one in three young men are unemployed, while many more are facing that most Irish of career moves: emigration.

éirígí chairperson Brian Leeson said the Dublin government was presiding over a national crisis.

“The Twenty-Six County government has watched from the sidelines while company after company has closed its doors on workers and left tens of thousands of families staring into a poverty stricken future. Not only this, but the same government has used working people’s money to provide a safety net for the business class, all while drawing up plans for viscous attacks on public services.

“Meanwhile, in the Six Counties, the establishment parties have been able to secure an extra £1 billion [€1.1 billion] for their pet project of policing and justice but not one penny for laid-off workers or the under-funded health and education services.

“The politicians in power in this country couldn’t care less about the plight of those who have lost their livelihoods. It is only when working people begin to take determined, united action that they will sit up and take notice.”

Worrying Times for Minimum Wage Workers

The Dublin government should reduce the minimum wage by more than 10 per cent to “protect jobs in the hospitality sector”, the Twenty-Six County Committee on Enterprise and Employment has heard.

Chief executive of the Restaurants Association Adrian Cummins claimed Irish restaurants paid catering staff the highest rates in Europe.

However, Mr Cummins was not as forthcoming on what his own wage rate is and what type of pay cut he is willing to take to demonstrate leadership in ‘these worrying times’.

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