Latest News & Updates

Workers in Struggle

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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26/10/10

Fighting Back: The French Working Class Rises Up

“Because it is unfair”, this was the simple message delivered by a member of the CGT Union who appeared on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland last week to discuss the growing working class revolt in France.

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04/10/10

Working People Must Be In This Together

Last Wednesday, around 5,000 people participated in rallies in Belfast and Derry, organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions as part of a European day of action against austerity measures and attacks on public services.

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30/09/10

Together in Struggle: European Workers on the March

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of some of Europe’s biggest cities yesterday as workers sent a strong warning to governments across the continent.

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10/09/10

Organising the Fightback Against the Tory Assault

The British government is working to take the welfare state apart. The legacy of Margaret Thatcher is being evoked often by Tory MPs, with a proud acclamation that the government of David Cameron is going further than Thatcher’s ever did, and faster. They are able to safely use the issue of dealing with the current deficit as a cover for their ideological mission.

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09/09/10

Ó Cuív’s workfare proposals must be opposed

Twenty-Six County Minister for ‘Social Protection’ Éamon Ó Cuív announced this week that up to 10,000 unemployed people in the Twenty-Six counties will be forced into employment schemes or face the threat of losing their benefit payments.

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10/08/10

Thousands March Against Health Cuts in Letterkenny

Thousands of people took to the streets of Letterkenny in Co Donegal on Saturday [August 7] to show their anger at Dublin Government and HSE plans to slash services at Letterkenny General Hospital and to impose other cuts throughout the health service.

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