November the 6th....

Remember remember the 6th of November!

On the 6th of November workers all over Ireland, both North and South, will march against Government cutbacks and the handling of the economic crisis. With Fianna Fail intent on slashing their way through public sector jobs and destroying our services the worker's movement is returning to the streets.
This has been an intense year for working class people and many many lessons have been learned. We started last winter with the Pensioners resisting the Governments suggestion that Medical Cards would be taken from the over 70's which brought 15,000 old people onto the streets on the same day as a students anti-fees demonstration of 15,000. When the two marches met at the Dail the young and the old greeted each other with massive cheers. But it was the old folks who shouted down speakers from the mainstream parties who took to the stage to placate the anger.
We then had the march in support of our Teachers which saw 80,000 teachers, parents and students take to the streets.
The movement was climbing all leading up to the ICTU march of 120,000 workers, both public and private sector, marching together. The march was led by the Waterford Crystal workers who had occupied their plant in February.
On that march the radical left's call for a 24 hour stoppage had huge resonance and the Union leaders were forced to call a day of action.
But the movement was demoralised massively by the Union Leader's decision to call off the day of action with 3 days notice, only to go into 'talks' with the government.
The ground was set for the Government to bring in their vicious April Budget, which if the worker's movement had progressed would have met massive opposition. With the working class demobilised it was easy for Fianna Fail to kick us while down.
Over the summer the anger expressed itself in the swing towards Labour in the council elections, the election of 5 People Before Profit candidates and the devastation of the Green Party.
This passive show of anger at the ballot box was followed by the break out of a number of economic struggles- at Marine Terminal Limited, Mr. Binman, Four Courts cleaners, Carrolls Joinery and the impressive Thomas Cook occupation.
The autumn saw the continuation of some of these strikes and the break out of further economic struggles at Coca Cola HBC and Green Isle Foods.
Now we have once more a worker's movement on the rise with the 24-7 alliance, an alliance of firefighters, nurses, soldiers and even the police representatives, who held meetings of over 1,500 in Sligo, 1,000 in Cork, 1,000 in Kilkenny and over 1,300 in Dublin. the alliance is joining the Trade Union march on the 6th of November when we'll have Public and Private sector workers, soldiers and firefighter on the streets.
There is a National Stoppage planned for Nov 24th.
Lets hope he Union leaders aren't stupid enough to lose the momentum once again.
We have to make sure we keep the pressure on them not to cave in.

BOOTS workers to strike....

Boots Chemists posted €20 million in profits for the year to March 2008 in Ireland and according to the New York Times- Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (the private equity firm that bought out Boots) looks set to generate pre-tax profits of up to $1.3 Billion for their shareholders!
Yet it’s in the interests of these shareholders that Boots staff are now expected to take pay cuts of up to 15.5% along with a reduction in terms and conditions despite Boots still being a highly profitable company with current cash reserves in excess of €70 million.
Some of Boots demands include - A 15.5% wage reduction at the top scale of pay from €14.20 to €12 per hour, A 25% reduction in public holiday pay, A 25% reduction in Sunday Premiums, Increased flexibility in weekend work for full time staff.

Boots management have dcclared that they will terminate all agreements with the Mandate Union from Nov 17th.
Workers have to put some manners on this company to let them know that they cannot get away with such blatant contempt for their hard working staff.

Boots joins the ranks of a number of companies who have provoked strike action on the part of their workers- Marine Terminals Limited, Coca Cola HBC, Green Isle Foods, Budget Travel, Mr. Binman- have all tried to use the recession (despite profitability) to drive down wages and conditions.

Workers should read the history and results of the above disputes, we need to fight wholeheartedly with our Unions when they voice our concerns, but if the Union wavers and falls short of delivering what the members demand we need to have in place rank and file organisation – spokespeople for each store elected from the workers in each store that can raise the concerns of workers at meetings with the Unions.