"The workers united will never be defeated"- The Thomas Cook Lock In.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, Commerzbank AG and BayernLB speak for 43.9 percent of the Thomas Cook company, Arcandor (a german retailer) handed over that chunk of the profitable holiday chain in return for loans to cover it’s bad debts which amounted to 1.5 Billion. Royal Bank of Scotland, by the way, was the recipient of a bailout from the UK taxpayer. These international deals set the back drop for an inspiring show of worker’s initiative, solidarity, bravery and defiance.

On Friday 31st of July managers flew in from Britain with the intention of dismissing the workers from the two shops without notice, these managers had booked return flights for later that afternoon and so believed they would have no trouble firing the dublin workforce.They were in for a shock. Antoinette Shevlin, a worker there, describes the first day

”The lockin began because senior management from Thomas Cook arrived to the Dublin retail shops last Friday and called the staff together to say that the shops were being closed early due to staff demonstrating for a better redundancy package on the previous Wednesday. They requested that the staff leave in an orderly fashion and that they would receive their redundancy in due course. Thomas Cook had ended the negotiations by telephone on the 23rd July without the redundancy package being agreed on. Also, thay gave a closing date of the 6th September but if the staff protested they would close the shops earlier on the 7th August and the staff would only receive statutory redundancy. The offer they had made was for 5 weeks per year of service but bearing in mind that Thomas Cook are predicting profits of over 400 million this is a derisory offer.

When the lockin began I received a phone call from James asking if there was anything the SWP could do to help. They offered to place a picket outside the shop and stayed for the duration of the lockin. The response we got from the public was overwhelming. Also, the support from the SWP and other unions was very much appreciated as it helped to highlight our plight.”

The workers locked themselves in the upstairs office and left the shocked managers downstairs in the shop. Kieron Shorthall, thomas cook worker, led chants out the windows until an hour or two later the press arrived. The press photographer wanted a picture of Avril, an eight and a half month pregnant worker, and the workers came downstairs with management scowling, the press officer for thomas cook and the managers attempted to push the photographer out the door but were themselves evicted from the premises. Two of the managers left in tears, but these weren’t tears of emotion they were tears of frustration that these workers had dared to make a stand. Antoinette describes the elation in the shop-

”The mood inside the shop was very upbeat as we felt we had the publics vote for what we were doing. Also, the help that was given to us by way of donations and food greatly encouraged us.”

The support stall outside the store collected thousands of signatures a day with donations pouring in, groups of workers praised the bravery of the workers.On Aug 1st Direct Holidays, a sister shop to Thomas Cooks, on dublin’s Talbot St occupied. Workers felt that suspicious behaviour by security gaurds meant that their shop was threatened by immenent closure. This meant that staff from 3 stores were now in occupation.

”As everyone knows it all ended in the early hours of the morning of the 4th August. It was an experience I hope I will never have to go through again. It was very frightening and the show that was put on by the Gardai was very excessive and a complete waste of tax payers money. We were not dangerous criminals just ordinary working class people fighting for our rights. Having said that, the Gardai treated us very well when we arrived in the Bridewell Station. Thankfully in court the judge saw us for what we really were and we were set free. At least someone in authority had some sense.

We will always be grateful for the support shown to us in our hour of need.”
Antoinette describing the last day. The High Court had sat specially on a Bank Holiday to declare the workers in contempt for not appearing before a previous session of the court. The High Court is being used again and again to limit and break worker’s struggles, from the MTL port workers to injunctions against the Electricians and the Caroll’s Joinery workers from Kilkenny. If workers dont start breaking the law the law will break the worker’s movement.

The police waited until 5am to end the occupation, the streets were completely empty by that stage and the support protests outside had dwindled to about 13 or so activists (9 from the Socialist Workers Party, 1 from the Socialist Party and a few others). A taxi came speeding around the corner and stopped in front of the store, ”i dont know what you’ve done”, he said ” but there’s about 50 cops coming out of the station”. We straight away saw two columns of gaurds marching around the corner, we shouted into the occupation ”they’re here!”. Some of those inside who were awake began phoning the Press, while others, who had been sleeping, began to wake up.

We linked arms and sat in front of the door shouting ”this is a peaceful protest” but the gaurds threw us from in front of the door and then, after securing the street with barricades, used a metal ram to smash in the glass. It was at this point that Avril went into labour. An ambulance was called but her partner was held back and not allowed to accompany her as he was under arrest. The police read the Court Order to those inside and began to take them out one by one.

The workers were taken to the Bridewell over night and to court the next day, protesters began to gather over the course of the day ouside the Four Courts chanting loud enough for those inside to hear the level of support they had from family, friends and other workers.

”I’m proud of what i’ve done” Kieron Shorthall told assemled reporters. And he should be, because the Thomas Cook workers have shown how to fight back against redundancy, they occupied, they were released without charge by the High Court, and they forced the company back to the negotiating table, but not only that, they forced and entire nation to question the relationship between the Courts, The State and the multi millionaires who run companies like Arcandor, Thomas Cooks and Royal Bank of Scotland.

The Thomas Cook occupation and Worker's Protests across the city and country show a beginning of a revival of workers' militancy
We're beginning to see a recovery of strike figures in this country with protests, strikes and occupations bubbling up.
In response,the bosses and the State are using everything at their disposal to silence and break dissent.
They are determined to break wage agreements and break with the idea of a right to redundancy payments.

The breaking of the occupation by the State on behalf of Thomas Cook is the latest in a series of actions taken by the High Court against workers, from the workers at MTL in Dublin Port to the Electricians.
If the High Court is used as a weapon to break worker's struggles then an order to defend our wages, to protect employment agreements, it is in our interest to take actions that break the laws that destroy our struggles. Laws that jail protestors, break worker's occupations and limit and render strikes ineffective.
We also need support from the organised working class for these struggles. We have massive power and strength in our numbers and ability to shut this economy down.
It’s about time that we used it.

a letter from ireland

(picture by michael gallagher myspace.com/libertypix)
This weekend saw 120,000 workers march through the streets of Dublin calling for the withdrawal of the Fianna Fail governments 'pension levy'. The levy means that a public sector worker who earns 35,000 euro a year will lose 50 euro a week from their pay packet, so a couple who both work in the public sector are losing 400 euro a month, which is the cost of a mortgage and is an amount that most just cannot afford to pay.
This levy comes with a string of other vicious cuts against both private and public workers, the young, old and the unemployed. The right wing parties spouting pathetic justifications to, unsuccessfully, convince the irish working class to pay for the crisis. They have cut aid to children from Ireland's 'Traveller' community to assist them in school, they have cut aid to all children once they hit 5 years of age, creches, community drugs schemes, teachers and they want to slash our bus routes.
But people have reacted and reacted with anger. When the cuts were first announced there was a general meeting of the union IMPACT, which is a public services union, at which the leadership of the union called for an 'email campaign' and valentines day protests outside ministers constituency offices. There was fury from the members, the meeting erupted into calls for ballots for immediate strike action. The evening news on ireland's state TV reported the union leaders resolutions but ignored the call for strike action, there is a real fear in the Irish ruling class of a fight back from any sector inspiring others, but they cant hold back the anger that's out there no matter how hard they try.
'Teachers United' a grassroots movement of rank and file teachers picketed Anglo Irish Bank, a bank which has just been nationalised and its estimated that this manouvere has cost each household here 20,000 euro, the director of the bank, parasite Sean Fitzpatrick, it was revealed, gave himself loans of 80 million. Then it emerged that Anglo Irish had loaned 10 people secretly 400 million euro to buy shares in the bank just before nationalisation, if the shares went up they made huge profits, if they went down well the irish taxpayer was paying for the loan anyway.
The teachers protest got a lot of media attention because people are well aware of the connections between the shady dealings of the banks and the right wingers in the parliament buildings.
A meeting of rank and file and various sympathetic officers of all the unions was called in Dublin at which people called for an 'iceland style situation' and general strike action across all sectors to reverse the cuts and to bring down the government. Various trade union members spoke of the fear and anger they encountered amongst fellow workers and how, despite the sabotage of the union leadership, they had managed, in some cases, to call huge meetings of workers (up to 500 in a lot of cases!) where the call for strike action and ballots to all members for such action was unananimously endorsed. The meeting was adressed by a worker from the Waterford Crystal factory which is still in occupation- he pointed out that we must resist the media onslaught which has been savagely attempting to drive a wedge between the private and the public sector workers. He recieved a standing ovation from every single person there. Everyone left the meeting determined to go back to there own unions and build for the national stoppage.
Last wednesday the CPSU, the civil service union, had a walkout attended by thousands of members, at which we did a stall calling for further action and across all sectors, workers were coming up to the table saying 'we completely agree with you but why sign a petition? we need strike action NOW!'.
The busdrivers have been protesting constantly outside both the Department of Transport and out side the headquarters of the Green Party (who are in coalition with the Right, and despite claims to want more public transport have gone along with every cut). The drivers strike this week beginning on Friday and socialists and the People Before Profit movement organised public meetings across the city to defend our bus routes. At the meetings people from the working class communities affected spoke passionately in favour of the bus workers actions. Everywhere you look right now the phrase 'the workers united will never be defeated' is becoming a reality.

On saturday last, the 21st of February, 120,000 workers marched through Dublin city centre to the seat of Government to show their opposition to, not only these cuts, but the Fianna Fail government and their friends in the banks. People began to gather from early in the morning at the top of Dublin's O'Connell street, we were overwhelmed by the response to our stall calling for united strike action, people cheered and shook our hands, we sold hundreds and hundreds of socialist newspapers. The banners making thier way up the street showed the diversity of the opposition to this government but also the unity amongst the workers both public and private.
The Irish Travellers Rights association, Nurses, Firemen,Civil Servants, The Waterford Crystal workers (who were applauded all the way up the street by every single person standing on either side), Taxi drivers,Shell to Sea campaign,AntiWar activists, The Socialists, Students, Anarchists, Sinn Fein, Teachers, Doctors, Binmen and even the Soldiers and some sections of the police. The mood in irish society right now is so strongly turned against the government that the soldiers union have felt the strength to come out and state that not one of their members will break any strike. This has sent the government and the Army Officers into a panic, a high ranking officer this week in the papers was stated as saying that he would force the obedience of the lower ranks. Not sure exactly how they plan to force the men to break a strike, but its a sign of how much this government is losing control.

With the CPSU walking out of work this Thursday and the Buses out on Friday it looks like Fianna Fail are going to fail in their attempt to make the working class of Ireland pay for their criminal friends in the banks and the anarchy of the system they benefit from.
With a National One Day strike coming in the near future it seems the Irish Gulliver has woken on the beach and is starting to realise that he's tied down by nothing but tiny Lilliputians.

The workers are united. And although this movement will have it's peaks and valleys nothing can ever be the same again. Come visit Ireland...we're about to bring down a government!

we need a one day national stoppage!!

(people in iceland protesting daily)

Socialist Worker Leaflet

• No Pay Cuts or Pension Levies

• Bail out Jobs and Services not the Bankers

• Support the Waterford Crystal Sit In.

The pension levy on public sector workers is an outrage. Many low and middle income employees, who have taken out large mortgages, simply cannot afford to pay it.

The levy is another name for a pay cut:

• An employee on €45,000 will pay an extra €63 a week.
• An employee on €35,000, €43 a week

This pay cut is on top of a 1 percent levy on gross income and the deferment of all wage rises due under the current partnership deal.

Public sector workers did not cause the economic mess.

Nor are they the ‘bloated’ over-paid sector portrayed by the media. According to the OECD, Ireland has the third lowest rate of public expenditure compared to Gross Domestic Product, just ahead of Korea and Mexico.

Public sector workers already pay a 6.5% contribution to their pension. The real problem is not public sector workers but private sector employers who want to pay nothing to their employees’ pension funds.

While public sector workers are being attacked, the government is putting up €8 billion to ‘re-capitalise’ the banks. Despite all the talk of a ‘national effort’ to solve the crisis, no extra taxes have been imposed on the super-wealthy.

Instead of bailing out bankers, the government should put money into saving the jobs at Waterford Crystal and other areas where workers are being made redundant.

We need a massive programme of public works to help people who have been made redundant.

In this ecocomic crisis, workers are once again being asked to carry the can - while the super rich, who helped to cause the economic collapse through speculation, get off scott free.

A NATIONAL SHUT DOWN

This is entirely unacceptable. The unions need to organise serious action to resist these pay cuts. Talking and complaining is not enough when the very future of the trade union movement is at stake.

We need a one day national shut-down - and French style protests to demonstrates our opposition.

Public sector workers should initiate this one day shut down and invite private sector workers, who are facing pay cuts and redundancies, to join the action.

If such action is not organised by union leaders, it will have to come from the grassroots.

The over-70s showed how ‘people power’, how a mass movement from below could bring about some measure of social justice. Now is the time for the trade unions to do the same.