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ICTU pro 'partnership' vote a disgrace national |
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news report
 Wednesday March 26, 2003 23:52 by Paul Kinsella - CPSU paulkinsella53 at yahoo dot com 53 Lorcan Grove, Santry, Dublin 9, Eire 087-9748511
 But not surprising The only surprise was that the vote in favour was so close - only 45 votes seperated the pro and anti partnership sides. The choice is where do we go from here? Have ICTU finally signed their death warrant? Will the breakaway Independent Workers Union (IWU) gain many new disaffected union members? After constantly voting through various increasingly pro employer wage agreements over the last 15 years the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) sunk to new but not suprising lows today when they voted by an admitedly tight margin of only 45 votes in favour of the new 'partnership' deal - "Sustaining Progress". This deal is an absolute disgrace for workers in both the public and private sectors with the totally insulting pay rises of 7% over 18 months which will amount to a cut in real terms in the living standards of workers after inflation is taken into account. Many other features in this 'partnership' deal are even more objectionable than the pay terms, bad enough as they are. For example severe restrictions on the right to strike generally and an effective ban on strikes in the health service, effectively taking away nurses and other health service worker's right to strike against say poor pay and working conditions and cutbacks in the health service, and probably extended to many other workers in 'essential' services such as electricity generation, bus and rail workers, fire and ambulance drivers, binmen etc, binding arbitration in industrial disputes and lack of statutory union recognition amongst others. I know the war is of grave urgency and concern to us all, but this erosion of worker's rights should be of grave concern to us all and is something which should be discussed more on Indymedia Ireland. Talking of the war (yes I know! But it had to come up sometime) and on an indirectly related subject, were any emergency motions for urgent trade union mobilisation against the war proposed at today's ICTU SDC and were any passed? |
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Comments (8 of 8)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8Conference?
Christ Pat haven't you heard - they are all down in Shannon trying to win the workers over to stopping the use of Shannon as a warport.
I saw their banner in Shannon on March 1st as part of the IAWM march.
With Mick O'Reilly back in the ATGWU are they going to continue organising?
Have they tried for members in Shannon?
It was very disappointing that the IAWM did not support the lobby. Those who were present found it to be a very useful initiative. The trade unions must turn their words into action. We should demand action from them by getting groups of workers to send such a demand to their national unions and to ICTU - resolutions, appeals signed by workers from workplaces, phone calls, harrass them at every opportunity. We should also demand they PROTECT ANY WORKERS WHO TAKE ACTION AGAINST THE WAR and make a public declaration to that effect. Strike against the use of facilities at shannon should be campaigned for.
Anyone interested in this contact 086 3388962
Finally someone on indymedia seems serious about trying to stop this war. Ann Conway is right about having a strike in Shannon, it should have been done weeks ago, what is the swp and the sp doing about organising such a strike? and what is SIPTU and the ATGWU doing? both have been equally silent and inactive. ICTU will pretend to oppose this war just like they pretend to opposethe employers, but it is now obvious thatall the groups I mentioned above are just as fake and cynical.
p.s we need another useless march going nowhere like a hole in the head
Sadly the SP are not just doing nothing. At last Sundays IAWM meeting They voted down a proposal to lobby the ICTU conference in support of industrial action against the war.
Apparently they were afaraid they might alienate David Beggs and Des Geraghty. Its more important for the SP to have these selouts on their platform than to win over workers to strike action.
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