** UPADTE 9TH MAY: Joe Higgins T.D. calls on Commission for Energy Regulation to cancel electricity generation licence to Tynagh Energy unless GAMA agrees to resolve outstanding pay issues immediately **

At a meeting of the Committee of GAMA employees currently on work stoppage, it was decided to call on GAMA management to come forward with a realistic proposal to resolve the outstanding issues, which include major unpaid overtime and the plight of a category of GAMA employees known as fixed rate workers.

The fixed rate employees include such workers as surveyors and drivers. The typical wage would be in the region of €800 per month, but that involved working the same 80-hour plus week as other workers.

GAMA today (Friday May 7th) made a concession and paid a back amount of money to the fixed rate workers equivalent to 42% of their previous wage. This is totally inadequate however as it would mean only an extra €332 for a worker on the €800 a month rate. This would mean that a fixed rate worker here for say, three years would get around €10,000, but a construction operative here for the same time would have had up to €30,000 in Finansbank, Holland.

The GAMA workers on strike today said they would be prepared to call a mass meeting of all workers in dispute, if the company made a realistic offer to the fixed rate workers and also a substantial offer in regard to the outstanding overtime for all workers.

The Committee consider it a major achievement that virtually all their wages that were hidden in Finansbank, Holland have now been transferred to their personal accounts. It is also a major achievement that GAMA is now committing itself to paying trade union rates of pay to all its workers.

The Committee realise that these concessions were won in the wake of the workers hard fight and are determined to continue the fight for justice until GAMA come forward with just and realistic proposals.

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It was a cold, wet April evening when a small group of us gathered by the canal in order to open the Dolphin's Barn Community Garden. It had been a dull day, and by the time we made our way into the garden, the full moon was hanging overhead. On the bank of the canal opposite the public library, close to the bridge at Dolphin's Barn, behind the walls of a factory, stood a disused area of grass. This area contained three billboards, 6,000 square metres of grass, and very little else.

At the recent Grassroots Gathering workshop it was decided to take over the space to plant trees and vegetables rather than to see it wasted. And so, on April 12th, in co-operation with a week-long 'tree walk', through Dublin city, we made our way down the canal in the rain, armed with hazel trees to plant in our new garden.  

Why are we doing this? Well, there are several of us involved, each for our own reasons, but I suppose the idea is centred around the two ideas of environment and community. The project is an attempt to address the lack of green spaces in our city.   We are using the garden to grow food. We intend to engage with the local community. The garden is also a social space, giving us a chance to engage with other like-minded people. Some of us have a vision of an unbroken greenway through Dublin City, encompassing the two canals, the Botanic Gardens, and the Phoenix Park. The idea of the garden is not an original idea: there are community gardens in Cork, and in Belfast , and around the world. This garden fits into a bigger picture of community activists trying to improve the urban experience.  

By the end of that first evening my socks were wet through and my trousers were filthy, but we had planted three hazel trees and two willow trees, and the community garden was underway. Now, three weeks later, we have planted another three hazels and some apple trees, and we have cleared a large space of earth, planting four rows of herbs, seeds, vegetables and flowers, including potatoes, garlic, onions, celery, parsley, rosemary, and fuchsia. We also made initial contact with the local community, survived a visit from the Garda , made several useful external contacts (including in the city council), and each of us has made new friends.

:-) .:.-) @-) +-) €-) $-) %-) maith an rts! & tell me you auld fellahs and auld wans, did yiz think the day would come when a pirate flag would fly in Dublin, and your james connolly would be hooded, and your sean o'casey would have a bridge and the civic guards would be on bikes watching the kids scrawling in crayon on the wall?

Welcome to the XXI century

Related Link: James Connolly Internet Archive
Related Story: May Day Speech: Joe Higgins' Challenge to Irish Trade Unions