Workers Solidarity Movement

Anglo Irish Bank Boss, Alan Dukes, called for the immediate imposition of a Water Tax on every household in the country, in an RTE interview at the weekend. Dukes enjoys a TDs pension of €45,500, a ministerial pension of €55,000 on top of his undisclosed salary of over €100,000 as bank boss. When asked recently would he give up these pensions in the countrys' interest as he has a extremely well paid job, he answered no.

Within hours of announcing that the real cost of the Anglo bailout was going to be 30 billion plus rather than the 1.5 billion first estimated the government was revealing its plan for further cuts in our pay welfare, and public services to pay for this. The bank bailouts, not totalling 45 billion, will push the budget deficit to 32% of GDP, the government has the intention of continuing to attack the living standards of workers in Ireland until this is reduced to the 3% required by the EU.

On Thursday it was William Slattery of State Street.  Today it’s the chair of Goldman Sachs International “a leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm that provides a wide range of financial services to a substantial and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and high-net-worth individuals.”  And workers and the unemployed are again the target.

William Slattery, Executive vice-president of financial services company State Street and head of its Irish operation has called for 30,000 public servants to be sacked.  Mr. Slattery made his call at a conference to discuss the implementation of the Croke Park agreement.

Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan, Taoiseach Brian Cowen and representatives of the National Treasury Management Agency have spent the time since early Tuesday afternoon boasting about their latest “successful bond auction”. 

Many trade union activists have known for years that “social partnership” comes at a huge price for union independence and the ability of trade unions to defend the interest of their members. The myth that government and employers on one side and workers on the other side have some form of common interest has been peddled for over twenty years.  This has resulted in a trade union movement whose leadership seems incapable of independent thought and whose membership has been browbeaten into accepting pay cuts, ‘pension levies’ and various attacks on our working conditions and living standards over the past couple of years.

The €25 billion cost of reducing the pupil teacher ratio in all primary schools to 10:1 for the next 20 years is “manageable” and will not bankrupt the country, Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan has contended.

Following consultations with his government colleagues and with the EU Commission, Mr. Lenihan said that the children of Ireland had had to live with the problems caused by the economic policies of his and previous governments and had had to “navigate some very difficult waters”.

As ordinary people continue to suffer the consequences of the economic collapse – through wage cuts, job losses, short term working etc., politicians are fond of telling us that we must all share the pain.

However figures for new car sales released by the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) show that not everyone is sharing the pain.  The most popular car sold in August was the BMW 5 series which has a starting price of €50,000.

Words: Gregor Kerr

The state employment and training service, FAS, is telling the unemployed to work for nothing.  On the 29th July 2010 they had 484 work experience positions on offer.   Not only do these jobs pay no wages, they are allowing bosses to get rid of staff and replace them with free labour.

The Civil Partnership Bill was signed into law in July and the first civil registrations are expected early next year. The new legislation provides same-sex (and heterosexual) couples with ‘marriage-like benefits’ and can be seen as a move towards equality for LGBT (Lesbian, Gay Bisexual and Transsexual) people.