Workers Solidarity Movement

Our solidarity to Cadburys workers who today begin an indefinite strike at the Coolock plant against the outsourcing of jobs.  The company is trying to destroy 17 properly paid and pensionable jobs to replace them with minimum wage ones.

Our solidarity today to the LUAS workers striking for decent pay rates.  The crisis was used by the government and capitalist class to drive down wages and ensure that a bigger share of profits went to shareholders.  The LUAS fight is a fight for all of us as a victory should be a green light to all workers to demand pay rises, including the recovery of the money lost in the cuts imposed under the crisis.  Across the world the share of income that goes to the richest 1% has soared while that going tooth rest of us has been slashed, we need to fight to reverse this.

Bombardier reported a profit of $125 million last quarter yet our media is telling us that the Company is in a serious financial crisis and that significant changes will have to be made to the workforce as a result.

As Iarnród Éireann’s contract for operating train services is due to expire in 2019, the National Bus and Rail Union claims that it will vehemently oppose any move towards privatisation [1].

In recent months, the EU Commission has been pressing for changes which would see Irish Rail opened up to tenders from competitors [2]. The successful operation of the Luas by French company Veolia has convinced EU officials that there would be sufficient demand by other investors for the rail contract [2].

Fridays shock closure of the iconic Clery’s department store in Dublin shows how the law is set up to favour capital and screw workers. Workers are being told there may be no additional redundancy or owed holiday payments as the company is in debt. But this is only the case because right before the closure the largest asset, the building itself, was separated off from the accumulated debts. This was almost certainly legal under our system but of such obvious dubious morality that the workers could expect massive popular support if they occupied the building on a permanent ongoing basis.

According to SIPTU unions organisers some of the workers are owned “four or five weeks’ wages” and the limited redundancy they will get will come not from the company but from the rest of us via the government’s insolvency and social insurance fund which pays out statutory redundancy when companies declare bankruptcy. In other words all those costs are to paid by us.

Today in the North of Ireland it will become illegal for people to pay for sex work.

In spite of protests by sex workers and their allies Stormont has ignored their voices.

Despite 98% of sex workers who were surveyed by the Department of Justice last year coming out against the bill, 81 MLAs (out of 108) voted in favour of it. This represents a complete contempt towards sex workers as they struggle for labour rights.

The new law is extremely irresponsible and it will do nothing to protect sex workers; it will only drive them further underground and put them in more danger. Banning the purchase of sex isn't going to stop it happening and it would be foolish to think so.

'Today 5 activists occupied United Colors of Benetton, St. Stephen's Green [Dublin] asking Benetton to honour their pledge of 5 million dollars to the victims of the Rana Plaza Collapse [deadliest garment factory incident in history] which claimed the lives of 1134 people and left over 2500 casualties.

Within 16 minutes of entering the shop 4 Gardaí arrived and asked the manager to tell us to leave.

The Gardaí then removed us one by one using unnecessary force. The result was the security saying we were now barred from the shopping centre.

Last Thursday the local branch of Dunnes stores in Gorey Co. Wexford, closed due to an injunction which was brought upon the store by banning the managing agent for the receiver of Gorey shopping center. The injunction was to close the door which leads directly to the car-park. The effect of the door was that customers bypassed the smaller shops in the shopping mall. Dunnes Stores never asked the management for permission to construct the door; it was a clear breach of the lease.