Workers Solidarity Movement

In Cork the mobilisation for the National Day of Action against the Household and Water Tax saw a lively and noisy crowd of over 500 hundred march through the centre of Cork City.  At the rally beforehand members from some of the local areas involved in the Campaign in Cork took advantage of the open mic forum to explain why they opposed the tax.  Speakers from Farranree, Bishopstown and Cobh declared their intention not to register or pay the tax.  The fact that the tax is unjust and will rise sharply in a short period of time was highlighted.  It was also pointed out that the proposed Water Tax which will follow shortly on the heels of the Household Tax is also a major threat.  The proposed Water Tax in itself will be a major burden and one that will hit the majority households harshly.

A lively and energetic meeting took place in the local community hall in the Dunard estate in Dublin 7 on Wednesday night.  The meeting was addressed by Councillor Cieran Perry and local resident and campaigner Dermot Sreenan about the upcoming Household Tax and the campaign against it.

An estimated 5,000 people marched in the streets of Cork yesterday to show their support for the former workers of the Vita Cortex factory, who have spent nearly 60 days occupying their former workplace as part of a struggle to get their former boss Jack Ronan to pay a €1.2m redundancy package that had been promised to them since last September. The march, organised by the Cork Council of Trade Unions, left from Connolly Hall on Lapp's Quay and concluded at the plaza at the southern end of Grand Parade, via Parnell Place and Patrick St.

A crowd of about 100 people gathered in the local GAA club in Cabra last Wednesday night (1^st Feb) and the message was simple and clear, we’re not registering, we are not paying.

Factory-gate rally draws large support ahead of LRC talks next week

This afternoon, the workers of Vita Cortex in Cork accompanied by several hundred supporters attended a rally at the factory gates on Kinsale Road, which was organised by the Cork Council of Trade Unions. Among the attendance showing their support for the Vita Cortex workers were several former staff from the La Senza lingerie store chain, who themselves were in dispute with the liquidator of their former employer KPMG until this Friday. They were made feel very welcome by the crowd, and the speakers from the impromptu platform in the factory carpark drew inspiration in their speeches from the result achieved by the La Senza workers who were in a similar situation to that facing the 32 Vita Cortex employees. The platform was compered by Pat Guilfoyle of the TEEU, and other speakers were Vita Cortex shop steward Seán Kelleher, president of Cork Council of Trade Unions Ann Piggott, and Joe O'Flynn, general secretary of SIPTU and Cork native. Mr. O'Flynn spoke of the efforts being made by SIPTU headquarters in pursuit of a resolution of this situation, and he castigated runaway employer Jack Ronan for refusing to pay the €1.2m owed to his former employees, a sum described by Mr. O'Flynn as 'not a king's ransom'. He also spoke of the union's determination to support the Vita Cortex workers in their dispute 'for the long haul, if it takes 30 days or 30 weeks, with the support of trade union members across the country'. The rally ended with a long peal of applause as the names of all 32 Vita Cortex workers were read out from the podium.

Station’s crime correspondent Paul Reynolds falsely reported that recording of Garda rape conversation was ‘tampered with’

Shell to Sea has revealed that RTÉ is being compelled to broadcast an apology ahead of Wednesday's Six-One and Nine O’Clock TV news programmes, as a result of RTÉ's biased coverage of Shell's attempt to build an experimental gas pipeline and refinery in Erris. In this specific case, RTÉ chose to ignore the facts as explained to them by Shell to Sea around technical issues concerning the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) investigation into the conversation Garda had about threatening to rape two women Shell to Sea campaigners they had arrested in April this year. RTÉ instead reported as fact the false suggestions of Justice Minister Alan Shatter, that part of the recording of the arrest had been deleted. 

Up to 800 people gathered in Central Bank plaza and marched on the Dáil with a clear message for the government; change up your policy and start protecting the vulnerable or you will find yourselves out of power in the wilderness along with the previous governing party. Banners were on the march from political organisations, community groups,  parents associations, and National Traveller organisations.  The mood was one of strong defiance. 

This is the fifth protest on this very issue but what people have witnessed is a continuation of the cuts which were started by the previous Government.   There had been a rumour which was converted into a promise by the political parties whilst they were campaigning that they were going to protect the vulnerable in this society.  Politicians campaign in the poetry of promises and govern in the prose of policy and they are fooling nobody with this routine.

Last Saturday (10th September) over 200 people attended the National Organising Meeting of the Anti-Household & Water Tax Campaign. People from over 16 counties arrived during the first session in the afternoon with more arriving later. The meeting was organised to co-ordinate a mass non-payment campaign against the €100 household charge announced by the government to come into effect on 1st January 2012. The campaign sees this as the “first step in the government’s plans to implement a fully fledged property and water tax by 2014 that could be around €1,200 according to one government economic advisor. “ In the long-term, this paves the way for the privatisation of the water supply, as occurred with refuse collection.

Le meurtre de Mark Duggan par la police a engendré quatre nuits d’émeutes dans toute l’Angleterre. Le déclencheur immédiat en a été le meurtre lui-même, mais aussi la goujaterie de la police envers la famille et les amis de Mark. Cependant, les émeutes ont rapidement pris une dimension plus large, exprimant une colère et une aliénation plus générales, colère qui trop souvent a été mal ciblée, frappant les cibles les plus proches et à portée de main. Il y eut par conséquent de grandes destructions de biens, dans des quartiers déjà déshérités, et des attaques anti-sociales contre des riverains. Malgré ces aspects, les racines des émeutes résident dans les conditions économiques et politiques qui régissent ces zones, non pas dans la “piètre éducation” des parents ou dans la “criminalité aveugle”. Ces conditions ont été créées par cette même élite de politiciens et d’hommes d’affaire qui en appellent maintenant à un retour à la normalité et à la répression. [Thanks to liberationirlande for the translation of this article, you can read the orignal in English]

(Image: By SkyFireXII via Flickr Creative Commons 2.0)