IMPACT
members have voted 86% to 14% for strike action on a 69% ballot. This
is a huge change from the position in March where a similar vote
resulted in a 65% Yes vote on a 53% turnout. The vote in March fell
just short of the 2/3 barrier that union rules lay down as the minimum
threshold for official action to be sanctioned.
This
marks a dramatic shift over the past 7 months. But that’s hardly a
surprise given the imposition of the levy, the slash and burn budget
and the threats of cuts and redundancies and the general economic chaos
and political crisis that threatens public sector workers.
Certainly
this vote represents a victory in the campaign to turn back the bosses’
assault on the Irish working class. It’s something to build on it will
have a big effect on the other ballots that are taking place and
strengthens the hand of the union leaders. The Irish working class was
immensely strengthened by the huge boom that took place between 1995
and 2007. The numbers in work grew and trade union membership increased
in absolute terms. But more than anything else, the Celtic Tiger gave
us something to fight for. In the boom the bosses made some
concessions. Now they are desperate to take them back, and for sure
they want the interest as well. It’s a clear case of give them an inch
and they’ll take a mile, a country mile at that.
In
Britain in the 1980’s the Miners strike was bitter and protracted. One
of the reasons for this was that the miners had won a certain standard
of living and through struggle had won improved safety conditions and
rights. They had invested a huge amount in their pits and they were
going to fight to defend them.
There’s
a similar process going on in Ireland at the moment. The economy
doubled in size in 12 years. But it’s not a simple process of winding
back the clock that Cowen and Lenihan are engaged in. The Bórd Snip
report and the much heralded cuts in the next budget are far too much
to bear. It’s a life or death struggle for the public sector in Ireland
and that has raised the stakes onto a much higher level.
Things
have changed. We were very critical of the line that David Begg put on
his way to meet the Taoiseach and rightly so. That is because try as
they might the trade union leaders will not find a way out of the
crisis on the path of social partnership. Leon Trotsky explained in
1940 just before his death that these arrangements always have a
tendency to break down because of crisis and the pressure from below on
the trade union leaders. What could be more accurate today than those
words?
The
pressure has been building for months and now seems to have reached a
qualitatively different stage. As the Irish Times explained on 22nd October:
“Unions
representing 100,000 public sector workers are balloting their members
on industrial action, including strikes, if the Government proceeds
with plans to introduce further cuts in pay and services.
Representatives
of the six unions in the 24/7 Frontline Service Alliance held a joint
meeting in Liberty Hall, Dublin this morning at which they decided to
escalate their opposition to cuts.
The
group, which represents public servants including nurses, gardaí,
firefighters and prison officers, said it did not want to take
industrial action but would do so if the “savage” cuts proposed in the
McCarthy Report were implemented.
“All
the unions in the alliance who can ballot under their constitutions are
now balloting and we will continue to act and whatever mandate we
receive will be utilised,” Irish Nurses Organisation general secretary
Liam Doran said.
The
Garda Representative Association (GRA) and Association of Garda
Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) cannot ballot on industrial action.
However General Secretary of the AGSI Joe Dirwan said the alliance was
united in its aims and his members would be “innovative” in relation to
the action they would take.
“Whatever
action or inaction we decide to take we will not put the public in
danger… if we inconvenience them it will be far less in convenience
than if the implementation of the McCarthy report goes ahead.””
In March we
criticised the ICTU leaders for leading the workers to the top of the
hill and then leading them back down again scratching their heads. The
trade unions are the basic defensive organisations of the working
class. But the strength of the union ultimately depends on the
preparedness of the workers to struggle. Leadership with a sense of
perspective is vital in galvanising the movement. The leadership of the
Irish unions are under a lot of pressure to deliver the goods. For the
active members and the socialists in the unions, the task is clear keep
up the pressure and fight for a socialist answer to the capitalist
crisis. That’s the only way to stop the axe from swinging.
Click here to visit the Fightback site
