No
doubt Brian Cowen was fairly pleased this morning when he woke up after seeing
the pension levy go through in the Dáil. But a rock solid strike of 13,000 civil
servants will have soon brought him back to reality. This was the first
national civil servants’ strike in twenty years.
As
well as Dublin, where government buildings and the Dáil were picketed, 700
turned out in Cork and in Limerick, while 600 were out in Sligo. Meanwhile
Tullamore, Letterkenny, Ennis, Westport,
Athlone, Castlebar, Wexford, Kilkenny, Galway,
Cavan, Dundalk, Portlaoise, Longford, Tralee, Killarney and saw picketing.Waterford
The
solid nature of the strike and the national character of the dispute means a
lot in the run up to the national series of strikes that ICTU have called for
the 30th March. Despite the fact that half the membership of the
Civil and Public Services Union are based in Dublin the strike seems to have penetrated
the whole country.
Despite
Taoiseach Cowen’s protests, this movement sets to grow and grow. The key task
for Trade Unionists and Socialists in Ireland must be build for March 30th;
let’s turn it into a one day general strike!
