The results of the SIPTU and IMPACT ballots recently
that the Croke Park deal was eventually pushed through by the ICTU
leaders, aided and abetted by the whole of the bought and paid for press
and with the full support of the bourgeois. After all, the whole of
official bourgeois society was united around one thing, the Irish
working class, if not to blame directly for the crisis are going to have
to foot the bill.
On
the surface, the policy of “social partnership” would appear to have
won out in the face of a determined Fianna Fáil/ Green Party coalition
who hadn’t been “convinced” by the deal offered in December. But it
doesn’t take a great deal of political analysis to uncover the
contradictions in Irish society which mean that this deal is rather less
than it might appear on the surface and potentially a divisive and
dangerous weapon that the ruling class will delight in beating us with
over the next four years.
There
is a clear desire among workers for stability and for an end to the
threat of wage cuts and job losses. Ultimately
this is the reason why the deal was accepted. But with the experience of
budget after emergency budget, levies and more levies and the constant
threat to workers and their families it is quite clear that the level of
trust in Cowen and Lenihan is at an all time low.
We
have explained on several occasions that only militant action could
stop the assault on the public sector:
As we
explained in May 2009: “…there is truly ‘nowhere else to
go’. The only way to stop the bosses’ onslaught is through coordinated
national industrial action. If we give the bosses an inch they’ll take a
mile and a country mile at that. Social partnership in a huge boom is
an easy game; the bosses can afford to offer a few scraps to the
workers. But under conditions of deep slump and crisis all bets are off.
To rely on the old methods from the Celtic Tiger days is very
short sighted. The bosses won’t make any concessions unless they
absolutely have to do so. Relying on social partnership will be like
firing a pea shooter against a tank. We know that weakness invites
aggression. Just look what Thatcher did in Britain in the 1980s. The
British trade union leaders held up the white flag and the Tories saw it
as a sign of weakness.”
Fightback: Class struggle
on the rise as the slump deepens
This
agreement is built on sand, and more the case shifting sands. The
background internationally to events in Ireland is the deep crisis in
the eurozone, the general strikes in Greece, Italy and Spain and the
rest of the continent are a reflection of the political conclusions
being drawn by the working class. There have been
huge demonstrations and massive shifts of opinion in Ireland, huge
votes in favour of strike action and even what was essentially a public
sector general strike. The whole of the last two years has been
dominated by huge instability.
As
we explained recently:
“As such the goal posts could be
moved at any stage and it is quite likely that the Coalition will be
back for more. The gloves are off, the FF and Green Party ministers know
that they are going to be ditched at the next election. They have a job
to do on behalf of the bourgeois; make the workers pay for the crisis.
This is a one sided Civil war against the trade union movement and the
working class. In these circumstances the role of the trade union
leadership has to be to put forward an intransigent class position. This
crisis is of the bosses making, The government will no doubt claim as
will their counterparts in Greece, Spain, Portugal and Britain, that
there is no alternative. But any policy that attacks working people has
to be opposed, and more effectively than the trade union leaders have
done so far.”
Croke Park Deal: Weakness invites aggression 8/6/2010
The
experience of the policy of “social partnership” has been that sooner
or later the illusions of the trade union leaders have been wrecked
either on the basis that the government have shown Begg and McLoone the
door as they did with the two week unpaid leave proposal in December, or
the pressure has built up from below and forced the trade union leaders
to organise demonstrations and actions, and in
many cases against their better judgement.
Trotsky
pointed out in the Transitional Programme written in 1938 that the
trade union and labour leaders represented the most conservative layer
in society. Again in 1940 he explained that no matter what, they would
try and reach an agreement – any agreement – with even the most
reactionary government. He explained further that under conditions of
crisis these agreements will always fall down on the basis of pressure
from the bosses or the workers. Those words ring very true today.
It’s
likely that the smaller unions in the Public sector will be forced to
fall in line with the decision on Croke Park. Unite
has done so recently. But the problems will emerge quickly once the
Government tries to introduce the “reforms”. The objective difficulty
however will be the “Deal”, which will be wheeled out whenever the
opportunity allows. In that sense the Deal will become far less a shield
to defend the members and far more a means for the government and the
unions to police the members.
It’s
quite likely that the deal will be faced by widespread opposition. But
unless the government blunders into an all out confrontation with the
public sector unions, it’s possible that the industrial mood might be
dampened down for a period. Having said all that, Ireland is a small
country with a limited internal market and a huge reliance on trade. If
the eurozone goes into melt down that all bets are off and it will
become increasingly evident that the deal and “social partnership “
isn’t worth the paper its written on.
So
what about the working class, does the deal mean that social peace will
break out? Far from it, the Croke Park deal will be a green light to
the private sector employers who will see it as a defeat for the working
class. While the bourgeois economists are suggesting that Ireland is
out of recession, the fact is that the hangover from the slump still has
a long way to go.
The
evidence from the opinion polls indicates that the workers are starting
to look toward the political front. This is no surprise, after all if
the industrial front is blocked, then the workers will look for a way
out in another direction. As we have explained elsewhere in Fightback
the Labour Party is the main beneficiary of this process. Despite Eamon
Gilmore’s prevarication and lack of a clear programme Labour high in the
polls. Increasingly, the anger of ordinary workers will begin to
influence the party. But that process will be far more marked within the
trade unions.
Thousands
of workers have been drawn into activity over the last two years and
many are drawing political conclusions. The role of the Marxists will be
to engage with the most far sighted and militant sections of the youth
and the working class and begin to lay the basis for a genuine Marxist
tendency among the youth and in the unions and within the Labour Party
itself also.
