Ireland
SIPTU work to rule; Civil Servants strike ballot, once again the tension rises Print E-mail
By Séamus Loughlin   
Thursday, 04 February 2010
siptu.jpgIreland: While the public sector workers might not be all out on the streets or on all out strike, it would be a big mistake to think that the government is out of the woods on the question of the wage cuts and the attacks on the public sector. 70,000 SIPTU workers joined the work to rule yesterday and the CPSU have escalated their action and are balloting for full strike action.
 
Stormont deadlock reveals the contradictions in the North Print E-mail
By IMT (Ireland)   
Friday, 29 January 2010
stormont_parliamentary_building_01.jpgLong discussions into the small hours, shuttle diplomacy and the combined weight of Gordon Brown and Brian Cowen and still the deadlock continues over the devolution of policing and justice in the North. The process is meant to have been agreed years ago, but the deep contradictions in the North mean that every issue and every syllable has to be fought over. The “peace process”, far from solving the problems of the working class has enshrined sectarian division and entombed the leadership of Sinn Féin and the DUP in Stormont, presiding over the minutiae of what is more or less an overblown County Council.
 
And here’s to you Mrs Robinson Print E-mail
By Eoin Gilligan, Fightback Ireland   
Monday, 25 January 2010
irish-peter-robinson.jpgThe scandal involving the wife of the First Minister has revealed the utter hypocrisy of the politicians who run Stormont. While they are perfectly prepared to impose draconian spending cuts on welfare, they line their own pockets. The workers of the North require a fighting working class political representation and not the present bunch of parasites.
 
Ireland: Public sector strikes begin... ICTU needs a clear strategy Print E-mail
By Fightback Editorial Board   
Wednesday, 20 January 2010
air_traffic_ireland.jpgThe trade union campaign against the wage cuts announced in Lenihan’s December budget will begin to escalate over the next few weeks as different groups of workers across the public sector take action in what is being portrayed as an ongoing campaign of selective action. Today 20th January, the air traffic controllers are coming out, which will have a dramatic and very public effect on air travel.  It’s likely that the workers concerned in the various selective actions will receive strike fund support in many cases and as such the campaign could continue for a considerable time. But what is the underlying situation and what are the issues for the movement?
 
Turmoil, Floods and Crisis: Ireland in 2009 Print E-mail
By Fightback (Ireland)   
Thursday, 24 December 2009
 

The last year has marked a huge turning point in the Irish economy and most importantly a huge shift in the relations between the classes in Ireland. While the Celtic Tiger had been on life support for a while, 2009 saw a huge crisis that has had massive economic consequences and political change that will play out for a whole period. This year represented a shift from one historical period to another; a whole new perspective has opened up for Irish society, not just in the 26 counties, but increasingly across the whole island as the impact of the capitalist crisis begins to be felt to its full extent in the north.

 
Ireland: Carpe Diem Print E-mail
By Steve Jones + Fightback Ireland   
Thursday, 10 December 2009
More than a few 'commentators' on the defacto cuts announced on Thursday by UK Chancellor Darling, as part of the plan to make the public sector pay for the banks' bailout, sought to praise the ruthless cuts announced on the same day in Ireland. The message is clear so far as these characters are concerned - we need to cut and cut hard. We reproduce a statement issued by the Irish Marxists on the day the cuts were made public.
 
Ireland: Talks break down: Where next for ICTU? Print E-mail
By Fightback (Ireland)   
Monday, 07 December 2009
The talks between the government and ICTU have collapsed following pressure from the FF back benches. Apparently they had been pressured from “the private sector” to oppose plans for unpaid leave proposed by the union leaderships. Make no bones about it. What this really means is that the Irish bourgeoisie and the multinationals are putting on the pressure and demanding that the public sector takes huge cuts. It raises the temperature in what is already a charged situation. If the Irish Congress of Trade Unions had a fighting Socialist leadership; Ireland would be on the brink of a general strike. But that is far from the case.
 
Ireland: Murphy and Ryan Reports; the abuse of power Print E-mail
By Fighback reporters   
Monday, 07 December 2009
catholic_church.jpgThe Ryan and Murphy reports have exposed the extent of the abuse carried out against children by Catholic priests in the Dublin Diocese between 1975 and 2004. It is also clear that such abuses have occurred in practically all parishes of the Roman Catholic Church in the whole island. Physical and sexual abuses also occurred in industrial schools, orphanages, and the “Magdalene laundries run by orders of nuns.   It’s not our intention to dwell on the detail of the investigations, but we feel that it is important to look at the political and social ramifications of the reports.
 
Nation or class? Print E-mail
By Gerry Ruddy   
Thursday, 03 December 2009
irelandbankbailout.jpgThis article originally appeared in "The Red Plough," an independent Email journal of Republican Marxist opinion. It takes a clear position against the arguments of the capitalist press around the strikes on the 24th of November. In particular it deals with the question of "the national interest". The bosses are always keen to try and mask the class nature of society and here Gerry Ruddy points out the contradictions in their arguments and offers a class alternative.
 
Ireland: Public sector strike suspended… at what cost? Print E-mail
By Fighback (Ireland)   
Wednesday, 02 December 2009
irish_public_sector.jpgThursday's planned public sector strike has been suspended after the government and the union leaders announced that a breakthrough had been made. The "agreement" means that some of the cost of wages would be offset by the workers taking "unpaid leave". As we pointed out on more than one occasion recently, the political and economic situation in the state is such that any agreement that has been reached on the basis of "social partnership" will inevitably mean cuts in worker's wages and increased work load and pressure on already stretched services. Effectively it means that the public sector is being put on short time.
 
Ireland’s public sector strike day: Crocodile tears won’t stem the tide Print E-mail
By Séamus Loughlin   
Friday, 27 November 2009

Well over 250,000 Irish workers in the public sector were on strike on the 24th of this month. There would have been many more, but the unions guaranteed emergency cover including flood relief in the west, the midlands and the Shannon area and in Cork City. It’s a feature of every major strike, not just here, but throughout the world, that the well fed representatives of the bourgeois and particularly  the mean spirited and greedy petty bourgeois attempt to criticise and attack the worker's movement. These fine gentlemen and ladies are always the first to reach for the box of tissues as they weep crocodile tears about the poor and the vulnerable who they claim (wringing their hands in woe) are being let down by the strikers. The fact that the government have been slashing and burning public services for the last year and attacking the vulnerable seems conveniently to have been forgotten.

 

 
All out on the 24/11: Defend every job and fight every cut Print E-mail
By Fightback (Ireland)   
Tuesday, 24 November 2009
Ireland: Thousands of Nurses, teachers, civil servants, local government workers and other hard pressed public sector workers will no doubt shed a tear today after hearing how disappointed Mr Cowen is that they are going to be on strike. For sure the Taoiseach wasn’t just disappointed according to RTÉ he was indeed “deeply disappointed.”
 
Ireland: SIPTU joins the fray Print E-mail
By Fightback (Ireland)   
Monday, 23 November 2009
Ireland might be out of the World Cup, but the Irish working class is at the forefront of the struggle against the bosses crisis. It’ll take much more than a dodgy hand ball to take the heat out of this situation. Earlier today yet another major union voted massively to join the public sector strikes on November 24th. SIPTU’s 70,000 members voted by 85% in favour of participating in what is becoming more or less a de facto Public Sector General Strike.
 
Huge Teachers Strike Votes roll in: all out on November 24th! Print E-mail
By Séamus Loughlin   
Wednesday, 18 November 2009
picketline.jpgIreland: 65,000 teachers in the primary and secondary education, further education and third level institutions have voted to back the strike action on 24th November. The action covering both academic and non academic staff means that effectively the entire education sector will be shut down for the day. The four unions involved INTO, TUI, ASTI and  IFUT which organises two thirds of university teachers have all returned huge votes in favour of strike action.
 
24/7 Demo: Make The Bosses Pay! Print E-mail
By Fightback - Ireland   
Friday, 13 November 2009
Ireland: Wednesday's demonstration of the 24/7 Frontline Alliance was a lot smaller than the big rain soaked demonstrations on Friday, but no less important in some ways. It’s seldom a good idea to take on all of your enemies at the same time. It’s a sign of the times when the Gards, their Sergeants, and the Prison Officers start agitating. But this is a crisis of the bosses making, there are savage cuts in payments and huge pressures on the rank and file Gardai. The crisis is eroding the support for the entire system.
 
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