The late great revolutionary trade unionist James Connolly said it best: “As Long as I live I will have no rest, only fighting to destroy the forces that produce poverty”.
Many of us working class people now find ourselves in that very same position as the ongoing cost of living crisis drives up inflation across the board affecting all the everyday workers who keep this country going day in and day out.
This brings me to the news of the upcoming November 12th strike Day across the public sector on account of government and unions failing to come to terms on a real public sector pay increase.
Both the government and our union leaders have been left with egg on their faces for different reasons.
The Government as per usual have shown their true colours not even bringing a credible offer to the table for the unions to ballot their members on. The offer of 1.75% this year when inflation is at 4.1% is a joke.
The same goes for the 2.5% a year for next year and the year after. The governments offer turns out to be a pay cut and they want “productivity” in return?
Yet the government claim its the unions' fault and in turn unions are blaming the government in a cat and mouse game.
The truth is both sides are to blame after two weeks of fruitless talks with no end in sight to this dispute. Unions were wrong to call off the follow up stoppage on October 21st after the first Oct 14th stoppage. They pulled pickets prematurely.
The Oct 14th strike showed great community sprit across the country, however their was a feeling of disappointment from people like myself out on picket lines that union communication needed to be massively improved.
Lack of organising was evident on the 14th. Issues such as not enough union banners, placards and lack of reps on some picket lines and workers not knowing where to go and for how long.
Then came the unions collective mistake off calling the October 21st strike to enter talks when a deal wasn’t even on the table!
Rule number one of negotiations is have something to bargain with and this wasn’t the case at all, and that left a sour taste in workers mouths including mine as many workers were not being kept informed on talks between the unions and government officials.
Merely just email and WhatsApp messages plus whispering information giving little to nothing away and being very vague on how talks were progressing - this only frustrated workers even further and rightly so.
Which begs the question should workers be in the negotiations room?
The answer is yes as the workers are the bread and butter of this country. We are all the means of production and distribution in our workplaces and the unions need to do better.
I’m in the Red Network because the Red Network’s message is simple: put workers in the driving seat of a planned economy. The same needs to happen in our unions. Put the grassroots in control and we’d have fighting unions.
It starts with educating workers on the topics that affect them and holding workshops that target these type of closed door negotiations. Instead of union bureaucrats selling out members to the government we need open democratic discussion at every stage.
Many workers feel let down and misinformed and that’s unacceptable. We will enthusiastically build the November 12th strike. But the power to pull that picket is still in the hands of our leaders. not the members. It would be a huge mistake if they cancelled this strike too.
As we’ve seen across other EU countries such as France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium Italy and Netherlands workers are in the same boat as us they are protesting all throughout November for the same reasons we are in Ireland which is to fight back against an anti-worker government.
Either union officials step up or step aside and put workers in the driving seat, grassroots workers that will hold the government accountable for their mismanagement of the public sector pay deals.
Let’s get ready for the strike on November 12th. The best steps to take are the following ahead of strike.
Keep up the pressure on your union reps to make sure their doing everything in their power to achieve the best deal for workers. Email HQ, get onto your reps, let them hear us loud and clear.
Stay informed, opt in to receive all union information via emails, Whatsapp group chats, email newsletters, as well as following all union based social media outlets.
Stay mobilised in your workplaces, elect a strike committee, discuss the deal, stick together as there is always strength in numbers.
Make sure your adhering to your work to rule protocols as they can be upgraded at any time.
We all collectively need to learn from past mistakes do better in the present in order to have the future we all need and deserve not only for ourselves but for future generations to come. See you on the picket lines!
Many of us working class people now find ourselves in that very same position as the ongoing cost of living crisis drives up inflation across the board affecting all the everyday workers who keep this country going day in and day out.
This brings me to the news of the upcoming November 12th strike Day across the public sector on account of government and unions failing to come to terms on a real public sector pay increase.
Both the government and our union leaders have been left with egg on their faces for different reasons.
The Government as per usual have shown their true colours not even bringing a credible offer to the table for the unions to ballot their members on. The offer of 1.75% this year when inflation is at 4.1% is a joke.
The same goes for the 2.5% a year for next year and the year after. The governments offer turns out to be a pay cut and they want “productivity” in return?
Yet the government claim its the unions' fault and in turn unions are blaming the government in a cat and mouse game.
The truth is both sides are to blame after two weeks of fruitless talks with no end in sight to this dispute. Unions were wrong to call off the follow up stoppage on October 21st after the first Oct 14th stoppage. They pulled pickets prematurely.
The Oct 14th strike showed great community sprit across the country, however their was a feeling of disappointment from people like myself out on picket lines that union communication needed to be massively improved.
Lack of organising was evident on the 14th. Issues such as not enough union banners, placards and lack of reps on some picket lines and workers not knowing where to go and for how long.
Then came the unions collective mistake off calling the October 21st strike to enter talks when a deal wasn’t even on the table!
Rule number one of negotiations is have something to bargain with and this wasn’t the case at all, and that left a sour taste in workers mouths including mine as many workers were not being kept informed on talks between the unions and government officials.
Merely just email and WhatsApp messages plus whispering information giving little to nothing away and being very vague on how talks were progressing - this only frustrated workers even further and rightly so.
Which begs the question should workers be in the negotiations room?
The answer is yes as the workers are the bread and butter of this country. We are all the means of production and distribution in our workplaces and the unions need to do better.
I’m in the Red Network because the Red Network’s message is simple: put workers in the driving seat of a planned economy. The same needs to happen in our unions. Put the grassroots in control and we’d have fighting unions.
It starts with educating workers on the topics that affect them and holding workshops that target these type of closed door negotiations. Instead of union bureaucrats selling out members to the government we need open democratic discussion at every stage.
Many workers feel let down and misinformed and that’s unacceptable. We will enthusiastically build the November 12th strike. But the power to pull that picket is still in the hands of our leaders. not the members. It would be a huge mistake if they cancelled this strike too.
As we’ve seen across other EU countries such as France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium Italy and Netherlands workers are in the same boat as us they are protesting all throughout November for the same reasons we are in Ireland which is to fight back against an anti-worker government.
Either union officials step up or step aside and put workers in the driving seat, grassroots workers that will hold the government accountable for their mismanagement of the public sector pay deals.
Let’s get ready for the strike on November 12th. The best steps to take are the following ahead of strike.
Keep up the pressure on your union reps to make sure their doing everything in their power to achieve the best deal for workers. Email HQ, get onto your reps, let them hear us loud and clear.
Stay informed, opt in to receive all union information via emails, Whatsapp group chats, email newsletters, as well as following all union based social media outlets.
Stay mobilised in your workplaces, elect a strike committee, discuss the deal, stick together as there is always strength in numbers.
Make sure your adhering to your work to rule protocols as they can be upgraded at any time.
We all collectively need to learn from past mistakes do better in the present in order to have the future we all need and deserve not only for ourselves but for future generations to come. See you on the picket lines!
⏩Andrew Quinn is a public sector worker and Red Network activist.
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