On the cancellation of the Dec 3rd strike and the disasterous ICTU negotiating position
This is a table of what public sector workers in Ireland really earn based on the data
given in the reply to a Dail question in Feb 09. —- The cancellation of the December 3rd
strike is a blow to the developing movement against the cuts on the scale of the
cancellation of the March 30th strike at the start of the year. The so called compromise
ICTU have been negotiating for is a further blow, it seems designed to drive a wedge
between workers and fails to answer the main problem public sector workers have, the
inability to take further cuts. But the strike that did happen on 24th November has
brought 250,000 workers into their first experience of the power we collectively hold and
points towards an alternative Reports from the picketlines of the strike on 24th November
WSM press release: Anarchist organisation welcomes public sector strike and calls for
further action Report from the mass picket of the Department of Education (with text of
INTO leaflet) Reports from Cork from the General Strike Interview with CPSU pickets in
Cork “This Is A Statement …” Kinsale Strike Report

The announcement from ICTU while we were picketing during the national strike on the 24th
that a second strike had been set for December 3rd caught most strikers by surprise.
Initially workers, most of whom were on strike for the first time ever, were concerned
that we would be going out again so soon. But once the news sunk in the idea of having a
second strike before the budget cuts made sense, its much easier to stop cuts happening
then reversing them.All over the country union sections and branches began the work of
organising for a second day of striking and effective pickets.

As news leaked that Peter McLoone was offering the government 10 or more days unpaid leave
many of those union militants doing this organizing were perplexed and a certain level of
demoralization set in. This unpaid leave ‘compromise’ made little sense when the main
issue was our inability to take further pay cuts. We were already down in the region of
13% in comparison with what we should be taking home once you factor in not only the
‘pension levy’ pay cut but also the tax hikes and the failure to pay the partnership
increases. Another 5 to 7% pay cut is not an option, whether or not extra holidays are
added as a sweetener. 54% of public sector workers were earning less that 40,000 before
the cuts had taken place. In particular those with families are already seriously
struggling to make ends meet. For them unpaid leave is not much of a compromise as they
cannot afford the loss of earnings in the first place.

Divide and rule

This ICTU proposal also plays into the hands of the main strategy of the capitalist class
in attacking workers in Ireland. We are many and they are few (very few) so what they fear
more than anything else is all workers uniting against them. To prevent this they have
played a very successful media strategy of getting one group of workers to fight another.
So private sector workers target the public sector workers and public sector workers
target the unemployed etc. Anyone listening to talk radio cannot but be horrified by the
ease with which large numbers of workers have failed for such a simple trick. Sure these
shows are manipulated but they do highlight the glaring problem in the IC`~TU ’strategy’.

This ICTU negotiating strategy plays into the hands of those who want to build on this
division. Unpaid leave will not only mean a further serious reduction in pay for public
sector workers it will also mean a serious deteroriation in services for all workers. For
all the hot air about the ‘unsustainable’ public sector when it gets down to the services
provided the same workers who fall for this rhetoric quickly realize that they need the
medical, education and other services that public sector workers provide. Unpaid leave
will mean fewer workers providing these services on any given day, that has to have a
knock on in terms of services. Already too few workers are trying to cover for all those
public sector workers who have already lost their jobs because they were on temporary
contract or through other means. The unit this writer works in has about 25% fewer staff
then 18 months previously.

On the positive side the leaking of the ‘compromise’ meant that for the first time serious
discussions about the need for an all out indefinite strike started to take place. It was
becoming increasingly clear that nothing else would force the government to back down in
its offensive on pay and conditions and switch instead to targeting the super rich to pay
for the crisis. The discussions of whether or not to accept the ICTU ‘compromise’ was
simply one of whether workers thought we were organised enough for such a fight and for
each individual how long they thought they could afford to go without pay during such a
strike. Such a decision will not be taken easily but it it now on the agenda.

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice ..

This is the context in which ICTU’s announcement that the December 3rd strike is off has
come in. Back in March they called off the strike on the 30th for no reason other than the
promise of talks which turned out to be meaningless. This had a massive demoralizing
effect on the membership and took all momentum out of the struggle against the cuts until
this Autumn. Now it appears they have made the same ‘mistake’ all over again, called off a
strike without anything having been agreed by the other side. And what is on offer is not
only crap it is counter productive in terms of uniting workers against the capitalist class.

The problem appears to be that the ICTU leadership have no concept of what to fight for or
how to fight for it. Twenty years of social partnership means they are used to accepting
the premise of neoliberal economics and restrict themselves to tweaking that logic into in
a gentler form. And in terms of tactics to ICTU its all about negotiation and more
negotiation with strikes being a very, very last resort to be used only to demonstrate
that the negotiators have some muscle behind them and should be treated seriously.

This approach could sort of work during an economic boom. The capitalist class was making
so much money that it could afford to throw workers in Ireland the odd bone in return for
industrial peace. But for every cent they gave us they took a euro and they were careful
to give the cent’s in a way that would be automatically undermined once a crisis hit.

In general wage rises under partnership were at or slightly above the inflation rate. But
workers saw significant increases in take home pay, a trick that was achieved by
repetitive reductions in the percentage of our wages that went on tax. That trick was only
made possible because the boom and in particular the housing bubble provided the vast sums
through stamp duty that were needed to keep public services going. But when the boom ended
this was no longer true and it meant the means to destroy the limited gains workers in
Ireland had made were built into the system.

Where should the money be found

ICTU have so bought into this logic that when the government demanded a further 7% cut in
public sector pay to save 1300 million ICTU immediately accepted the logic of the
governments position that the 1300 million had to come from the pockets of workers and not
from the rich. This is not even remotely the case, for instance a 1% wealth tax which
would hit the richest 1% the hardest would bring in around 1500 million. We should be
striking for this and more as an alternative to the pay cut, more because a 5% wealth tax
would provide the money to reverse the cuts and launch a job creation program though
expanding the provision of services. That demand is something all workers, public or
private could unite around.

Our unions should not be agreeing to cut our wages and arguing with the government about
how exactly to do so. Our unions should be refusing any such cut and insisting that the
needed finance be raised by going after the rich, whether through a wealth tax or some
other means. Our unions should be seeking out ways to unite all workers in a common
struggle and included in this the tens of thousands of private and public sector workers
who have already lost their jobs.

It’s a waste of time to look at the existing ICTU leadership to lead that sort of fight.
Nor is it the case that there is an alternative leadership in the wings or even that all
union members are already in the mood for such a fight. The truth is that although workers
are starting to get ahead of the ICTU leadership for the most part until recently most
workers also saw no alternative.

The question of leadership is not a question of who is at the top of the unions giving
directions but rather of what the base believes. The alternative leadership we need is not
to be found sipping tea in a back room of Liberty Hall but rather is a set of ideas and
methods that we need to collectively develop together. Chief amongst these is that we, and
by we I mean all workers, unite around a demand that it is the capitalist class and not
the working class that must pay for the crisis. Until that unity is achieved they will
continue to play the game of setting one set of workers against another.

We also need to develop the ideas that will enable the hundreds of thousands of unionized
workers to not only take control of our struggle against the cuts but to bring in the over
one million workers who are not currently organised and build solidarity with the further
half million thrown out of work. That is no small task but it is what we have to achieve
unless we want to continue to face further attacks on on pay and standards of living and
if we want to see jobs being created rather than destroyed.

One minor step in that direction is the creation of the Social Solidarity Network in
Dublin. “The Social Solidarity network is a grouping of people who have come together to
provide a forum for workers and communities to unite to resist the attacks and to build
links across the many struggles which will break out over the coming months.” This is the
sort of initiative that needs to be spread across the county. The SSN has called a protest
for Budget day from 5-7pm outside the Dail, you’ll find more details at
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/94987
First published in indymedia.ie

Related Link: http://anarchism.pageabode.com/cat/capitalist-crisis

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