135 lines
4.9 KiB
Plaintext
135 lines
4.9 KiB
Plaintext
Keywords: PESP, PNR, unions, social_partnership
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>From Workers Solidarity No 39
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Summer 93
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Irish Anarchist magazine
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Another PESP?
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THE IRISH Congress of Trade Unions is to
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hold a special delegate conference on
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September 30th. It will decide whether or
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not to enter into talks on a further
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agreement to replace the Programme for
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Economic and Social Development. Having
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made up their minds which way they want the
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vote to go, the letter adds that the
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conference "will also consider the issues
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to be covered in negotiations on future
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Programmes".
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The campaign by the ICTU leadership for a new
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Programme has begun. We will be told, again;
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that workers, the bosses and the government will
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be able to sit down as equals and make the best
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decisions to help the 'national interest'. It's
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a very noble sounding idea until you consider
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that there is no 'national interest'. Workers
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and bosses have opposing interests. If they
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didn't we wouldn't need unions!
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'NATIONAL INTEREST'
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The 'national interest' is used to make us think
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we have more in common with our bosses than we do
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with workers in other countries. What do we have
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in common with crooks like Larry Goodman, Michael
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Smurfit or Ben Dunne? What have the workers in
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Nolan Transport in New Ross got in common with
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their rich, mean and union-bashing employer?
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Whose was the 'national interest' when the
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government reneged on the PESP pay terms in the
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public sector in February 1992?
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Labour being in government won't make it any
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better. Within a few weeks of getting their
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backsides onto cabinet seats they had decided to
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tax disability benefit, cut the students' summer
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dole, not repeal the "dirty dozen" welfare cuts,
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broken their promise to provide the necessary
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cash for Aer Lingus. Indeed redundancies and pay
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cuts are being talked about. The 3% local
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bargaining clause of the PESP will not be paid in
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the public service. Probably the only promise
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they kept was to create some more jobs. The
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problem is that most of the jobs went to
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Ministers' families.
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Once again we will be told, by every class of
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'informed commentator', that PESP-type programmes
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give the best wage increases in Europe and that
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wage restraint will be returned in extra jobs.
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The fact is that - after the PNR and with the
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PESP almost completed - Ireland has its highest
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ever dole queues. The fact is that the
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percentage of total tax paid by PAYE workers has
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jumped to almost double what it was in the
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allegedly bad old days before such agreements.
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HAS ANYONE SEEN MY PAY RISE?
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The fact is that the ratio of wage increases to
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inflation in those same 'bad old days' has fallen
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from 2:5 down to just over half that amount
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today. And let us not forget that the anti-union
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Industrial Relations Act was introduced in 1990,
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without a whimper of protest by the ICTU leaders,
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as a PNR commitment (see PESP page 84).
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Three years ago a handful of union activists came
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together to oppose such collaboration with bosses
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and government. The network they formed, Trade
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Unionists and Unemployed Against the Programme*,
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won the sponsorship of over 300 shop stewards ,
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produced tens of thousands of leaflets and
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newsletters arguing for a 'no' vote. Public
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meetings were held in most larger towns. Despite
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most unions having pro-PESP policy and despite
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the fact that the anti-PESP forces ran on a
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shoestring budget, almost one third of all trade
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unionists who voted rejected the deal.
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TUUAP didn't close up shop and go away after the
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vote. It is getting ready to launch a campaign
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against whatever new proposals emerge. It has
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the sensible position of not being fooled into
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believing that workers ever stand to gain from
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making concessions to either government or to
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millionaire employers.
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This time around the socialist argument against
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class collaboration should be made as loudly as
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the specific arguments on wages, jobs and social
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welfare. We have to rebuild a sense of working
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class political independence. Beyond the
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immediate campaign against a PESP mark 2, a rank
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& file movement strong enough and confident
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enough to remain independent of the union leaders
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and willing to openly defy the anti-union laws is
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needed. It won't be built overnight but there is
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no time like the present for getting people
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thinking on these lines. Anarchists will be
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there arguing for libertarian structures, for
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participatory democracy and for the anarchist
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alternative to the present system.
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Alan MacSimoin
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*TUUAP can be contacted at 10 Comyn Place,
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Drumcondra, Dublin 9.
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+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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The Workers Solidarity Movement can be contacted at
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PO Box 1528, Dublin 8, Ireland
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Some of our material is available via the Spunk press electronic archive
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by FTP to etext.archive.umich.edu or 141.211.164.18
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or by gopher ("gopher etext.archive.umich.edu")
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in the directory /pub/Politics/Spunk/texts/groups/WSM
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