Invitation To Discuss Grassroots Mobilisation Against Pension Levy And Budget Cuts

by Gregor Kerr Sun May 03, 2009 16:58

With respect Kevin, we don't all have to 'share some of the pain'. This is the line that keeps getting put forward by trade union leaders and politicians. But there's a simple enough answer to it - They didn't share the wealth, why should we share the pain?
Unless workers and the unemployed get together and stand up for ourselves, we're going to continue to shoulder the pain while the wealthy get away scot free.
Let's try and make May 16th the starting point of re-building a fightback.

by Kevin T. Walsh - Social Justice and Ethics: Dignity Sun May 03, 2009 15:44

Gregor

Well done. A brilliant piece of literature. You are absolutely corrective we need a collective responsibility of all trade unions to sit down and get together and formalise a backlash against the penal levies against teachers and members of the public sector.

I hope the talks are transparent and open otherwise they will go nowhere but to the sin bin. Everybody has a responsibility now and we all must share some pain to get this economy back on the road again.

Kevin T. Walsh

by Gregor Kerr - WSM 1st May Branch Sun May 03, 2009 14:05

This proved to be a good enough meeting - about 50 people across a number of unions - SIPTU, INTO, ASTI, UNITE, INO, IMPACT and a few more.
There was a decent discussion and it was decided to
*organise a protest at the Central Bank, as part of the European Trade Union Confederation day of action on May 16th.
*call a rank & file conference to bring together oppositionists in the unions
*organise a campaign of opposition if there is a vote on a renegotiated partnership agreement
*call ourselves 'Grassroots Unite'
Work is currently under way on getting a leaflet and poster together for 16th May. A website and Facebook account etc. are being set up. Further details will follow in the next couple of days.

by Mark C - Contact.ie Thu Apr 30, 2009 19:45

It's all on the document I came across recently.

Click to enlarge.

Not that much to be saved

by An Irishmans Diarist Fri Apr 24, 2009 12:52

No wonder you can't bring yourself to lay off the capital letters - you are clearly working yourself into a frenzy of excitement at the thought of people losing their jobs - Myers and Waters have you well schooled, obviously.

The economy is in a mess because of criminal bankers and building developers, and the government's determination to protect them from paying any price whatsoever for destroying the economy. All the public-sector cutbacks the government is demanding are dwarfed by the massive bailouts for the banks - that money could be better spent on a job creation programme, the banks should just be taken over without compensation instead of pouring more cash down a black hole. We could slash ten thousands or twenty thousand public sector jobs and it wouldn't do any good for private-sector workers who have been laid off (in fact it would just ensure that more of them would be laid off since there would be less demand in the economy). If spending money on public sector jobs and wages was the cause of our economic problems, you'd expect every other EU15 state that spends far more on public services to be in much worse shape. Why do you think that isn't the case? Try thinking for yourself instead of grasping for another hysterical Myers/Waters hack job.

by krossie - none at the mo Fri Apr 24, 2009 11:34

Private sector worker:

To pay the most over payed Public Sector in all of Europe.

At the risk of repeating myself (or actually SIPTU's researchers)

"we spend a lesser proportion of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on our public services than any developed European country and the proportion of people employed in them is actually on the low side of average in the OECD" according to SIPTU
(http://www.siptu.ie/PressRoom/Speeches/Name,10560,en.html)

Of course I wouldn't like to let the facts get in the way of your repetition of what the meeja feeds ya!

Now should you not be working?

by On the Dole. Fri Apr 24, 2009 10:17

This is what the Nobel Laureate Economist Paul Krugman has to say about us:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/20/opinion/20krugman.html

Our image is pretty dire around the world now.

P.S.
I wish I joined the Public Service years ago.

by An Irishman's Diarist Fri Apr 24, 2009 09:57

Pure bull, I'm afraid, pure, utter, fantasy. Public sector wages in Ireland aren't higher than in other European states - they're lower than most. Many public-sector workers on temporary contracts have already been laid off, many more are at risk of losing their jobs. Lay off the capital letters and start thinking for yourself. 90% of what's written about the Irish economy by columnists like Myers is dishonest, ignorant drivel by people who are happy to make things up from the top of their head and ignore the reality. Just look at the trouble Michael Taft had trying to get Sarah Carey of the Irish Times to retract her false claim that Ireland has the most generous social welfare system in Europe - a false claim that will be used to justify an attack on the growing army of unemployed (IBEC are already sharpening their knives):

http://www.irishleftreview.org/2009/04/21/sarah-careys-...onse/

by krossie - none at present Thu Apr 23, 2009 15:54

When the IMF take over the running of this broke state,and impose their horrible corrective methods, (god forbid) we will find out WHO are the semi-literate ones.

Well as one of the vast majority people whose wages, and pensions are being siphoned off to save the criminals in Anglo Irish and Irish Nationwide (or whose private pension schemes have all but disappeared down the drains) - I can't see any vast difference between Fianna Fail or the IMF - purely tactical questions of speed and methodology - either way the badly paid off in whatever sector will bail out the rich.

Plus ca change on that front.

Meantime it turns out that
"we spend a lesser proportion of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on our public services than any developed European country and the proportion of people employed in them is actually on the low side of average in the OECD" according to SIPTU
(http://www.siptu.ie/PressRoom/Speeches/Name,10560,en.html)

And I doubt Myers and Waters are underpaid by their respective papers for drivel they're spewing though you "private sector" worker do seem to present a shocking indication of our declining standards of education...

Back to work!

kp

by Blacbloc Thu Apr 23, 2009 13:13

WRT the IMF. We should be wary of all this scare mongering about the IMF because, in fact, the IMF is far more critical of government acquiescence to the oligarchs than we are led to believe. The people who really fear the IMF are the oligarchs themselves - though it is undeniable that the IMF is pretty ruthless on the public sector as well. This report is essential reading for anyone interested in what the IMF actually thinks about how capitalist goverments are dealing with this crisis. It's 4 pages long but well worth the read:

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200905/imf-advice

Having read this report, I'm wondering if we wouldn't all be much better off in the long run if the IMF did come in.

**************

Why are people who do not contribute to pension schemes or are prevented from participating in them nevertheless being forced to pay a pension levy? Where does their money go? Where's the outrage about this?

http://www.politics.ie/economy/61981-vecs-taking-pensio....html

by An Irishmans Diarist Thu Apr 23, 2009 11:56

Brilliant - from relying on the ravings of Kevin Myers as a reliable source, you've moved on to citing John Waters - possibly the only man in Ireland with less credibility than Myers. Which part of "these pair are lying scumbags with zero integrity" don't you understand? The banks and the building developers have dragged Ireland into a recession - they are the ones endangering the future of the Irish economy with their boundless greed and limitless demands for bailouts from the State. The €90 billion bill for NAMA dwarfs the public sector pay bill for this year, next year and many years to come. Try thinking for yourself instead of relying on proven liars and charlatans who rant and rave from the security of their highly-paid jobs sure in the knowledge that whoever pays the price of the recession it won't be them. Why do you think newspaper columnists with six figure salaries should be opposed to tax increases on people with six figure salaries? Figure that one out and you're well on your way.

by Private Sector Worker. Thu Apr 23, 2009 11:39

When the IMF take over the running of this broke state,and impose their horrible corrective methods, (god forbid) we will find out WHO are the semi-literate ones.

It's as if our teachers cannot even ADD UP!

As John Waters said in last Sunday's Sunday Mail:

"Which bit of "THE STATE IS BROKE " do teachers not understand?"

.

by krossie (worker) - none at the moment! Thu Apr 23, 2009 10:27

What put this country into the Abyss (and we're well "in it" now we teetered on teh abyss 2-3 years ago!) was a massive speculative bubble driven by the Uber-rich bankers, developers and their Fiana Fail friends.

That tiny group of economists who are not direct employees of banks and stock exchange companies has this sussed from 1998 - not that any one was listening to them...

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_ud...9e93f

If your sources of information on the economic crisis is the semi literate ramblings of Myers I'd hardly give a high degree of credibility to it!

by Private Sector Worker. Thu Apr 23, 2009 09:43

The Public sector bill is dragging this country into the ABYSS.

Even the Goddam Taoiseach pays himself more than Barack Obama.

The unions HAVE to be met head on and defeated or this country spirals into ruination.

There is an excellent analysis of the DIRE state this country is in today's Indo:

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/kevin-myer....html

"Survival of the Irish State" doesn't seem to worry the public sector unions though...as the Private Sector disintegrates all around them.