SIPTU rebels launch bulletin
MEMBERS OF IRELAND'S largest trade union, SIPIU, gave their top
leaders a couple of shocks over the last year. 43% of them voted
against the 'Partnership 2000' agreement which holds down wages and
allegedly makes us "partners" with the our employers and the
government. Then 4Z.3% voted for the "revolutionary socialist"
Carolann Duggan in the contest for union president. This showed a
level of dissatisfaction that the bureaucracy had hardly imagined.
Even many union activists were surprised.
Just the threat was enough...SIPTU members at Dublin's Mount
Herbert Hotel won an extra 112.50 pounds a week after threatening to
strike when the service charge was abolished.
There are lots of things to explain this dissatisfaction.
Partnership deals, the Industrial Relations Act which makes it almost
impossible to have an effective strike, huge salaries for the
national officers of the union while some members survive on poverty
wages, increasingly fewer possibilities for ordinary members to have
a say in how their union is run... to name but four.
It is time that members who want more democracy, a serious fight
against low pay, resistance to job losses, and an end to
collaboration with the bosses, came together. On our own we are
hardly noticeable but together we could start to make waves and open
up a debate about what sort of union we want.
As a contribution to this, a few SIPTU members have started
publishing a bulletin called SIPTU Fightback. It's not affiliated to
any political party nor does it have any hidden agendas. Its aim is
to help break down the isolation of activists who often don't meet
with others from outside their own job or branch. It is hoped that
this will be a first step towards creating a grassroots movement
within the union that can challenge the idea of 'social partnership',
organise assistance for fellow workers in struggle, and build a
militant trade unionism that is based on participatory democracy and
doesn't back down in the face of aggressive employers.
Copies of the bulletin may be had for a 32p stamp from
SIPTU Fightback,
22 Melrose Avenue,
Dublin 3.
Alan MacSimóin
- SIPTU Education branch
- (personal capacity)
Care workers paid £1.70 per hour
12,000 'home helps' all over the country who look after the
elderly and disabled are paid poverty wages. Employed by the Health
Boards - stuffed with TDs, county councillors and wealthy
professionals - they get as little as £1.70 per hour in the SHB
area.
This is after a 30p rise on the £1.40 an hour reported in
Workers Solidarity no.51. The Southern Health Board say's it "hopes"
to increase wages to £2.00 per hour.
The highest starting wage is £3.50 in the Midlands and the
highest 'top of the scale' wage is £4.00 in the Eastern and
Midlands areas. The average female industrial wage is in excess of
£5.00 per hour, and for men is over £7.50.
