Article from the Jan 2005 issue of the Socialist , newspaper of the Socialist Party, Irish section of the CWI

What we stand for

In the workplace
An immediate increase in the minimum wage to £6 per hour as a step towards the European Decency Threshold of £8 per hour
Abolition of the youth exemptions
Trade union action to enforce these minimum rates
For a 35 hour week without loss in pay
Full employment protection rights from day one of employment
Scrap the anti-trade union laws.
Reject Welfare to Work: for the right to decent benefits, training or a job without compulsion

Public Services
Stop the sell off of schools, hospitals and other services
Scrap student fees - for a living grant
No backdoor privatisation of services through Public Finance Initiatives or Public Private Partnership or other schemes
Bring back into public ownership industry, land and services that have been sold
Provide adequate funding of all public services to meet need.
Run public bodies democratically through elected governing bodies, with majority representation given to those who work in them and the communities they serve

Pensions
No to the attack on pension entitlement
No increase in the retirement age
For a living state pension available to all - with annual increases linked to average earnings

Water Charges
Scrap the proposal to introduce separate water charges
No water privatisation
Full support for the We Won't Pay Campaign's call for a mass campaign of non payment if charges are introduced

Equality
A complete end to all forms of discrimination, whether on the grounds of religion, race, sex, sexuality, or disability
Free nursery and creche facilities
Equal pay and equality of opportunity for women

No to racism and homophobia
For mass community action to stop the racist attacks and the attacks on gays and other minorities

Reclaim the unions
Build the lefts in the unions
Trade unions must be democratically controlled by the membership
Full time officials should be regularly elected and paid the average wage of those they represent

Peace Process
Build a real peace process based on uniting the working class communities, not on bringing discredited politicians together
Joint trade union and community action to counter all forms of sectarianism
An end to all activity by all paramilitaries, loyalist and republican
Complete demilitarisation - establish genuine policing services that are locally based and under the control of democratically elected policing committees
The conflict cannot be resolved on a capitalist basis - for the building of a mass political party capable of uniting the working class in the struggle for a socialist solution
For a socialist Ireland as part of a free and voluntary socialist federation of Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales

No to the bosses Europe
For solidarity action by the working class across Europe
For a socialist confederation of European states established on a free and voluntary basis

Socialism
Capitalism is capable only of delivering poverty, environmental destruction and war
We need an international struggle against this system and its effects
Take the major finance houses and the 500 largest companies into public ownership and placed them under the democratic control and management of the working class
Build a socialist world in which the resources of the planet are used to satisfy the needs of the mass of the people, not the thirst for profit of a tiny minority of super rich