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Socialist
Party Leaflet
January 2006 |
After
Irish Ferries, GAMA... In the aftermath of the struggle against Irish Ferries, it should be clear to all young people that there is a concerted attempt by the bosses to drive down wages and conditions by using migrant labour on very low wages. Irish Ferries, GAMA, Doyle's Concrete, building sites all over the country, the list goes on of companies where this is happening. What's more, if the Bolkenstein directive (now only a proposal) is passed by the EU, what happened in GAMA will become legal, as companies from other EU countries will only have to meet minimum wage and labour rights standard of their country of origin! The race to the bottom in terms of wages and conditions of workers that Irish Ferries represents gives a glimpse of the future for young people under capitalism. As employers become more aggressive in driving down wages and conditions, it is increasingly clear that the future facing young people is a society where the minimum wage becomes the maximum wage. A key question facing all workers and young people is how to stop the decline in wages. "Managed migration" = Divide and rule Pat Rabbitte, leader of the Labour Party, has called for a work-permit system and "managed migration" from eastern European countries, and has been echoed by Jack O'Connor, leader of SIPTU. Some Irish people will mistakenly see this as the only way to stop the ongoing undermining of wages and conditions. This is incorrect - Rabbitte's proposal is a very dangerous one that demonstrates how far his Labour Party, and trade union bureaucrats like O'Connor, are from representing the interests of workers. The idea that extending the work-permit scheme would prevent exploitation is laughable - he should ask the GAMA workers! The effect of such a system, which applied to the Turkish GAMA workers on €2.20 an hour, is that these workers are completely reliant on their employer, as their employer holds the work permit and they cannot change jobs. Such a system makes slave labour wages and conditions even more likely, as workers are afraid of speaking out, for fear of their employer sending them home. If the trade union movement was to advocate "managed migration", it would fall right into the hands of the bosses and the government. They want to set Irish and migrant workers against each other in a race to the bottom - it is the old tactic of divide and rule. By advocating closing the door on migrant workers from Eastern Europe, the trade union movement would only alienate these workers - and make them easier prey for slave labour employers. United struggle needed While Irish Ferries shows the vicious attacks which employers are preparing, and the sellout nature of the Trade Union leaders, it also offers a glimpse of the potential power that working class people have to stop this process. It wasn't social partnership that grounded the Irish Ferries fleet and prevented them from replacing its workforce with migrant workers on €3.60 an hour - it was industrial action, and the massive show of working class solidarity of up to 120,000 people on the streets on Friday 9 December. This points to what is necessary to stop the driving down of wages - a concerted campaign by the trade union movement to recruit all workers in low paid industry, Irish and migrant, and to unite them in struggle. The unions should break from the sham of social "partnership" and base themselves instead on the power of workers that was indicated in the Irish Ferries demonstration. The combined force of Irish and migrant workers is one that could drive the employers' attacks back. Profit system to blame It is not migrant workers who are to blame for the declining wages in the Irish economy - it is the capitalist system to blame where companies, epitomised by GAMA and Irish Ferries, will do whatever it takes to minimise labour costs and maximise profits. As long as companies like Irish Ferries, GAMA and Ryanair are in private hands, their only concern will be profit. That's why we stand for a socialist society, where the major companies would be taken out of private hands, put into public ownership and run democratically as part of a democratically planned economy to meet the needs of ordinary people. If you are opposed to a future of slave labour - don't just sitback and wait for it, join the Socialist Party today and fightback! We demand:
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