Fight For Decent Redundancy Pay But Unions Must Also:
Act to Defend Jobs & Public Services

Time For Action

Joe Higgins TD and the socialist Party have supported the Peerless Rugs workers in their year long campaign for fair renumeration for thier years of service , as well as campaigning for the workers at Wexford Electronics. Joe Higgins called on the government to take the Irish Glass Bottle Company into public ownership, to save the 350 jobs, as well as keeping the only galss recycling plant in the state.

However, it is also unacceptable that trade union leaders are not prepared to fight to save jobs. Multinationals who export €15 billion a year in profits are axing 350 jobs every wek in the manufacturing industry. 1,000 jobs have been lost in the health service in the first 9 months of this year. The government is planning at least €1 billion in cuts in the next budget. In the last few years many workers who lost their jobs were able to find other jobs, although usually less well paid. However, such jobs are now scarce.

In the new economic climate tens of thousands of jobs will be at risk throughout the public and private sector. This national day of action should be just the opening 'shot' in a campaign by trade unionists to take on the government and the employers on a whole number of issues.

IBEC and Government are Not Our Partners

Social partnership has been a disaster for workers. With record profits for the employers on one hand, while on the other our wages haven't kept pace with inflation. Now the leadrship of ICTU want us to sign up to a new partnership deal and also to accept the disastrous benchmarking proposals. During the Celtic Tiger social partnership delivered us the crumbs of the boom. During a recession, social partnership will be used to make us pay for the bosses crisis. If the ICTU leadership had even half of the fighting spirit of the PEerless Rugs and Irish Glass workers then we would have a trade union movement which would be taking on the employers and the government to defend jobs, and to fight for workers rights and better pay.

Vote No to Nice & Fight Public Sector Sell Off

Fianna Fail and the PDs are planning to sell off a large section of the public sector to multi-millionaire speculators who will run Aer Lingus, the ESB etc, to line their own pockets with huge profits.

Public private partnerships and private investment in the public sector will see whole sections of our health, education, and other parts of our public services handed over to low paying profiteers. Thousands of workers will lose their jobs because of privatisation and those who remain will have their working conditions decimated in order to provide a bigger dividend for the shareholders.

For Democratic, Fighting Unions

Democratic, fighting trade unions are needed to campaign for better redundancy payments, to save jobs, for decent pay rises, against the cuts and to stop privatisation. Our current 'leaders' have shown over the last 15 years that they are completely unwilling to fight back.

Get Organised - Transform the Unions

Ordinary rank-and-file trade unionists committed to reclaiming our unions for the members can make the difference. Trade union activists need to get organised. Activists should organise in campaigning groups in every union, committed to defending our members, and to democratising our unions. We can take on and defeat the over paid, unelected, right-wing bureaucrats and lackeys who currently control our movement. Together we can transform the unions into what James Connolly and Jim Larkin helped found them for - organisations which defend and fight for workers rights.

Join the Struggle to Reclaim Our Unions

	Fight all redundancies.
	Prepare now for generalised trade union action against cuts and for decent public services.
	Oppose a new social partnership deal, campaign for real pay increases.
	Reject benchmarking.
	Equal pay for equal work.
	For €9 an hour minimum wage, with no age restrictions.
	Oppose privatisation, stop the public sector sell off.
	For fighting democratic trade unions.
	For the election of full time union officials.
	Full time union officials to be paid the average wage of the workers they represent.

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