SY News
Come to the 2006 socialist youth summer festival

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Socialist Youth event notice

The Summer Festival will be a weekend of lively debate and discussion on issues affecting young people here in Ireland and internationally such as young workers’ rights, opposition to war for profit, fighting deportations and racism and much more.

The weekend will be a chance to enjoy yourself and relax before the end of the Summer with football, music and socials.

For more information phone: Cillian on 087 1274315 (south) or Daniel on 078 21058319 (north)

Venue: Old Presbytery Hostel, Rathdrum, Co.Wicklow, 25-28 August

Socialist Youth News
Young workers are ripped off by exploitation agencies

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Joe Bent

Socialist Youth member Joe Bent explains his experiences of working for various recruitment agencies in Cork.

"In the early decades of the 20th century workers often found out if they would work that day by waiting outside the warehouse or factory to be picked by the bosses. They would be selected on the basis of who would work the hardest for the meagre wages and who would cause no trouble for the bosses. In 21st century Ireland things haven’t changed much, they just have become a little more sophisticated.

"Now the bosses have recruitment agencies to do their dirty work and facilitate low paid jobs. For the last six months I have worked for a recruitment agency called Kingsley Recruitment in the Flextronix factory in Cork and before that for TRIL recruitment in the Apple Computers factory. In that time I have watched how these agencies work.

"An employer will use an agency to hire a workforce, but when you are employed you work for the agency not the factory. The employer pays the agency, and then the agency pay you. After they take their cut, you are left with the minimum wage or a few cents above. Because you don’t work directly for the factory, with one quick phone call you can be sacked.

"When you work for a recruitment agency there is complete flexibility, this means that you don’t know when you are going to work. There have been times when people have shown up to work and have been sent home by the boss because there is supposedly no work. The salary of most workers is €290 for five days work a week but if you were to be sent home on one day it would be €232. This means you aren’t able to cover costs such as childcare or rent. This puts huge personal strain on young workers, not that agencies could care less.

"Therefore it is not surprising that most young workers want to get out of the agencies as soon as they get the chance. Many migrant workers feel that working for agencies is the only way for them to get employment. They often hope that if they stick around long enough, that they might be recruited directly by the job they are working for.

"What is needed is a campaign to take on the recruitment agencies and force employers to hire workers though direct labour. I may have been a member of SIPTU while working in the agency, it was obligatory that I joined, but I rarely heard anything from them. Any campaign against this kind of exploitation needs to force the unions to take action to defend the rights of all workers."

Socialist Youth will be continuing our campaign to defend young workers’ rights through our Organise! campaign. If you are interested in finding out more please ring 0871274315.

SY News
Statutory rape crisis

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Socialist Youth members

When the southern government and the so-called opposition parties were rushing through legislation on the new age of consent law the views of young people - the section of society which this laws affects the most - were not even considered .

The Socialist got the opinions of two young people on the law.

Hazel Kiersey, Cork SY, 16

I am writing about the age of consent from a teenager’s viewpoint. I am a 16 year old girl and it seems young people have no say in a matter that affects us and has made criminals of us if we have sex.

If the government wants to solve the problems that come with underage sex such as sexually transmitted diseases and underage pregnancy, young people need to be better educated on sex and contraceptives should be easily available to young people. This would be much more effective than having the age of consent at seventeen which is much too old.

Cian Prendeville, Limerick SY, 16

Well, as a 16 year-old guy going out with a 17 year-old girl this law change directly attacks me and my right to consent to any sexual act.

It’s rape and abuse that is the problem, not consenting young people. I think suspicious cases should be looked into fully and in an accountable and understanding way to see if there was consent or not.

The reality is teens will have relationships, and making this illegal does nothing, only alienate us.

SY News
School students take a stand against deportations

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Paul Murphy, Dublin SY

When Socialist Youth heard of the 41 Afghanis on hunger strike in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, we moved immediately to launch School Students Against Deportations, to assist the school friends of the hunger strikers in fighting against the deportation of the Afghans.

On our first visit to the Cathedral, we met HAMID, one of the seven school students on hunger strike in St. Patrick’s Cathedral. He explained that: "Because of war and political problems, I couldn’t stay in Afghanistan. I came here in 2004. Our lives are in danger if we go back, it is better to die here."

We leafletted the schools that the Afghans attended and organised a number of protests opposing the threatened deportation of the Afghanis and highlighting the case of the seven school students. The local branch of the Socialist Party also distributed 1,000 leaflets in the local area.

The majority of their school friends were sympathetic, as TIM, a student in Dundrum College put it:

"The main reason I did the protest was so my friends could stay in Ireland and finish their education. I really thought McDowell had a cold heart, he didn’t care about human rights, he only cared about himself."

On McDowell’s policy of deporting her friend Ohmid, DANIELLE, another school student in Dundrum College commented: "That was stupid ‘cause he should have been allowed to stay here to get an education instead of going home to die."

We had a successful protest on Wednesday at lunch time of about 30 school students. A similar number joined the School Students Against Deportations contingent on Saturday’s demonstration calling for the Afghans to be given the right to stay. We were by far the most lively and youthful section of the demonstration, which was noticed by all.

Michael McDowell’s policy of deportations is not going to go away – this government will continue to scapegoat and then deport asylum-seekers. Young people and school students in particular have a crucial role to play in opposing this policy, because as the Afghan hunger strikers showed it is often asylum-seekers who are school students who are most integrated into the community. School Students Against Deportations will continue to campaign against the deportation of the Afghans and all asylum-seekers.

For more information contact Paul on 086 1688050.