Click Here for January 2004 issue
Workplace News: South
CIE - Union Leaders Baulk at Action
By Paul Murphy

The leaderships of the National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) and SIPTU abandoned talks with the Government on the break up and privatisation of CIE for 24 hours, threatened strike action - met Seamus Brennan for three hours, called off their strike threat and re-entered the talks!

These events shows that Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann workers can have no faith in their leaders to take the necessary action to stop privatisation. The leaderships of the NBRU and SIPTU called off a series of "no fares days" and industrial action last July and entered talks with the Government. Since then Seamus Brennan has made it clear that the Government are not prepared to deviate from their privatisation agenda. Negotiations have achieved nothing. The "no fares day" last July received enthusiastic support from the general public, not just because they got a days free travel but because it showed their backing and support for the bus workers campaign against privatisation.

The privatisation of Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann will only be stopped by a concerted campaign of industrial action backed up by a major drive by the unions to win the support of the general public.

It has been raised in the media that SIPTU and the NBRU are cosidering a joint campaign of industrial action by CIE and Aer Rianta workers during the EU against privatisation. The refusal of the leaderships of both SIPTU and the NBRU to take on the Government so far means that this "idea" may never get further than a press statement.

CIE and Aer Rianta workers will only be able to stop privatisation if they force their union leaders to abandoned their partnership approach, and instead use their industrial muscle to force the Government to back down.
Oxigen - Four Months on Strike
By Brian Cahill
Oxigen workers have had to endure four months on strike because this private waste company has refused to recognise their union SIPTU.

Workers are denied the right to be represented by their union in any dealings with their employers. Their pay and conditions are worse than those of bin workers employed by the councils. Council bin workers in most areas of Dublin have to collect 1,100 bins on a route, Oxigen forces its workers to collect 1,400 and the workers do not receive any overtime payments. Oxigen has the contract to collect the green recycling bins in Dublin, which are now collected by scabs.

Dublin's waste collection service is under the threat of privatisation. The councils hope that the bin tax can be used to provide a source of income attractive to private companies. If Oxigen can get away with refusing to recognise the union, the resulting worse pay and conditions will be used to as a weapon against Council bin workers.

With this agenda in mind, local authorities are already working with Oxigen. In some parts of the country the service has already been entirely privatised. Other councils lease many of their bin trucks from the company.

One striker told the Voice "We are stung both ways. We're being charged a bin tax for our own bins while suffering terrible pay and conditions to collect bins".

Council bin workers have already come out in sympathy for a half day. If the SIPTU leadership is serious about winning this dispute, such action needs to be escalated. A serious campaign of solidarity action, combined with the union giving 100% backing to council bin workers to refuse to implement the non-collection of the bins of people who are boycotting the bin tax could win the Oxigen strike, stop the privatisation agenda and destroy the hated bin tax.