Hello everyone
Hello everyone. The public sector unions have claimed there is a significant impass with the Irish government negotiations and in response have called a second day of a national strike. This will happen on Thursday the 12th of November will be a 24hour stoppage. They plan on having rallies in Dublin and regional parts of the country. They said there's no credible offer on the table. Chambers has responded by saying he's disappointed and he still wants to agree a fair incredible deal. Now, this.
Follows the massive demonstration that took place on the 14th of October where over 300,000 people hit the picket lines on the National Day of Strike. Remember the trade union movement then called off the second day of strike action on October the 21st following the Irish government making an approach looking for formal negotiations. Those negotiations commenced on October the 19th under the chair of the workplace relations commission head Kevin Foley and those talks have concluded and there's no credible offer.
And as I stated the union said there has been significant deadlock in these talks. Now this isn't really surprising when I've considered many of my videos in the past in relation to what's taken place. This whole push towards strike action was driven overwhelmingly by the ordinary rank and file workers in those trade union movements. It wasn't driven by the highly paid executives and because of the ma massive support they had for strike action. This is the.
Reason this took place. It wasn't didn't take place because the unions decided it out of thin air. This was following what took place in April in terms of the fuel protesters hitting the streets taking direct action and the union leadership look like complete lame ducks. So to justify their existence and big salaries they have decided to push ahead with these strikes over the coming period. This is only grandstanding fundamentally by the trade union leadership. Immediately after October.
The 14 where over 300,000 people hit the streets they decided to meet with the Irish government and now they've called a second day of strike action for Thursday November the 12th. It fundamentally shows you how disconnected the union leadership is from the the union membership and that's why more and more people are leaving trade unions because they know they've been left behind for years and years. We can go back to the time of the industrial relations act in 1990 which.
Really capitulated the unions to the big employers and
Really capitulated the unions to the big employers and to the state where they'd have to ask permission for looking for strike action. Hence they would need a significant majority within the trade union movement even if strike action was even considered. It also stops solidarity strikes which is very important in terms of workingclass people standing together whether public or private sector in terms of looking for their fair share of the big cake which is getting funneled upwards in.
Irish society. So while they were hamstrung by the industrial relations act, the union movement lost so many members. This has been capitulated and worsened over the past few years in terms of the drive towards a gig economy, poor paying conditions, the zero hour contracts and all of this sort of stuff that's happened in Ireland, which has been a real attack on basic workers rights. And it's been topped off with the mass immigration agenda where one in five.
“So while they were hamstrung by the industrial relations act, the union movement lost so many members”
Workers in Ireland are on low pay. And this is what the mass immigration agenda is fundamentally about in terms of boosting the profits upwards while ordinary people and working class are the ones that suffer most of all. And even when you consider Ireland where one in three workers are on well below the so-called living wage of about 543 euro per week when you consider the high accommodation costs when you consider how the cost of living disaster is impacting anybody and in.
Terms of higher energy costs. It's just absolutely outrageous how many people can even exist on those levels. Not to mention many who are on fixed incomes who are also struggling and being forced into poverty. This happens all at the same time. While the share of profits are pushed upwards in Irish society, the share of profits versus wages are miles apart in Ireland. Really dramatically different to many other European countries where the share of profits to wages are about 75% profits.
In Ireland. So 25% wages. Or you consider other countries like France, it's considerably less. But it demonstrates who Ireland works for. It works for the richest people in Irish society. Top 10% in Ireland have 50% of the wealth. And this is going to be further emboldened by successive government policies who benefit those at the very top of society and hope a little bit trickled down in terms of the crumbs to the bottom and when those at.
The bottom are told to put up or shut up with the crumbs they're offered by the Irish government. And this is happening at the same time when more and more young teachers and young nurses and qualified ones are looking at leaving the country. Recent national new council reports said seven out of 10 young people are considering leaving the country. We can see that with the extortionate housing costs extortion the rental costs for people as well and the no prospect.
Of even owning never mind renting a home near
Of even owning never mind renting a home near their community. But this is also being attacked on community in terms of attacking the trade the the real fighting trade union movement that was built by the likes of Jim Larkin and James Connley where they stand in solidarity with fellow workers. But now this is all completely hamstrung by the industrial relations act. Perhaps they should be standing up for abolishing the industrial relations act and that should be paramount as well in terms of the.
Talks and negotiations they're taking with the Irish government. But what will happen be more grandstanding, more Martian people up the hill and a small offer, the rosary will be on the table to ordinary workers. That's why important for all workers to realize what's taking place and realize that the union leadership and union executives on their massive salaries are completely detached from the lives of ordinary workers and that's why the workers should be taking charge of the unions.
The ordinary workers who are suffering who are left behind by the corrupt dealings of the Irish political establishment. So let's see how this develops over the next period of time and it's important as this day ties in with a European Union meeting in Ireland as well. It's important to stand with all workers and everybody should hit the picket lines regardless public private sector workers. The only thing that holds this government to account and any government to account and the.
Establishment account is the power of workers power of ordinary people standing up and taking to the streets. Thanks so much for the support with my videos. I really appreciate them out in Dublin this evening. Take care.
