Protest time again

This coming Saturday, ICTU are holding a protest march from Wood Quay to the GPO. This comes almost a year after the last major incident where I spent a day in the pub North doing Xmas shopping cold picketing a building site on Pearse Street. The upcoming demonstration, while nominally about Congress' alternative to the austerity measures, is really the best opportunity for the general public to register their disgust with the decisions and plans of the current government.

Over the last 10 years, the Unions, both public and private sector, have not exactly covered themselves in glory. The fiasco of benchmarking and partnership along with lightning strikes and blue flus have not endeared the organisations to the general public. At this point the sight of Jack O'Connor, David Begg and Blair Horan on the TV has most people either reaching for the remote or throwing something at the screen.

However, this protest has to be about more than the Unions. These organisations are the only groups who are able to mobilize large numbers of people to form the core of a protest. Compare this Saturday's events with the Right to Work events last May and June where there was never more than 1,000 people in attendance and in may cases substantially less. The involvement of fringe groups such as SWP, Eirigí and Anarchists only puts people off attending. The Unions, despite all their faults, give some level of legitimacy to the event.

So turn up on Saturday. Bring a sign and feel free to put an anti-Union slogan - you won't be alone. Together the masses can have a say and hopefully put an end to this disastrous government and their failed policies.

Unions Capitulate

Well it was always going to end this way. Despite the early results from the frontline groups such as teachers and the lower paid clerical staff, the vast swathes of mid-grade pen-pushers in the larger unions carried the Croke Park deal. So now we're in for a few years of the reform agenda with the promise of no further cuts (subject to national finances).

The gap in the public finances should be tackled from both ends - costs need to be reduced, but at the same time putting more people back to work reduces Welfare costs and increases tax revenues. Agreeing to hold public sector pay static until 2014 and rely on natural wastage in the system is not going to help close the gap much. It is also landing the next government with a time-bomb. By 2012/13 the agreement will more than likely need to be broken and FF will start playing politics again blaming FG/Lab/whoever for stabbing the public sector workers.

Of course the really interesting part is what will happen with the teachers and other groups that rejected the deal. Will they go along with the majority vote in ICTU or will they continue their actions against the cutbacks? If the disputes continue, will the government declare the unions as rogue and start implementing forced redundancies and cuts on their members? There will be some heated debates within the teachers' unions over the summer break to come up with a workable strategy that protects their and the students' interests without alienating an already hostile private sector.

Just for the record, as a SIPTU member in higher education, I voted against the deal.

A striking we will go

I should come as no surprise to people that, one by one, the union executives are recommending rejection of the Croke Park deal. The deal is not sellable in its current form where in return for guaranteeing industrial peace for a period of time, the government has carte blanche in redefining the terms and conditions of employment of the entire public sector.

The issue about re-paying the cuts to lower paid is a red herring. Yes, those under €30k or so should not have been targeted in the last round of pay cuts. However, after the back tracking on the senior civil servants and the uproar on Joe Duffy et al, turning back the clock on the lower paid is not an option.

The sooner this deal is rejected and industrial action starts up again with a view to forcing an election the better. Piecemeal action that just aggravates the public is pointless - a general downing of tools is required. We could do worse than take our lead from Thailand. I'm ready to do my part!

ATC strike

Yesterday there was widespread travel disruption as Irish air traffic controllers went on strike. Over 100 flights were canceled because of the four hour disruption and many more were delayed as a knock on effect. The usual suspects came out demanding heads on pikes and Ronald Reagan type action to fire all of the strikers, the unions were just as belligerent in their interviews with the media and the government arriving on the scene far too late to be of any help.

It appears that the dispute came about because of the introduction of new technology in the air traffic control centre and the union demands for a pay increase. The dispute had been referred to the labour court for judgment but before the hearing it appears that the IAA suspended 14 members of the union causing all the others to walk off the job for a four hour meeting.

Now in a time when man people are losing their jobs it is hard to feel sympathy for people on six figure salaries who are looking for a pay increase. Sure the job is stressful but they are financially well looked after and I'm sure that many others would be more than willing to take on the role. On the other hand, the heavy handedness of the IAA in suspending staff without waiting for the outcome of a process that both sides agreed to cannot be condoned either.

All this disruption has managed to do is blot our reputation abroad, cost the economy money and inconvenience thousands of passengers. Oh, and give Michael O'Leary even more air time to pontificate in his terribly obnoxious manner. All in all, a pretty bad day for Ireland Inc.