Workers Solidarity Movement

Like millions of others, I was absolutely delighted to see the trapped miners in the San José mine in Chile getting out alive from their stressful, claustrophobic confinement which they'd been in for almost 70 days as a result of negligence on the part of the mining companies. I could only be thrilled to see this terrible story of grief and suffering come to a happy ending and see tears exchanged for bursts of laughter. But at the same time, mixed with my joy at seeing these 33 condemned men return to life, I still had a feeling that was a mixture of revulsion and anger at the show put on by the very people who had dug what could have been these men's graves. I have no wish to be a killjoy, but when the natural euphoria that has engulfed the country calms down, a great many questions will need to be asked.

A CSO report from 2009 revealed that Irish residents own 1251 billion euro worth of foreign stocks and bonds. Over 300 billion of this is invested in the US and 240 billion on Britain. These figures are for stocks and bonds only, they don't include other wealth that Irish residents hold abroad, for instance in the form of property. (Image: from the CSO report).

Videos from last Saturday's 1% Network walking tour though the Dublin of the 'Golden Circle' have begun to be released.  The first video, by Dublin based videographer Dave Donnellan, shows highlights of the tour including snippets of the descriptions delivered at different points of the tour.  We will be adding more video here as it becomes available.

1% Walk Through Dublin from Dave Donnellan on Vimeo.

A battle is brewing between IMPACT cabin crew members and the management of Aer Lingus.  The cabin crew began a work-to-rule action yesterday against changes to rosters by the management which they see as going beyond what the “Greenfield” cost-saving plan had proposed. The IMPACT members will work on the old rosters, will not work on rest days, and will take all breaks and meals due to them. They will also decline to work the Washington/Madrid route. This route is voluntarily undertaken by cabin crew based in Ireland under Irish working conditions.

On three occasions in the last 6 weeks, over 3 million have marched against the government’s pension reforms in France, which are opposed by 70% of the population. The government, however, is determined to impose the changes. If we are to defeat the government and the architects behind these reforms, we will have to engage in real strike action. As the law is about to be passed in the Senate, renewed industrial action must be considered in all professional sectors. The renewal of the strike after October 12 is on the agenda in many areas: the railways, urban transport, chemical industries, ports, EDF, local authorities, education, culture and many more.

Leo Varadkar TD an influential Fine Gael politician has called for the implementation of the entire McCarthy report in the coming budget, the introduction of a water tax and the expanding the tax net to take money from low paid workers.

Public Private Partnerships (PPPs), as we’ve been led to believe by those who support them, are ways in which public bodies can share the costs and risk involved in providing public infrastructure such as roads, schools etc. with private sector companies.

But in recent days it has emerged that PPPs entered into for the construction of the M3 motorway and the Limerick tunnel are set to land  the taxpayer with a €100 million bill over the lifetime of the contracts.

“There is a huge political choice facing every one of us…The wealth division in Ireland is obscene.  It must be brought to an end.” – Gregor Kerr, WSM spokesperson Anarchist organisation Workers Solidarity Movement (WSM) will participate in the 1% Network Walking Tour taking place on Saturday (9^th October), leaving St. Stephens Green at 1p.m.

The 1% Network has announced final details of the “Political Walking Tour through the Heartland of the Golden Circle” and has invited “anyone who cares about finding a just solution to the economic crisis” to “come and see how the 1% live.” The tour will set off from the Wolfe Tone monument, St. Stephens Green on Saturday next, 9^th October, at 1p.m. and will take a route through Dublin 2 and 4 which, according to the 1% Network “are littered with the landmarks of power and wealth of the 1%”.

Yesterday morning when news of the cement truck blocking the Dail gates broke politicians and possibly Gardai spun the story to make it sound as if this one man protest was a lot more dangerous then the reality. We were told Gardai had to jump out of the way of the truck and that it crashed into the gates. Now mobile phone footage showing the entire incident reveals that the truth was not being told about this one man protest by a minor developer.