Workers Solidarity Movement

How low can they go? - 1,400 mentally disabled people in the 26 counties have no suitable place to live. Another 1,000 desperately need suitable day care. Last November their parents appealed to the government for £60 million to provide these essential services for their children.

Bertie Ahern cried foul when RTE broadcast a radio quiz with candidates in last October's Cork South Central by-election. Fianna Fáil's Sinead Behan scored just 1 out of 10. She didn't know how many Cork people were unemployed, or which paramilitary organisation had not called a ceasefire. The one question she was able to answer correctly was "What salary does a TD earn?"

On January 1st 1994, a rebel army called the Emiliano Zapata Liberation Front (EZLN) rose against the Mexican government in Chiapas, Mexico. Workers Solidarity contributor Andrew Flood has been researching the life of ordinary people in the Zapatista area. Below he writes about some of his findings

Australian dockers' strike ends

BOTH THE DOCKERS' trade union and the bosses are claiming victory in the Australian waterfront strike we reported in our last issue. The owners of Patricks, the major dock firm, had sacked all 1,400 employees. Their aim was to smash the Maritime Union of Australia and reduce pay rates. The government backed Patricks to the hilt and Patricks spent $100 million on their union busting operation.

THE CURRENT favourite for the Workers Solidarity 1998 Sick Joke of the Year Award is that infamous newspaper of record, The New York Times - for a profile it ran of US Vice-President Al Gore. It prominently tipped Al Gore to run for US President in 2000. In doing so, the NYT notes that Al Gore has many "qualities" that recommend him for the job, including an avid interest in the environment, going back to when Gore was just a lad. (Ah it's lovely!)

Irish Mexico Group peace camp attacked in Chiapas

THE MEXICAN state of Chiapas has seen further violence, with large-scale military invasions into indigenous communities who sympathise with the Zapatista rebels. In particular, the army and police have focussed on removing foreign human rights observers from the region. 15 people were deported in April. Three of them were taken from the Irish-run peace camp of Diez de April.

When the Watergate Scandal brought down the Nixon Government in the States in the mid-70s, it was heralded as one of the finest examples of media power in modern times. Nixon's fall from grace, along with the story of corruption in high places, was the stuff of drama. In no time, the journalists at the centre of the Watergate exposé - Bernstein and Woodward - became celebrities. They went on to win Pulitzer Prizes for their journalistic endeavours and even became the subject of a Hollywood touch-up in All The President's Men.

A few results of the 'social partnership' deals have been published by the government's own Economic & Social Research Institute. In 1992 profits accounted for 39% of all national income. By last year they had risen to 42%, and are expected to be 46% by 2003. At the same time the share of national income going to wages was 52% in 1995 and is expected to fall to 48% by 2003. In 1987 wages accounted for 60% of national income.

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Comment piece from R&BR 3

The internet - viewed by some as the highway to the future, dismissed by others as an over - hyped toy with little practical value. Conor Mc Loughlin reviews a new book on the internet and its use by the labour movement.