Workers Solidarity Movement

The 1st meeting of Grassroots Education Workers takes place in the Teachers Club, 35 Parnell square at 2pm

These are a selection from the many shots I took on a day when our class re-discovered a little something of its old combative spirit, and the numbers marching are more comfort to ordinary working folk than to those who would misinterpret this monster attendance as endorsement of their strategy of appeasement towards IBEC and the government. I saw David Begg walk up Parnell Sq. East towards the Garden of Remembrance a half-hour or more before the march started. He was alone and he looked downcast - surrounded by thousands of his fellow trade unionists, none of whom seemed to notice or even care about his presence among them. Nobody greeted him or was willing to share his company on this day of days. It couldn't have happened out of ignorance on the people's part, for Mr. Begg's face, voice and message assails us from all state and private media organs. It couldn’t have occurred from unfamiliarity either, for surely it couldn’t be true that our leaders generally disdain our company?

An interview with Dermot who was at the Feb 2009 ICTU demonstration pay cuts & job losses leafletting for the WSM. He talks about the atmosphere of the demonstration and what is to come.

From late morning yesterday (Sat. 21st February) it was clear that the Irish Congress of Trade Unions’ National Demonstration was going to be huge. It was also clear that those marching were from all over the country and from all types of employment – both public and private sector.

For those of you, like myself who can't make it along to the march today, I'll be posting updates from texters at the march as the day goes by.

As soon as possible we need a unified day of strike action across the entire public sector to demand withdrawal of this pay cut. One day of strike action is unlikely to be enough to force a change of government policy. So this needs to be followed up with an ongoing campaign of strike action. Join us for the march on Saturday at the Parnell monument from 1.30.

Did the idea of the so called 'Pensions Levy' come from some of the very Irish Congress of Trade Unions leadership who are supposed to negotiate on behalf of workers. This is one revelation that emerged on Saturday morning at a meeting of over 100 public sector trade unionists and two delegates from the Waterford Glass occupation. We were meeting in the Davenport hotel, Dublin to discuss a collective response to government attacks on workers and in particular the public sector pay cut. Most of those present were on branch committees or even national executives with a couple of branches delegating representatives to the meeting. The gathering could in that context be said to reflect the views of a large number of branches across the unions that organise public sector workers.

Free Education for Everyone (FEE), a student group fighting the reintroduction of fees and cutbacks in third level education, is calling on all secondary and third level students to join the ICTU National Demonstration this saturday to show solidarity with all workers facing pension levys, job losses and pay cuts.

The Education Cuts announced in the Budget have unleashed a wave of protest across the country. 12,000 parents and teachers protested outside the Dail on Wednesday 29th October. Regional protests have since been held in Galway (attended by over 8,000), Tullamore (4,000), Cork (30,000) and Donegal (8,000). The national demonstration in Dublin on 6th December brought a massive 60,000 people onto the streets. All in all, over 120,000 people have joined the protests to say loudly and clearly that our children should not have to pay for the financial crisis. In addition there have been local demonstrations and pickets outside the clinics of Fianna Fail and Green Party TDs across the country.

The CFE was the Campaign for Free Education. It existed the summer of 2002 and the summer of 2003 and was predominantly based in UCD. Mary (MOF) spoke to two activists from the CFE campaign to find out what student activists today can learn from their experiences.