Workers Solidarity Movement

Sunday April 16 saw the Irish government mark the 90th anniversary of the Easter 1916 insurrection against British imperialism. Some 120,000 turned out to watch a military parade and a fly past. To coincide with the event anti-war activists, most of them anarchists, were making their way to Baldonnel airbase where the planes and helicopters involved in the fly past took off from. This airbase has been used by USA Hercules military planes and has been involved in CIA torture flights.

An anarchist reports from the conference of the Independent Workers Union held Saturday in Dublin. The IWU broke away from the ATGWU (another general union that admits all workers) in 2002 .

Rosssport Solidarity Camp is re-opening at the moment, in preparation for any attempt by Shell to recommence work, something that they couldn’t do over winter, due to the fatal combination of rain and bog.

The supermarket giant Asda, a subsidiary of Wal-Mart, has recently taken over 12 Safeway stores in Northern Ireland. It has also been ordered to pay £850,000 in compensation to staff at their huge distribution centre at Washington in the north east of England

Our Money? - Their money? - Loadsa Money - Taxpayers Money? - Offensive

The Workers Solidarity Movement has been running a national speaking tour since the start of the year.

Friday February 24th saw one of Ireland’s biggest and most anti-union firms back down. Dunnes Stores wrote to sacked shop steward, Joanne Delaney telling her that she had been reinstated in her job at the Ashleaf Shopping Centre in Dublin.

This Easter marks the ninetieth anniversary of the 1916 rising. There is an unedifying scrabble by every politician in the state to wrap the green flag around themselves and stake their claim to be the inheritors of the tradition.

Labour leader Pat Rabbitte showed his opportunism when he called for a look at work visas for EU nationals. He raised the spectre of 40 million poles chasing “Irish Jobs”. It was a thoroughly disappointing turn by Labour but hardly surprising.

The 3rd conference of the Indepedent Workers Union took place in Dublin Saturday April 9. The Workers Solidarity Movement extended our solidarity and ongoing support for the work of the IWU.