Workers Solidarity Movement

On Thursday it was William Slattery of State Street.  Today it’s the chair of Goldman Sachs International “a leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm that provides a wide range of financial services to a substantial and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and high-net-worth individuals.”  And workers and the unemployed are again the target.

Peter Sutherland, perhaps better known for his former role as EU Commissioner, today called for “hard decisions” on cutting costs in the Irish economy to be made.  And as you can guess his suggested hard decisions weren’t aimed at the top 1% who own 34% of the country’s wealth.  Instead he outlined his view that pay cuts and service cuts of more than €3 billion should be made in December’s budget.

Pay, according to Mr. Sutherland, is too high in Ireland.  But he wasn’t thinking about his own fat salary and the payments he receives for the various boards he sits on.  Not to mention the pension he no doubt gets from the EU as a result of his former Commissioner role.  No – as far as Mr. Sutherland is concerned those of us on average and below average wages are living it up at the expense of the economy!

What we’re seeing here is a deliberate and direct strategy from the international financial ‘industry’ aimed at paving the way for even further attacks on our living standards and services in the next budget.

Mainstream media continuously fails to identify this agenda and plays along with it by reporting without question the views of these supposed experts without putting their comments in the context of their positions as members of the elite.  These financiers have a political agenda and it’s important that we’re all aware of it.

What’s clear is that there is one law for them and another for us.  While Slattery and Sutherland include public service pensions on their attack agenda, their buddy -another former Commissioner and former Minister for Finance- Charlie McCreevey, continues to receive €138,000 per year as a ‘transition allowance’ from the EU Commission 3 years after he left the position, along with a combined ministerial and TD pension of €127,000!

WORDS: Gregor Kerr