Workers Solidarity Movement

Around 100 people demonstrated at the “Courts of Justice” in Parkgate St. in Dublin this morning (16/3/11) in support of Gerard McDonnell, who is facing charges in relation to a “floating picket” in Dublin port in 2009 during the drawn out strike at MRL. The case was adjourned until April 1^st as the book of evidence was not ready, despite, as the defence solicitor pointed out, over 18 months having elapsed since the alleged offences.

In 2009, a group of workers in Dublin Port fought an 8-month long strike against forced redundancies and pay cuts.  The workers and their local community showed bravery and determination in what was a difficult struggle.  Their employer, Marine Terminals Ltd. (MTL), was eventually forced to come to an agreement with the strikers.

Several hundred protestors chanting ‘Scabs out. Dockers In’ engaged in a mass trespass on the premises of Marine Terminals Ltd. in Dublin’s docklands yesterday morning (24th August).

SIPTU members at the MTL depot in Dublin Port have been on strike since the beginning of July, resisting forced redundancies and pay cuts. The company shipped in scabs from the North and Britain on day one to steal the dockers’ jobs, and also got a High Court injunction preventing effective picketing. The Port Workers Support Group (local trade union & community activists, including the Workers Solidarity Movement) held its second march of solidarity today (Monday August 10th).