Workers Solidarity Movement

As part of the global climate strike about 25 thousand students marched through the center of Dublin city. This was one of many demonstrations that took place around Ireland, even the small dormitory towns around Dublin like Maynooth had their own demonstrations. So the actual numbers protesting in Ireland was probably in the region of 40,000.  In this piece Andrew looks at how collective action can halt Climate Breakdown using the example of the need for transport to illustrate why individual consumer choices cannot fix things.

Irish Rail workers were out on strike recently. What’s going on? 

The WSM recently caught up with J, an activist and worker at Irish Rail, to find out.

For background details, see our analysis, "Why Irish Rail workers are right to strike", published here.

Inter city bus workers in Ireland launched widespread secondary pickets at 4am this morning. Solidarity from transport workers at the other services picketed meant that most of the country ground to a halt as morning rush hour approached, almost all trains, Dublin bus and light rail services did not operate.

Bus Eireann staff are set to exert their collective rights and strike from the 20th February in an indefinite industrial action in order to secure their pay and conditions. The strike action follows Bus Éireann’s acting chief executive officer Ray Hernan saying the company wanted to reduce its cost base by €30 million per year, with payroll costs accounting for 40 per cent of that reduction.

This morning (8th September) the Bob Crow Brigade fighting ISIS in Rojava have sent solidarity greetings to the Dublin bus workers who have begun the first of 6 strike days fighting for improved wages. The image shows two volunteers posing in front of a wall which has been painted with the Starry Plough, the flag of the armed workers militia set up to protect strikers in 1913 from police attack. 'Socialism will Win' has also been paintined along with Beir Bua, which can be translated as 'good luck' or 'be victorious'.

The shutdown of Dublin bus services begins prematurely at 21.00 tonight thanks to management's refusal to trust the workers to wind down the service ahead of tomorrows two day strike, the first of three scheduled. As our name suggests Solidarity Times stands in solidarity with the bus workers, just as we were in solidarity with the LUAS strikes.

In both strikes a media looking for angles to attack the workers on choose the relative size of the pay claims they were making. 21% sounds big but the period covered, 2008 to 2019, is actually 11 years. But workers in Dublin need big pay increases and contrary to what RTE might tell you this isn’t a bad thing for most of us, quite the opposite.

Irish billionaire capitalist Michael O'Leary has launched an online petition asking you to back a capitalist and state move against French air traffic control (ATC) unions. It's called 'Keep Europes Skies Open'.

The end goal of such a move would be to outlaw strikes through state legislation, force unions to submit to binding state backed arbitration and promote the use of scab labour to undermine workers striking for better conditions.

Michael the billionaire is hoping working class people like us can be enticed into undermining French ATC unions by encouraging us to put our holiday plans ahead of the livelihoods of French workers.

That's not going to happen Michael.