Workers Solidarity Movement

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.

This is a collection of articles on Education struggles in Ireland and elsewhere over the last decade. Most have been written by anarchists and are first hand accounts of struggles the authors were involved in. We are making them available so new generations of activists could learn what worked and did not work in these earlier struggles.

The issues of Workers Solidarity in 2009

For almost twenty years those of us who argued for an alternative to capitalism were told There Is No Alternative (TINA). We were presented with two arguments, firstly that capitalism was resulting in increased prosperity across the world and over time there would be a trickle down of that prosperity so that even the poorest would benefit. And secondly that socialism meant dictatorship and inefficiency so whatever our ideals it was no real alternative.

The Irish government has called in as financial adviser Henrietta Baldock of the remarkable loss making machine that is Merrill Lynch

January - February 2009 Edition of the Workers Solidarity freesheet.

PDF of Workers Solidarity 107 Southern Web Edition 0.91 Mb
PDF of Workers Solidarity 107 Northern Web Edition 0.92 Mb

Make Them Redundant
Moving From Protest to Success
Lower Pay, Less Jobs - Whose National Interest?
A Quick Guide to Social Welfare for the Newly Jobless
You Can't Eat a Flag
Loansharks Prey on 40,000 Across the North
Organising in Challenging Times
What the hell is a social centre?
Thinking About Anarchism - The Selfish Gene?
That's Capitalism!