Irish Police to join national strike

There have been discussions here about a 'winter of discontent' from the trade unions, with strikes brewing on the London Underground, buses etc. Yesterday saw the settlement of the Leeds bin workers strike, which lasted for 11 weeks, and where it seems from reports that the workers received a reasonable settlement, thanks to the unions.

But things are much worse in the Irish Republic. The budget next month is expected to be the most savage in decades and cuts in the public services are at the heart of it. This follows on from a decision by the government to prop up the banks and to create a 'toxic bank' in the shape of NAMA (National Asset Management Agency) and to pour millions of taxpayers Euros into it. According to some economists it could virtually bankrupt the nation for two generations. Now the Fianna Fail/Green government have decided to take on the public sector and the unions have declared a national strike today, with possibly another to follow next month. Schools, council services, public offices etc will be closed. Even the staff in the Irish parliament in Dublin are striking. For the first time in living memory, the Irish police, the Gardai, are joining in the strike, albeit those off duty. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/24/ireland

For many Conservatives the measures being taken against the public sector in Ireland are the blueprint for what they would like to do in the UK - and they are watching developments in Ireland with great interest. They are also quite content to take on the unions and, if possible, defeat them. Their plan is to considerably reduce inheritance tax and assist their friends in high paid positions, at the expense of the lower paid public sector workers. You can already hear this in the economic discourse. Of course, New Labour, after gratefully taking the unions money during the general election, might be planning something similar if Mandelson et al have their way. So the outcome of the strikes and the struggle of the unions in Ireland is important and we should hope that the public sector workers will prevail. The government in Dublin have had no hesitation in protecting the profits of thier cronies and speculator friends and now the public sector workers and those on welfare are being asked to take the blame. As a trade unionist and a radical Green, I send my full support to the Irish workers. It was the great Irish trade union leader Jim Larkin, leader of a major strike in Dublin in 1913, who said: "The employers cannot carry on industry nor accumulate profits if they have not got the good will of the workers or their acquiescence in carrying on such industry."