Ireland: IMPACT Ballot shows huge shift in favour of strike action; now’s the time to stop Fianna Fáil and the Greens in their tracks

Members of the trade union IMPACT have voted 86% to 14% for strike action on a 69% ballot. This marks a dramatic shift over the past 7 months. But that’s hardly a surprise given the imposition of the levy, the slash and burn budget and the threats of cuts and redundancies and the general economic chaos and political crisis that threatens public sector workers.

IMPACT members have voted 86% to 14% for strike action on a 69% ballot. This is a huge change from the position in March where a similar vote resulted in a 65% Yes vote on a 53% turnout. The vote in March fell just short of the 2/3 barrier that union rules lay down as the minimum threshold for official action to be sanctioned. This marks a dramatic shift over the past 7 months. But that’s hardly a surprise given the imposition of the levy, the slash and burn budget and the threats of cuts and redundancies and the general economic chaos and political crisis that threatens public sector workers.

Certainly this vote represents a victory in the campaign to turn back the bosses’ assault on the Irish working class. It’s something to build on it will have a big effect on the other ballots that are taking place and strengthens the hand of the union leaders. The Irish working class was immensely strengthened by the huge boom that took place between 1995 and 2007. The numbers in work grew and trade union membership increased in absolute terms. But more than anything else, the Celtic Tiger gave us something to fight for. In the boom the bosses made some concessions. Now they are desperate to take them back, and for sure they want the interest as well. It’s a clear case of give them an inch and they’ll take a mile, a country mile at that.

In Britain in the 1980’s the Miners strike was bitter and protracted. One of the reasons for this was that the miners had won a certain standard of living and through struggle had won improved safety conditions and rights. They had invested a huge amount in their pits and they were going to fight to defend them.

There’s a similar process going on in Ireland at the moment. The economy doubled in size in 12 years. But it’s not a simple process of winding back the clock that Cowen and Lenihan are engaged in. The Bórd Snip report and the much heralded cuts in the next budget are far too much to bear. It’s a life or death struggle for the public sector in Ireland and that has raised the stakes onto a much higher level.

Things have changed. We were very critical of the line that David Begg put on his way to meet the Taoiseach and rightly so. That is because try as they might the trade union leaders will not find a way out of the crisis on the path of social partnership. Leon Trotsky explained in 1940 just before his death that these arrangements always have a tendency to break down because of crisis and the pressure from below on the trade union leaders. What could be more accurate today than those words?

The pressure has been building for months and now seems to have reached a qualitatively different stage. As the Irish Times explained on 22^nd October:

“Unions representing 100,000 public sector workers are balloting their members on industrial action, including strikes, if the Government proceeds with plans to introduce further cuts in pay and services.

Representatives of the six unions in the 24/7 Frontline Service Alliance held a joint meeting in Liberty Hall, Dublin this morning at which they decided to escalate their opposition to cuts.

The group, which represents public servants including nurses, gardaí, firefighters and prison officers, said it did not want to take industrial action but would do so if the 'savage' cuts proposed in the McCarthy Report were implemented.

'All the unions in the alliance who can ballot under their constitutions are now balloting and we will continue to act and whatever mandate we receive will be utilised,' Irish Nurses Organisation general secretary Liam Doran said.

The Garda Representative Association (GRA) and Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) cannot ballot on industrial action. However General Secretary of the AGSI Joe Dirwan said the alliance was united in its aims and his members would be 'innovative' in relation to the action they would take.

'Whatever action or inaction we decide to take we will not put the public in danger... if we inconvenience them it will be far less in convenience than if the implementation of the McCarthy report goes ahead.' ”

In March we criticised the ICTU leaders for leading the workers to the top of the hill and then leading them back down again scratching their heads. The trade unions are the basic defensive organisations of the working class. But the strength of the union ultimately depends on the preparedness of the workers to struggle. Leadership with a sense of perspective is vital in galvanising the movement. The leadership of the Irish unions are under a lot of pressure to deliver the goods. For the active members and the socialists in the unions, the task is clear keep up the pressure and fight for a socialist answer to the capitalist crisis. That’s the only way to stop the axe from swinging.

Source: Fightback - Ireland