Socialist Voice articles last month by Jimmy Doran and Niall Cullinane provided the basis of an interesting discussion in the Greater Belfast Branch of the CPI. The articles were about the January 18th “Generalised Strike Action” across the North, directed against the British Tory Secretary of State for withholding funding […]
Trade Unionism
A Carefully Crafted Story – RTÉ’s Inside Penneys
Fresh off the back of a year of public-private financial blunders, including revelations of Ryan Tubridy’s secret overpayment, UK-based barter account use, undisclosed free-car deals and a Toy Show Musical money-pit scandal, our public-service broadcaster is back with ‘Inside Penneys’. During the summer of 2023, Motive Television / RTÉ production […]
Public Sector Strikes and Union Strategy
150,000 public sector workers recently undertook a 24-hour strike across the North. The demand was principally in relation to pay. Adding fuel to worker discontent are strained public services, which impact labour effort via intensification but also relativity of pay. Northern Irish workers’ salaries compare unfavourably to equivalents in Britain. […]
Ulster Says No
On 18th January 2024, 150,000 public sector workers joined together in a wave of strikes across the North. The main reason for this strike was pay. Workers were demanding pay increases that match inflation. Public sector workers’ pay has been falling behind inflation for more than a decade: more than […]
The EU Directive on Collective Bargaining, Class Consciousness and Transformative Strategy
Previous articles in Socialist Voice, as well as our Party Programme, have explained and outlined what is meant by a transformative strategy to build socialism and replace capitalism as the mode of production, means of exchange and political, cultural and social relations of the State in Ireland. In essence it […]
Mandate calls for improved services
The Mandate trade union has called on the Government to use budgetary surplus to improve public services and housing while replacing the minimum wage with a living wage. Mandate, representing more than 24,000 workers in the retail, bar and administration sectors, is calling on the Government to invest in capital […]
Solidarity forever!
The Industrial Relations Act (1990) was designed to control workers, and it attacked the trade union movement at its very core by making solidarity between workers illegal. This was done by restricting workers taking industrial action together, dividing work-places into separate grades, and banning support strikes. Solidarity is the foundation […]
Let us arise!
As the trade union movement gathers in Kilkenny for the ICTU biennial delegate conference, we must take notice of the changing demographics of union membership. The average age of union members is 48. Only about 12 per cent of members are under 30 years of age. Despite the number of […]
Radical or redundant? But what is radical?
The Trade Union Left Forum correctly calls on trade unions to become radical or redundant. This slogan contrasts the pivotal role unions can play, the potential they possess, against their declining power and relevance to many workers. But what is radical? Because as communists, and Leninists in particular, we know […]
Workers Pay the Price of Capitalism
Capitalism has survived despite a roller-coaster of crises for over two centuries. It uses many means to survive, but one of its greatest weapons is controlling the narrative and dividing the working class, to divert attention from the cause of all the crises faced by and paid for by the […]
Notes from the hospital picket line
Striking is never an easy option – especially for health and social care workers. The longer management can draw out a strike, the harder it gets to maintain the unity of purpose and public support that has been such a feature of the on-going health and social care strikes in […]
Debt and strikes
In 2017 the Trade Union Left Forum published an article that speculated about the link between increasing household debt and reduced strike action. The article suggested a relationship between growing debt and inequality and reduced worker militancy. The full article and the statistics used are available at http://www.tuleftforum.com/debt-inequality-industrial-action-chicken-egg/, but a […]
CPI Trade Union Political School
On Saturday 21 January comrades from around Ireland gathered in Dublin to analyse their involvement in trade unions. The day was an enjoyable one, with a well-arranged programme of events and stimulating talks. Some people ask, “What have the unions done for me?” It is important to list briefly what […]
Unions: Organs of struggle or an insurance policy?
Comrade Doran in the last Voice made several thoughtful observations. To this reader, his remark that Irish union members are “infected with a petty-bourgeois outlook, one that views trade union membership as an insurance policy or a last resort, not as organs of solidarity and struggle,” stood out most. His […]
The struggle against capitalism is a political struggle
The new year begins with no let-up in the assault on the working class. The cost of food, clothes, heat, rent and mortgages continues to rise. Homelessness is increasing. The election of Leo Varadkar as taoiseach will probably result in an intensification of this assault, in the interests of native […]
Are unions ready to take a chance?
In November’s Socialist Voice I wrote an article on the High-Level Report on Collective Bargaining, entitled “An opportunity, not a panacea.” In it I suggested: “For this opportunity will only be of value if the movement invests significant time, resources and energy in the organisation, structurally, of workers in their […]