It’s no surprise that the largest attendance at a fringe meeting at the ICTU delegate conference last month was the one organised by the Trade Union Left Forum, on the theme “Anti-union legislation and how it affects workers’ rights.”
Tag: trade unions
Abolish the Industrial Relations Act!
The biennial delegate conference of the ICTU is being held in Dublin on 2, 3 and 4 July. It will debate and formulate policy and goals for member-unions for the next couple of years.
There is no doubt that falling union density and the high age profile of the membership are serious concerns for unions. Major changes are needed to reverse this trend.
More power to you!
The recently launched campaign by three of our largest trade unions—SIPTU, Fórsa, and Connect—is to be welcomed. Under the slogan “More Power to You,” it is asking voters to take the local power pledge: “I believe in local government.” This is a pledge to use your vote in the coming […]
Workers in struggle
Lloyd’s refuse to attend the Labour Court At the Labour Court on 26 April the employees’ union, Mandate, presented the case for all Lloyd’s Pharmacy workers to receive improvements to their terms and conditions of employment. Mandate’s submission includes demands for: A pay increase of 3.4 per cent, backdated to […]
Ireland: A country of two halves
A recent study by the Think Tank for Action on Social Change (TASC), The State We Are In: Inequality in Ireland Today, throws up a lot of interesting facts about life in Ireland. The survey points out that Ireland’s low union density leads to low pay and high rates of […]
Has anti-union legislation got workers on their knees?
The Trade Union Left Forum is holding a public meeting and discussion workshop on anti-union legislation and how it affects the Irish working class, north and south. The purpose of the forum is to encourage and initiate serious examination and debate on the major questions facing the labour movement today […]
No country for workers
There has been a growth in resistance by workers and demands for increased wages, for better terms and conditions, and for union recognition. Pay and conditions for nurses have deteriorated with the continuing “austerity,” and during February nurses and midwives were the latest group of workers to organise and strike […]
Industrial relations law – Seeing the wood and the trees
There is no doubt that union density and union activity have declined drastically over recent years. The only time there was any increase was at the height of the global financial crash—and this was not an increase in total membership, it was an increase in density, resulting from the fact […]
Unions can be schools of socialism, but they are not socialist
To paraphrase and develop Marx, in certain conditions unions can be the schools of socialism for working people; but they are not socialist in themselves, and in fact only rarely act as such schools. Unions are a product of their conditions. When craft unions dominated, it was the period of […]
“Not seeing the wood for the trees”: A response (1)
In the July and August issues of Socialist Voice, Jimmy Doran and Niall Cullinane debated the merits of reforming the Industrial Relations Act (1990). While Jimmy was enthusiastic for reform, Niall was more sceptical. In elaborating this scepticism he raised many interesting and important points. Limitations of space prevent a […]
“Not seeing the wood for the trees”: A response (2)
In September’s Socialist Voice, two articles (“Not seeing the wood for the trees” by Ernst Schreiber and “Unity is strength” by Laura Duggan) raised issue with a piece written by this contributor in the August issue (“The wrong act?”). I will confine my response to the former, because, in contrast […]
Workers in struggle – Lloyd’s Pharmacy: Fighting for union recognition
Mandate has called on Lloyd’s Pharmacy to respect its employees’ right to trade union representation before the management does even more damage to the business. The union responded to a press statement issued by the company to correct serious flaws in its presentation of what is happening and to expose […]