The People Before Profit Alliance is calling for full support for the ICTU national protest on November 6th.The protest should be used to mobilise the growing public anger at a government that gives billions to banks at the same time as slashing billions from public services.
The government has launched an onslaught on public sector workers with the intention of cutting wages and the numbers working in vital services. It also wants to slash payments to social welfare recipients. The McCarthy Report has clearly shown what’s in store for us.
The government wants us to believe that nurses, teachers, firefighters and other public servants caused the economic crisis, to justify more attacks on wages and conditions. This lie must be rejected. Workers in both the public and private sectors are under attack. Services to communities with greatest needs are being withdrawn. We should not pay for a mess which we did not create.
It’s time now to call a halt. November 6th should see the widest mobilisation of working people, the unemployed and all those affected by the refusal to fund community and public services. November 6th should not be the usual stroll round O’Connell Street but must involve work stoppages which show the government that we are serious. It must be the first step in a determined campaign of protest and work stoppages to get rid of this government.
In February the ICTU mobilised tens of thousands of people across the country. It then called off further protest action and entered ‘social partnership’ talks with the government. These talks have been a charade with no concession given to the unions.
The April budget saw the government reach into the pockets of PAYE workers and help itself to almost €1.5 billion in extra taxes. The government did this because it thought we were weak. It is now clear that there is no partnership. The establishment of NAMA shows that the government will look after their banker and developer friends while we are all left to struggle with inflated mortgages.
There is no NAMA for our public or community services even though our schools, hospitals and local services desperately need investment. The government has made it clear that it will not take any action to make the rich pay for the mess they created. Its key concern is to satisfy international lenders that it’s bailing out the banks and putting the boot into public servants and welfare recipients.
People Before Profit says only a determined campaign of protest and industrial action can protect us from further attacks: All those unions who have mandates for industrial action should call stoppages on November 6th An early date should be set for a 24 hour national stoppage Action committees should be established in every locality with the aim of bringing workers, the unemployed and those affected by cuts into the campaign
Ultimately we need a political movement that puts the interests of workers and the unemployed before those of the rich and greedy. People Before Profit is working to build such a movement. Join us in this important work.
