Class Struggle Roundup - 12 February 2023
Northern teachers strike, an open letter from labour activists nationwide, and more.
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Northern Ireland
Public sector actions continuing in North with widespread teacher strike. The majority of teachers in Northern Ireland plan a half-day strike on 21 February. Teachers affiliated with UTU, INTO, and NASUWT are participating. The NEU is balloting its members while the National Association of Head Teachers has decided not to participate.
Éire
Council to look into public contracts with wage depressing firm TOP Security. PBP South County Dublin councillor Madelein Johannson put forward a motion to investigate whether the council has any contracts with the security firm that’s court case is blocking a sectoral Employment Regulation Order (ERO) to increase wages for around 16,000 security workers, Dublin People reports. The security workers are organised through independent rank-and-file organisation, Security Officers United.
Open letter from labour activists denouncing racism and anti-refugee protests. Trade unionists and members of the labour movement in Ireland have signed an open letter in support of refugees in the wake of recent protests against asylum seekers residing in the country. Published on the Left Bloc website, the letter declares “solidarity and support for refugees and asylum seekers who have been subjected to inhumane attacks in recent weeks and months.”
We [trade unionists] reject the lies and disinformation which has been spread by those who seek to divide our communities and workplaces.
We understand that ordinary workers and members of our community are suffering right now, due to a housing, healthcare and a cost of living crisis. These multiple crises have been caused by political decisions made by Irish politicians and not by those fleeing war and persecution.
We recognise the familiar efforts to misdirect our anger towards our most vulnerable. This misdirection benefits our government who continue to implement their regressive policies while blame is apportioned to refugees and asylum seekers.
It wasn’t migrants who left 166,000 homes empty during a housing crisis.
It wasn’t refugees who forced almost one million people onto hospital waiting lists.
It wasn’t the profiteering of asylum seekers who increased our energy and grocery bills.
And it isn’t foreign workers who are driving down wages and conditions of employment; that occurs due to denial of our human right to collectively bargain with our employers.
Racist attacks against healthcare workers. People working in Irish hospitals, who happen to be from outside of Ireland, have been subjected to racist abuse and are claiming they fear going to work, reports The Irish Examiner. Betraying their true intentions, while there are some members of the working class who have participated in recent racist protests against asylum seekers and immigrants, the real enemy of the far right is and has always been the working class, particularly organised labour.
“During a private meeting yesterday, the head of the Irish Nursing and Midwives Organisation (INMO), Phil Ní Sheaghdha, informed the Taoiseach that the representative body has received several complaints from foreign national members who have been subjected to ongoing verbal attacks of a racist nature by protesters in recent weeks.”
Women soldiers still waiting for update and action on harassment in military. In The Journal, the Women of Honour group have received no updates and await independent report.
DESPITE A YEAR having passed by since the establishment of the Independent Review Group into allegations of bullying and harassment in the defence forces, the Women of Honour group said today they have received no updates throughout the process and continue to await the report.
The representative association for the Defense Forces, PDForra, have recently been folded into the trade union umbrella organisation, Congress.
Community and voluntary sector workers get backing for strike from Fórsa. According to a statement, “Fórsa’s national executive has backed a proposal for indefinite strike action in a number of community and voluntary sector agencies (‘Sectcion 39 and 56’ agencies) funded by the HSE.” The statement reads: “The action is likely to involve hundreds of health and care staff, in a number of agencies selected by the union. The union has also committed to footing the wage costs of striking staff.”
Other links
Young fisherman drowned after going overboard off Donegal coast, via breakingnews.ie.
Protest at Dublin City Council over Tathony House evictions, via breakingnews.ie.
Tech giant Salesforce to cut around 200 jobs in Ireland, via The Journal.
PayPal to cut around 2,000 jobs, 7% of its global workforce, via The Journal.
Too Many of the City’s Streets Honour Aristocrats, Landlords, and Slaveowners, Councillors Say, via Dublin InQuirer.
People in Ireland's most deprived areas have higher risk of dying from cancer, report finds, via The Journal.
Far right protesters aren't just in it for the cause - there's also money to be made, via The Journal.
Lebanon troops on what the military needs: 'Pay could be better - we're months away from home', via The Journal.
International
Workers Struggles: Asia and Australia, via WSWS.
Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa, via WSWS.
Workers struggles: The Americas, via WSWS.
The mass strike movement, war and the revolutionary crisis in Europe, via WSWS.
“A mass strike movement has erupted in Europe, drawing in millions of workers from every corner of the continent. What is unfolding is not a series of national trade union struggles that can be resolved by isolated negotiations with one or other capitalist government. Rather, it is an international political struggle, as workers raise similar demands in every country and are met with police crackdowns and legal threats from governments that are discredited and widely despised.””
“Workers Strike Back is an independent, rank-and-file campaign organizing in our workplaces and on the streets against the bosses and their political servants.”
It is affiliated with Socialist Alternative and Seattle city councilor Kshama Sawant. You can watch her launch video below. I’m not sure if this is anything really new or significant yet but I’m not going to be overly critical of socialists at least saying they’re going to put a greater emphasis on class-struggle politics. However, it may just be a donor grab in the hopes of funding future political campaigns. Socialist Alternative’s affiliate in Ireland is the Socialist Party. Coincidentally, you can attend the SOcialist Party’s Revolution 2023 - Festival of Marxist Ideas on Saturday, 18 February. At 12:15pm there’s an event titles “Strike wave in Britain and the North: How can workers win real pay victories?”
Jonah Furman is tracking union news in the United States over on his site Who Gets the Bird?