Southern Irish electricians take action and vote over 95% to strike

national | worker & community struggles and protests | opinion/analysis Wednesday May 26, 2004 15:09 by john throne - labors militant voice loughfinn at aol dot com

Electrical workers challenge bosses division of the spoils of the Celtic Tiger".

The growth associated with the so-called Celtic Tiger has vaulted Southern Ireland into the economic lead in the list of small states in the EU. But the distribution of the fruits of this growth has been mainly decided by the bosses and their parties. However the electrical workers in Southern Ireland have now voted and in fact already taken action in the last weeks to say no to this bosses share up. Victory for the electrical workers could open the door for a much wider struggle. The electrical workers must get full support.

When the electrical workers voted over 95% no and took action against the bosses offer last week, and decided to take more action in the weeks ahead, they were in reality saying they do not accept the bosses share out of the wealth in this country. This share out so far has basically amounted to two for the bosses and one for working people. The electrical workers are now saying hold on there a moment, enough is enough.

These actions by the most skilled and potentially most powerful section of the working class in Ireland are of great significance. They should be getting the full support of the entire trade union movement. The leadership of the trade union movement has to be called to account for not mobilising all their resources to ensure victory for the electrical workers. Instead they have been trying to ensure as little gains as possible are made. For the union leadership the greater the victory for the electrical workers the greater the demands from their own membership and the greater pressure on all the inadequate deals they have done in their own sectors.

The electrical workers actions have significance in another area also. Coming as they do in the lead up to the local elections they assume even greater potential importance. All candidates and organizations who are fighting in these elections on the basis of opposing the present situation, opposing the present bosses system, opposing capitalism, should be giving all out support to the electrical workers. In fact should already have been involved in building the electrical workers struggle. If they have not been involved then they should examine their orientation and consider if they have an orientation to the working class.

However whatever about that for the moment, full support should now be given to the electrical workers and their struggle should be made part of the elections. Challenge all the parties on whether or not they support the electricians on their 95% vote to strike and their refusal to accept the bosses decisions in relation to the sharing out of the wealth. Challenge all those parties who claim to support working people on do they support the workers 95% vote to strike and their saying no to the bosses dividing up of the wealth.

I have written on this site about the damage of sectarianism to the workers movement. What a shame now that there is not a common list of anti-bin charge candidates in the elections. If there was it would be much easier to integrate the electricians struggle along with the anti bin charge struggle. It would be much easier for the electrical workers to see their struggle as similar to the anti bin charge struggle. The anti bin charge struggle, like the electrical workers struggle, is also a struggle against the way the bosses and their parties are dividing up the wealth.

I would like to give full support to the electrical workers in their struggle and call on all workers to do likewise. Victory for the electrical workers will open up cracks in the bosses celtic tiger rip off and help open the door to all workers. I would like to call on all left and anti capitalist forces to support the electrical workers and make their struggle part of their day to day struggles. Support for the electrical workers action is support for strike action against the bosses by the workers and support for a re-division of wealth in the country. This should be put at the center of all our work and in this way it can illustrate the vicious capitalist policies of the bosses and their parties, the similar reality of the policies of the parties who talk about helping workers as opposed to helping the workers when they decide to help themselves and the danger that sectarianism does to the working class movement.

John Throne. Labors Militant Voice.