All workers need a pay rise. With rising fuel and food bills, our living standards are being eroded by a cost-of-living crisis that is going from bad to worse. This is not to mention rising rents, the cost of childcare and a trip to the doctor.
In the last few weeks, workers across the public sector have voted in large numbers to take industrial action, including a work-to-rule and strike action on 14 and 21 October. This has the potential to be an important and long-overdue stand taken by the trade union movement. Workers have endured a six-year-long cost of living crisis, with many struggling to make ends meet.
The money is there
Despite record surpluses in the upcoming budget, the Government refuses to sit down with unions to negotiate public sector pay increases. This is on top of their refusal to take measures, such as winter payments, to address the fuel crisis. On Wednesday, 23 October, they voted down a People Before Profit-Solidarity motion in the Dáil that would have placed a levy on big tech-owned, electricity-guzzling data centres to fund €500 off electricity bills.
This is a government that is moving to the right, as shown by the recent proposal regarding citizenship laws. It now wants to sideline workers and their unions, and effectively force through pay cuts. Clearly, the wealth and resources exist in this state to fund pay increases – Ireland’s 11 billionaires alone hold a combined wealth of €46.3 billion, surpassing the total combined wealth of 85% of adults in Ireland. However, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, and the right-wing independents are on the side of tech companies and their electricity-guzzling data centres, landlords, the super-rich, and big business. They have chosen to prioritise these vested interests over workers.
In the context of brewing economic storms in the world capitalist economy, they want workers to pay the price. This is a crisis that is being fueled by the very tech companies that are building data centres, which are consuming 30% of the Irish state’s electricity. Their AI bubble is soon set to burst, which will have major economic ramifications. Another factor is Trump’s murderous and imperialist war against Iran, which is resulting in a major spike in fuel prices. Workers should not be made to pay the price for this rotten and crisis-ridden system.
Determined action needed
The trade union leadership have decided to call this action because of the refusal of the Government to engage in negotiations. However, the aims of the strike must be broadened beyond this. Unions must not only demand a seat at the negotiating table, but they must also demand inflation-busting pay rises. The fuel protests in April showed that militant action can win real gains. Workers have the power to force concessions from this Government, but this can only be won by determined action.
We need to make it clear that the strike action on 14 and 21 October is not just an idle threat. It must be carried through if the Government refuses to meet the needs of workers struggling through this crisis. Along with the work-to-rule, this should be a step towards wider strike action.
