Fake Outrage

national | worker & community struggles and protests | opinion/analysis Saturday November 06, 2010 10:07 by Kerry Worker - Kerry Public Service Workers' Alliance

Trade Union Complicity in the Assault on Irish Workers

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions is to “stage” a protest against budget cuts in Dublin on November 27th. For anyone keeping an eye on the unions’ shenanigans the word “stage” is quite appropriate – perhaps “stage-manage” would be even better. For these same union leaders have worked hand-in-hand with the current government in the greatest assault on Irish workers since the great lock-out of 1913. While that conflict paved the way for the 1916 rising, we can be quite sure that our current leaders and their cronies will do everything in their power to ensure that as little as possible changes this time round.

So we now hear that the Irish Congress of Trade Unions is to “stage” a protest against budget cuts in Dublin on November 27th. For anyone keeping an eye on the unions’ shenanigans the word “stage” is quite appropriate – perhaps “stage-manage” would be even better. For these same union leaders have worked hand-in-hand with the current government in the greatest assault on Irish workers since the great lock-out of 1913. While that conflict paved the way for the 1916 rising, we can be quite sure that our current leaders and their cronies will do everything in their power to ensure that as little as possible changes this time round.

The reality is that the union leadership have assented to a huge cull of the public service as part of the Croke Park agreement, a salivating prize for the Fianna Fáil led government. And that this is just the most organised aspect of a one-sided class war being waged against ordinary Irish workers and the poor.

The current outrage expressed by these leaders about the cuts is nothing but phoney verbiage - they will take no action to mobilise any real protest by the union membership and will engage in nothing but fake opposition. At the link below the KPSWA has a closer look at their rank hypocrisy and duplicity, expressed in their own words over the last year.