Fightback

 
The courage of the workers at Thomas Cook workers in Ireland, who have been victimised and abused by an unscrupulous employer, is a reminder of the relevance of socialism and solidarity. I demonstrated each day outside the shop on Grafton St to show support for ordinary employees seeking justice. On 4th August 2009, at 5am, workers and Cllr Richard Boyd-Barrett were dragged from the Thomas Cook shop on Grafton St by a large Garda contingent. One woman went into labour due to the trauma.

Gary Honer, Labour Youth Chair, and I went into the city-centre at 10:30am to join a protest against the imprisoning of the innocent employees. By the time we had arrived, the shop was being boarded up. The Socialist Workers' Party were distributing flyers about a protest outside the Four Courts at 2pm. In fairness to the SWP, they were very active in supporting the workers and made a significant contribution overall. Gary and I decided to head over to the Four Courts where we met the Socialist Party, Ógra Shinn Féin, Socialist Workers Party, Éirigí and others.

There were over 200 people at the demo. People chanted slogans such as “The workers, united, will never be defeated” and “Jail the bankers, not the workers”. We entered the building and searched for Court 6, where the defendants were to be tried. Cllrs Patrick Nulty and Rebecca Moynihan arrived, along with Senator Brendan Ryan, who sat in the court room.

One by one, the workers were brought by Gardaí into the court, each of them with a brave face. Cllr Richard Boyd-Barrett filed through the door last. People clapped as they walked by, praising them for the stance they had taken. Outside a speech from a Dublin Dock worker assured the crowd that his colleagues would be supporting the workers of Thomas Cook. It was a fantastic show of solidarity for the victims of crony capitalisn.

The CEO of Thomas Cook recently awarded himself with a bonus of some €7 million while ordinary employees now struggle to pay the bills at the end of the month. It is a disgusting revelataion of the corrupt workings of crony capitalism. After a short break, the court ruled that the workers were to accept a deal requiring them to stay away from the previously occupied shop on Grafton St, and that management at Thomas Cook would enter talks with the TSSA union. It is my hope that the management will provide the workers with a decent redundancy package.

The Labour Party presence, with two National Youth executive members, Mike Spring, two councillors, Sen Brendan Ryan and a handful of trade unionists affiliated to the party was pretty woeful. We were outdone by the SP and SWP on a large scale, with not a single Labour banner nor placard in sight. If we are to espouse to be the real socialist party, we need to be out supporting the ordinary workers of this country, and not become couch-slogged armchair socialists.