Created on Saturday, 06 March 2010 23:48 Written by Séamus Loughlin
Likewise pressure is beginning to mount in other quarters, IMPACT and the INMO are likely to propose rolling work stoppages according to press reports. The threats from the employers to discipline workers involved in the actions, will doubtless have been a factor in the current round of escalation also.
There are three extremely important factors in this situation, firstly the extent of the crisis, secondly the resistance of the working class which has been manifested in waves of votes for action and demonstrations of their anger and thirdly the reliance of the ICTU leaders on the sacred principle of “Social Partnership”, which unfortunately for them was jettisoned a good time ago out of the window of Leinster House.
The public sector workers have no option but to fight, they are the ones who are on the receiving end of the government and the employer’s one sided civil war. There has always been a tendency for the bureaucracy to seek agreements and a nice cosy relationship with the government and the state, not just in Ireland, but internationally. But that tendency is always countered by the pressure from below. The present situation brings that into sharp focus and it’s true that sections of the leadership have articulated some of that anger, and indeed that’s as it should be.
But fine words are one thing and decisive action and leadership are another. The government have the bosses and the bourgeois press to support them. All we have is our organisations and ourselves to rely on, that’s why the Marxists are critical of the prevarications and dithering of the ICTU leaders. ICTU must take the lead, and unite all the struggles in the public sector. Partial action may not be enough, we need to prepare for escalation and if need be by all out action in the civil service and other sectors. ICTU should be prepaing for a one day public sector general strike.