‘Support Workers in Struggle this Winter’ – Pól Torbóid
Yesterday (18th of November) saw the successful resolution of an industrial dispute with workers at Glen Dimplex LTD based in Portadown. Despite Glen Dimplex LTD having a turnover of £659m in 2020, they offered workers in Portadown an insulting pay offer to an overworked workforce whose pay was already below other manufacturing sites locally. At a time when the Glen Dimplex workforce was working on equipment to ensure the heating of homes, the poverty pay from this company was putting workers’ ability to heat their own homes in doubt.
Following Unite the Unions efforts in agitating for industrial action, the workers engaged in three days of strike action last week demanding a £1 per hour increase alongside payment recognition for workers’ service throughout the pandemic. This strike action from the workers gained an improved inflation busting 13.5% pay increase alongside the recognition payment which workers voted 67% to accept. This victory for the Glen Dimplex workers shows militant trade unionism pays off.
Wednesday 1st of December will see staff at Queen’s University Belfast and Ulster University engage in three days of strike action in a dispute over pay and pensions. While a recent report by the Office for Students shows total remuneration for vice chancellor’s averages £269k, staff pay has fallen by 20% after twelve years of below inflation pay offers and one third of academic staff are on insecure contracts. The union is asking for pension cuts to be revoked; and for employers to improve their pay offer and commit to meaningful agreements and action on casualisation, workload, and equality pay gaps. But employers are currently refusing to revoke pension cuts or to even acknowledge issues like casualisation.
Dublin City Council have been threatened with a ‘full-blown dispute’ in recent weeks and a potential strike if staffing issues are not fixed in the Dublin Fire Brigade. The staff shortages have been described as a ‘crisis’ that puts fire fighters in danger when out on operations and understaffed. The number of staff within Dublin Fire Brigade is 31 below the 965 minimum that was agreed by the Unions, DCC and Dublin Fire Brigade Management in the Work Relations Commission as far back as 2015. The staff shortages mean that 20% of shifts over the last six months were so understaffed that at least one appliance had to be out of service.
Talks with management and Dublin City Council have subsequently broken down and the firefighters have now taken their issues to the Health and Safety Authority, with potential strike action pending. It has been reported that Stations were down fire engines in Rathfarnham, Dolphins Barn, Kilbarrack, Finglas, Swords, North Strand and Tara Street in recent days, with personnel subsequently diverted from river rescue to Finglas fire station to cover staff shortages.
The gap between the have and have nots grows greater year on year, any worker engaging in action to decrease wealth inequality and improving workplace pay and conditions is deserving of our support.
Lasair Dhearg spokesperson Pól Torbóid commenting on the Glen Dimplex dispute and upcoming strike action in Belfast and Dublin, urged support for workers.
“The workers at Glen Dimplex should be commended for the action they have taken to improve their pay, especially in the current economic climate.”
“The workers in Glen Dimplex, Queens & Ulster University, and Dublin Fire Brigade deserve the support of all socialists, republicans and progressives, and we hope that the matters will be resolved to their satisfaction. Yesterday also saw Unite the Union representatives at Ulster Carpets based in Portadown announce they are balloting for an all out strike to secure pay justice for their members. These workers have shown us all the need for a militant trade unionism in post pandemic times when workers’ rights and conditions are in the firing line”
In conclusion, Pól said, “As we move into 2022 a new political, economic and social order is required right across both failed statelets in Ireland to bring radical, meaningful and effective improvement to the lives of working class people. Militant trade unionism is a key part of this, it is our duty to support workers in struggle.”
ENDS
