An Phoblacht - Sending out the right message

I'm glad to see this week's edition of An Phoblacht has two pieces supporting workers in the current economic crisis. For me this is a core message that Sinn Féin needs to be shouting out loudly.

The first article is entitled

Recession no excuse for employers to line pockets with money owed to electricians

Unions to resist attempts to drive down wages and conditions



The article is in clear support of the the electricans and their stance in fighting for what they are owed and how this is just the latest attempt to attack the pay and conditions of ordinary workers.

The article states, "The reason why this dispute has taken on such importance for the trade union movement is that it represents another step in a concerted attempt by employers to dismantle agreed structures and mechanism for setting wages in specific sectors of the economy. It follows an attempt last year by the Irish Hotels Federation to challenge the right of Joint Labour Committees and the Labour Court to set minimum wages and the employment conditions for workers in the hotel sector.This dispute arose as a consequence of a challenge by the a section of employers to a registered employment agreement (REA) on electricians pay, agreed by workers and employers. That employers’ action in refusing to pay the agreed increase would, if carried out by unions, have been described as ‘wild cat action’ with serious consequences for any unions involved. The action by the TEEU is a direct response to employers’ refusal to negotiate, despite a recommendation from the Labour Court that they should do so."

In addition there is a further article in An Phoblacht entitled.

McGuinness tells ICTU conference – workers cannot be asked to pay price for crisis not of their making

This article outlines points made when the Joint First Minister (stupid feckin title to be using) made at the ICTU conference in Tralee.

In the article it states.
McGuiness told delegates that his concern about the economic downturn was the effects it has inflicted on the lives of ordinary people throughout Ireland: “Effects which you as trade unionists, and myself as a political representative, are all too painfully aware. The recession cannot, and must not, be used as an excuse to drive down terms and conditions of employment for ordinary workers. Ordinary workers cannot be asked to pay the heaviest price for a crisis that is not of their making.“It is their lives and futures and indeed that of their children and grandchildren that we must focus on improving. And while we work to address the employment and banking crisis we must ensure that the most vulnerable in our society continue to be protected”.

The above two articles push the message that I feel Sinn Féin need to be fully behind. Namely Sinn Féin is a party that supports the interests of the working people of this country and that Sinn Féin will stand with the trade union movement in ensuring that it is not just working people that have to pay for the current economic crisis.

Sinn Féin supporters the workers! Or do we?

The media in the south today have been full of the industrial action taken by electricians who are members of the TEEU. The constant message seems to be how greedy and stupid these men are in taking such action at a time like this. Yet we all know that people do not go on strike for nothing and clearly the electricians have grievances that need to be addressed.

All day I have waited for Sinn Féin to issue a statement attacking the media response and showing our support of the workers, but none has yet appeared. I have waited for the leadership to say that the electricans have a right to protect their pay and working conditions, that workers need to fight back against the attacks on them by the government and employers etc. None of this is rocket science, but rather what any left wing party should say.

The Socialist Party have a long piece on their website saying why the electricians should be supported. The SWP have a large piece as well, but where is the Sinn Féin statement?

If we cannot even get off our arses and support the electricans in a natioanal strike, then is it any suprise that other left wing parties made gains at the last elections and we did not.

Anyway for those who wish to know why the electricans are striking below is a leaflet distributed to members of the TEEU explaining what is happening and asking workers to support the current strike action.


CALL TO ACTION
National Strike
Implementation Date - Monday 6th July 2009
BACKGROUND
The last pay increase applied to contracting electricians was on the 1st April 2007 - € 21.49. This increase is based on the rates of pay in 16 companies employing maintenance electricians’ using an arrears reference period from 1st September 2005 to 1st September 2006. The net effect of this is that the current rate of pay for contracting electricians is up to 4 years behind everyone else in the Irish economy.

The TEEU’s attempts to have the agreed rate of €22.5 4 (4.9% increase) applied from the 1st April 2008 were frustrated by some employers using the law courts; this has since been resolved in favour of the TEEU. However, since then the employer bodies ECA & AEC I have refused to apply the
agreed pay terms.

The increase due under the agreement from the 1st April 2009 is * €1.44 per hour giving a new hourly rate of €23.98(6.37 % increase) but the employers have again refused to implement the terms of our
agreement.

WHY STRIKE NOW, IS IT JUST ABOUT PAY?
NO. The employer bodies are pursuing a 10% pay cut in the 1st of April 2007 rate of €21.49 and if they were to succeed this would reduce the rate to €19.34 and would equate to a pay reduction of 21.2 7 % in real terms.

IS THAT AS BAD AS IT GETS ?
NO. The employer bodies are pursuing significant changes to our agreement that include:
Analogue agreement: The abolition of the existing analoguesystem.

Qualified Electricians: Employing people in the industry to do electricians’ work and who do not have qualifications that satisfy the employer, will be paid 25 % less than the agreed electricians’ rate.

Travel Time: Travelling time and bus fares to be abolished.

Overtime: No overtime will be paid until after 39hrs have been worked in a week.

Shift Pay: A major reduction in shift pay.
Country Money:
● Hours of work may be altered at the employers’ discretion.
● The employer could exercise the option of renting accommodation.
● Visiting home allowance to be abolished.
Tools: Members to supply significant amount of own tools:
● Cordless Drill & 2 batteries
● Digital Multimeter
● Compensation for loss of tools partially abolished.
* The rate and percentage specified is our calculations that were submitted to the ENJIC and they are not yet agreed .
Apprentices:
● Rates to be reduced to: 2nd Year – 40%, 3rd Year – 60%, 4th Year – 70%
● No pay increase if an exam is failed.
● Pay reduced by 10% if transport is provided and used outside of working hours.
Spare time working: Workers found to be engaged in nixers, foxers or homers etc would be liable to immediate dismissal.
Mobile phones: Mobile phones may not be used for calls or texts during working hours without prior agreement. Infringements would carry a penalty of a deduction of 15 minutes pay.

Future basis of the Agreement: The current three signatories to the agreement would have their names removed i.e. the TEEU, AECI & ECA and each electrician will be required to sign an individual contract of employment.

WHAT IS THE UNION DOING ABOUT ALL THIS?
The union has already balloted its members for official strike action; we have been to the Labour Court which recommended that the employers sit down with the union to negotiate an appropriate pay increase in the current economic climate, which the employers have refused to do.
While we do nothing, the employers are attempting to undercut each other by putting pressure on our members to either take a pay cut or work a number of hours each week without wages. This foolish tactic by them is to undercut compliant companies, drive down wages in the industry and this can have only one result; reducing wages down to the national minimum wage and destroying the competiveness of the industry.
The union is calling on all contracting electricians to back the call to action on the 6th July 2009. It is only by united action that our agreement can be retained into the future and restored for any members who have so far been affected by cuts of any description.

WHAT NEXT?
The TEEU is engaged with the employer bodies at the Electrical National Joint Industrial Council (ENJIC) pursuing a resolution of the current dispute. The employers need to get the message, not just from the union’s negotiating team but from every member on every site that they are in breach of our Registered Employment Agreement and that it must and will be restored .
For further information please attend at your next branch meeting
_________________
Eamon Devoy
General Secretary Designate.
June 4, 2009.

It's all about the economy, stupid!

One of the things Sinn Féin has been criticised for has been its lack of understanding of economic issues and in truth our politics have focused on matters other than the economy and as a result we have been open to such criticism.

To me the leadership have attempted to deal with these attacks by putting forward moderate economic proposals, trying at all times to sound "reasonable" and falling in line with what other major parties are proposing. This in my opinion led to Sinn Féin failing to benefit from the shift to the left that happened in the recent local and European elections in the South.

However, there there is a growing socialist/social democratic economic analysis of the present situation and we on the left need to grow in our understanding of that analysis and use it to push for the changes we wish to see in Ireland. Sinn Féin members need to be able to be able to counter the arguments put forward that there is no alternative to the economic cuts and deflation that lies at the core of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and even Labour Party thinking. In order to do this we need to increase our understanding of economics.

Personally I have for a while now been trying to do this and an excellent source of information has been Michael Taft. He has a site called notes from the front about progressive economics. He has consistently argued the case against the government's economic policies and he has shown where they are taking us to.

Michael is a member of the Labour Party and works for UNITE and is on the left in terms of his thinking.

If anybody else has a site they would recommend then please let me know.

Below is an article from Michael Taft on An Bord Snip.

Histories At Dawn: June 30th The Recession Diaries

History is such a malleable thing. It can be twisted this way and that to support or oppose any contemporary position. Take An Bord Snip Nua – this is a grand thing altogether. How do we know this? Because, sure, its predecessor was such an outstanding success. Yes, it brought pain but it set the groundwork for the Celtic Tiger economy. So goes the history; if we gird our loins, cut and hack away, we too can replicate this outstanding success. Suffer a couple of years of fiscal pain, and economic paradise awaits.

But history is not so straight-forward and certainly not so reductionist. Was it really the case that the ‘cutbacks’ endured under Mac the Knife (Finance Minister Ray McSharry) were (a) successful and (b) set the preconditions for the growth explosion in the mid-1990s? Let’s take a look at some provocative facts for clearly there is a lot of myth making about that period – a period that ran from 1987 to 1989, encompassing three budgets.

First, how much was cut? In nominal terms, public expenditure wasn’t cut – it increased. During the three budgets, total expenditure increased. Current expenditure increased. Even excluding interest payments, current expenditure increased by over 5 percent. The main target of the knife was that ol’ standby – capital expenditure. Cutting investment is the easiest option. It doesn’t take away from what people already have – it only defers something we don’t have. This started a period of long-term chronic under-investment in our economic base.

But that’s only Irish public expenditure. Don’t forget – this was ‘begging bowl’ days, when Ireland was one of the poorer performing economies in the EU. So what about public expenditure in Ireland? Between 1987 and 1989 we received over £1 billion under the EU Social and Regional Development Funds - a substantial 38 percent increase in the previous three years under the hapless Fine Gael/Labour government. Now, £1 billion might not sound much but were we to receive the same proportional amount it would come to nearly €6 billion over the next three years. That would subsidise a lot of cuts, but it’s doubtful if the EU today would play ball.

Second, there is much talk about how the minority Fianna Fail government brought down the public spending/GNP ratio. In 1986 public expenditure amounted to 54.7 percent of GNP (if you think that’s because we had some kind of super-Nordic government, remember – it was largely due to interest payments and social welfare). By 1989, spending was brought down to 45.1 percent. But this was only the continuation of a trend that was already in place since 1983 when expenditure was over 62 percent of GNP.

But there was one thing that saved Fianna Fail’s bacon. The numbers on the Live Register started to fall. Was that because all this fiscal contraction started producing jobs? Hardly. Between 1986 and 1992, the economy was generating an average of only 14,000 new net jobs, and while unemployment didn’t rise it didn’t fall either. Between 1988 (the first year of the ILO calculation) and 1993, unemployment fell by less than 1% leaving nearly 16 percent still unemployed. So what happened here?

Yes, you guessed it: emigration. Between 1987 and 1989 over 100,000 emigrated. While not all of these would have been of working age, it’s a fair bet most were – the overwhelming majority. The numbers emigrating amounted to 8 percent of the entire labour force in 1989. To put this in perspective, we’d need over 180,000 to leave over the next three years to reach this level.

Emigrants are great. You don’t have to pay them any dole. They reduce demand on social services. They don’t end up clogging our jails. It’s a great solution, and it certainly gave the Government at the time a real dig out. Expansionary fiscal contraction? Try expansionary demographic contraction.

There is no question about the impact of some of the cuts during that period. But, as always, there were choices. Fianna Fail did choose – they chose to abolish the Land Tax – just as they abolished the Wealth Tax a decade earlier. When it came to patients being moved out of closed hospital wards or the IFA, Fianna Fail certainly knew whose side it was on.

Whatever about our ‘historians’ today, what did contemporaries think of this policy? They couldn’t ditch it fast enough. First to go was Mac the Knife himself – kicked upstairs to the EU Commission. During the 1989 election campaign – resulting from a lost vote on a non-economic private member’s bill – Charles Haughey apologised on an RTE phone-in show for not realising the damage being done to cutbacks in the health services (what’s new?). The election result put the seal on Fianna Fail’s historical anti-coalitionism, and for the first time they entered cabinet with another party – the right-wing PDs. What happened then? More of th same? Don't you believe it.

The Fianna Fail/PD government went on a spending spree. In the very first budget spending cuts were reversed – and how; public spending rose by 7 percent. In the three budgets under this government, spending increased by over a quarter while capital spending increased by a third.

And then there was that EU dosh. It really started flooding in – over £2.2 billion in the three year period. This was more than double the amount received in the previous three year period. Public expenditure in Ireland leaped and bounded ever upwards.

And this was done against a pretty bleak fiscal situation. While spending was being increased, the debt/GDP ratio was over 85%, though falling; interest payments on the debt soaked up a quarter of tax revenue and over 7% of GDP (compare that to payments in 2008 which made up only 1 percent of GDP). Still, they kept spending.
And then the 1993 devaluation – which made our exports cheaper.

And then the fruits of years of work by the IDA – the multinationals swept in, bringing mega-growth.

And the direct state investment into the high-tech domestic sector.
We never hear that narrative – one that poses spending, investment and public policy as the driving force in the emerging economic boom. Rather, all we get is a selective and reductionist recitation of history, skewered to fit a set of pre-conceived policies.

And just remember, when you read reports of today’s Bord Snip proposing cuts in social welfare, that throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, social welfare increased every year. And public sector workers received pay increases.
History has much to teach us.

http://notesonthefront.typepad.com/politicaleconomy/2009/06/history-is-such-a-malleable-thing-it-can-be-twisted-this-way-and-that-to-support-or-oppose-any-contemporary-position-take-a.html

An phoblacht's view on the recent racist attacks in Belfast

I was asked to post the editoral from An Phoblacht concerning the recent racist attacks in Belfast. It was recently stated that not enough Sinn Féin activists are reading the paper and as a result many are not aware of the party's position or thinking on current issues.

So here you go. See what you think.

Sectarianism and racism must be confronted

DESPITE all the political progress of recent years there are still some unionist politicians in the North who continue to oppose equality and refuse to confront sectarianism.

The Six Counties is a state that was established on the basis of sectarianism and inequality. It remains sectarian at its core. When Unionism was in control of the institutions of state it abused those institutions and used its political power to sustain its control.

Sectarianism is a device to keep citizens in their place. Catholics were the main target of this sectarianism and victims of state policies of discrimination.
Sectarianism also kept working class Protestants in their place, divided from their Catholic neighbours and distrustful of them even though in many cases living conditions, particularly for all poor working class people, were similar.
Because the North is a sectarian state and because unionism could not be trusted to govern fairly, the outcomes of the Good Friday Agreement and the Saint Andrews Agreement are all-Ireland in nature, particularly in their institutions.
There are also many equality and other legal safeguards built into the new political dispensation. These include compulsory power sharing and partnership political arrangements. ‘Thinking unionism’ knows that this will be the case for as long as the new dispensation lasts and fair minded unionist MLAs have slowly but surely come to terms with this reality. They fulfil their political duties in a positive way. They also appreciate that these safeguards are to their advantage as the constitutional position changes in the future.

Others, inside and outside the North’s Assembly, toy with the idea that the system of governance can be changed. If they are serious, they are living in Fantasy Land.
If the new political dispensation is to deliver for everyone, it will do so because all political parties have entered into the spirit as well as the letter of power sharing.

Any suggestion that the compulsory nature of the power sharing arrangements can be changed is dishonest and misleading. Those who argue for this position know that it is unattainable. All politicians have a duty to set their faces against sectarianism.
Recent attacks on members of the Romanian community in South Belfast and other attacks against people from eastern Europe in other parts of the North have led many people to correctly draw parallels between these racist incidents and the long history of sectarian discrimination and violence in the Six Counties. Racism and sectarianism are two sides of the one coin.The tolerance that is shown by many political leaders for sectarianism makes it inevitable that racism will thrive. It also needs to be confronted.

How will Sinn Féin tackle reactionary groups within the unionist working class?

Over the past number of weeks some of the worst elements within the unionist working class have come to the fore. The first incident was the murder of Kevin McDaid by a loyalist mob and the second has been the racist attacks on Romanian families in Belfast.

The response by Sinn Féin to both of these cases has been strong condemnation and a call for the police and local community to come together to prosecute those involved. Martin McGuinness has made clear and correct statements on the fact that the motivation behind these attacks is reactionary and should be opposed by all progressive forces within society.

The question I ask here is that all we can do? Is/will Sinn Féin be forced to simply condemn these attacks from the outside and to call on other groups to tackle these reactionary elements within working class unionism?

To date I’m unaware of anything happening within Coleraine that could be viewed as any orgainsed attempt to challenge the bigotry that led to Kevin McDaid’s death. However within Belfast that is not the case. The clearest challenge to the forces of racism has come form Paddy Meehan of the Socialist party Youth wing. He has been there organising resistance to racist attacks. He has stood with the Romanian families when they needed support and he was there to be counted and as a result he has been informed of death threats against him.

Yes, I know he has put himself forward as a resident’s spokesperson and kept his party loyalties in the background. And yes I know the Socialist party have avoided issues such as the RIR and other issues, but so what.

Paddy Meehan is doing what every good socialist knows needs to be done. He knows that the way to deal with these reactionary elements is to force the issue out into the open and deal with it. Communities need to confront the issues around these types of attacks and the community needs to decide whether it sees such behaviour as acceptable. If this does not happen and people are allowed to turn a blind eye to such attacks, then those behind them grow in power and influence. This then results in victims of such attacks becoming in ever-greater danger of serious injury or death.

So where does this leave Sinn Féin? How do we propose to be able to stand with Paddy Meehan and others in fighting racism? How can we develop in such a way so that we can be seen on the streets (in unionist working class areas) with progressive groups, immigrants and concerned residents? When do we see ourselves as being able to put our views across in person to the unionist working class?

Do actions speak louder than words? Selling northern coalition ploicies to left wing voters.

Following the election I have not posted anything because I wished to let the dust settle and recharge my batteries.

Below are two articles I received concerning Sinn Fein’s role in the Northern Government. The first article is from a Sinn Féin member in the South who was/is struggling to justify to others, and himself, the parties differing attitude to Public Finance Initiatives in the north and in the South.

This to me is very valid viewpoint. When Sinn Féin supporters in the South go around promoting our left wing policies it is hard to respond to left wing criticism of certain actions taken by our ministers in the North. In the case of the first article it is Public Private Financing of projects.

The second article asks what can be done about this contradiction and proposes how we can possibly move forward.


Policy must apply on an all-Ireland basis by Slán Abhaile

Over the past number of months I have noticed some inconsistencies in the way in which the party is applying policy North and South of the border.One recent instance of this is the signing of a contract, oversaw by Education Minister Catriona Ruane, for the construction of four schools in the Co. Down area. The contract for £4.45million is to be completed by Public Private Partnership (PPP), yet Sinn Féin policy is explicit in its opposition to Public Private Partnerships and it features prominently in our Local Government Election Manifesto 2009.

In the past these Public Private Partnerships have been bad value for taxpayer’s money and several examples litter the island such as the farce that is the toll bridge on Dublin’s M50 motorway. Ms. Ruane must be questioned regarding her support for a Public Private Partnership and the actual cost of this Partnership must be made public, as has been demanded by Sinn Féin of similar Fianna Fail-backed PPPs in the 26 Counties.


Second Article　
　
WHATS COMING DOWN THE TRACKS

The UUP have entered into an alliance with the English conservative party. The English Conservative Party looks set to win the next election on the island of Britain. The Conservative Party NI spokesperson has echoed UUP sentiment that they view the involuntary nature of coalition in the six counties as a temporary arrangement and that they view majority rule as the favourable solution. After years of work there are major problems in this for SF but for the sake of argument and the sake of this blog looking at things in a left perspective hypothetically could there be a positive?

If after a fight/negotiations etc there were guaranteed legal rights for the minority in the northern statelet, a greater role for the south to secure them, an Irish language act, finance raising powers, transfer of police and justice powers etc. What if in such circumstances SF did take up a position of the largest opposition party, would it be all bad?

At the moment one of the negatives of our involvement in the executive is having to implement economics that we feel uncomfortable with. Water charges, teacher assistants cuts, public private partnerships etc. this is inconsistent with our position in the south and has opened us up for criticism on such issues. After an election where we were the only left wing party not to benefit from a swing do such weaknesses matter? I think they might. Some people think we’re right wing others left. It’s a major problem that there’s a doubt.

If we were in a role of opposition in the six counties we would have a consistent message across Ireland. The issues are the same, government cuts, privatisation, marginalisation etc the boarder doesn’t distinguish. As Seamus Costello said, "I believe in guerrilla tactics inside and outside of parliaments."

What if we changed tactic in the north? Obviously there are losses but we have proved able to turn weakness into strength before. Hypothetically is there a case for it here?
　

This site is simply washing Sinn Féin's dirty laundry in public

I received this post as a comment and again i think the points raised are valid and should be discussed.


This is a general comment on your blog, having read through your earlier posts.

I mean this genuinely with no disrespect, as I don't know you or your background in the party. I realize your intention here is something positive, but would it not fit you better, rather than washing dirty laundry in public about the party, to get more involved in your local party structures and argue your case from there?

I think you'll find the more active you are and the more responsibility you take on, the more respect you will have in SF circles - the more respect you have then the easier it is to argue your case up the line and have leadership people take your views on board.again no disrespect - but would you stand at the side of the road with a megaphone criticizing and debating the parties faults? No? well then why do it on the internet?