Fighting pay cuts;
Stopping cuts in services – health, education, social welfare;
Action on unemployment and defending pensions;
How we can make bankers and speculators pays for the crisi

The leaders of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions are in talks with the Fianna Fil/Green Party Government trying to reach agreement on a programme of savage cuts in living standards and social services that will last for many years. The Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan mocked the trade union response when he declared in a speech to the Irish League of Credit Unions in April that the steps taken had impressed our partners in Europe who are amazed at our capacity to take pain. He went on to say that there would be riots in France were such measures to be introduced there.

Trade unions should be leading the fight against the cuts. There must be no division between workers in the public and private sectors. It is property speculators, bankers and the other millionaires who made fortunes for themselves during the period of the recent boom that should now be paying for the crisis in the public finances, not working people and their families.

This conference will provide a forum in which trade union members can articulate their views on the current situation and discuss proposals for action.

The Conference is being organised by a group ‘Grass Roots Unite’ with trade union members from a variety of trade unions in both the public and private sectors.

The organising group can be contacted at the following e-mail address; reclaimtheunions@gmail.com

Visit

http://grassrootsunite.wordpress.com

A Public Works Programme to create Jobs

Assemble 16th May, 2.30pm

Central Bank, Dame St., Dublin

* The bail-out of the banks costs €24 billion.
* That money should be spent on a public works programme.
* We should create a good state bank that provides credit rather than paying for the bad debts of the bankers and speculators.
* We should stop this government attacking PAYE workers though levies.
* Levies and wage cuts only reduce what workers can buy and so make the economic crisis worse.

On May 16th, trade unions from all over Europe will march in support of a European Trade Union Congress call to ‘Fight the Crisis – Put People First’. We should join them on the streets of Dublin and make our voices heard.

Organised by Grassroots Unite, a forum initiated by SIPTU’s education branch.

Teachers United has a email discussion group- to join contact: teachersutd@googlegroups.com

CPSU members continue to fight the pension levy with up to 13,000 members of the Civil Public and Services Union (CPSU) placing pickets on all Government departments and agencies on Thursday last.

All the three teacher unions, INTO, TUI & ASTI meet in the next fortnight for their annual conference.

The ballot involved 60,000 members of the Association of Secondary Teachers, the Irish National Teachers Organisation and the Teachers Union of Ireland.

The ballot results were as follows: INTO Yes: 79% No: 21%, ASTI:Yes:  60%, No: 40% TUI: Yes: 69%, No: 31%

Teachers United meet this Monday 9th March, @ 8pm, Teachers Club to discuss the result of the vote.
All welcome

In addition to this 6.5% contribution, the 2nd Benchmarking Report in 2008 resulted in 300,000 public servants and 100,000 retired public servants receiving a pay award of 0%. This report stated “A discount of up to 12.5% was applied because of pension entitlement”.

A Public Service retiree on a pension of €500 per week after 40 year’s service does not get the State Pension of €230 per week. Thus the real additional benefit of our pension after working for 40 years, is €270 per week, NOT €500.

A teacher on full pension will receive half their salary at retirement plus a lump sum. This was referred to by Turlough O’Sullivan of the employers organisation IBEC as a “Rolls Royce pension”. In reality it is a modest income to see you through what can be a very expensive time of your life.

We must reject this levy and protect our pension rights. Tinkering around with it is not acceptable. This is a fundamental attack on our entitlements that has to be totally resisted.

Pensions are not a luxury, they are a necessity for all workers
In any decent society, all workers should be guaranteed a proper income on which to live when they finish their working lives. Instead of establishing a state supported scheme in the private sector when this country enjoyed levels of wealth previously unheard of, this government introduced tax reliefs on private pensions which according to pension research groups benefited 20% of the highest earners while the bottom 20pc received virtually nothing. This is the story of the Celtic Tiger. The rich got richer.

Allowing attacks on pension rights in the public sector to be railroaded through does nothing to benefit private sector workers or the 900,000 workers who have no pension coverage of their own.
We need to defend proper defined benefit pension schemes where they exist and demand decent pensions for all workers as a basic and fundamental right.

Sharing the pain, not the wealth!

At the height of the Celtic Tiger our spending on education as a proportion of GDP languished at the bottom of the OECD table. We had among the highest class sizes in Europe and an infrastructure that was dilapidated and unsuitable for delivering a modern curriculum. Education did not see enough of the wealth generated by the Celtic Tiger.

Now that the economic crisis has arrived our already underfunded education system is being decimated and our children are being attacked in a particularly vicious way. The increases in class sizes, the removal of financial support to some of the most needy students and the withdrawal of language support teachers along with attacks on special needs students have illustrated clearly that it does not matter how vulnerable you are, no one is off limits when it comes to letting the rich off the hook in this recession.

The idea that the National Pension Reserve Fund is being raided and a corporate welfare package of €7 billion is being handed over to the banks is despicable while our public services, needed now more than ever as more people lose their jobs every day, are torn asunder. The CEOs of the banks are still allowed to claim their massive salaries, and receive golden handshakes and huge pensions if they fall on their swords, while our newly nationalised Anglo Irish Bank continues with its corporate entertainment at our expense. Meanwhile generous tax shelters and low corporation tax rates continue to pamper corporations, while thousands of Ireland’s richest are tax exiles. It is unjust, unfair and outrageous.

Why we need to take action
We have got to lay down a marker now to say very clearly that we will not be made to pay for the recklessness of the bankers, the property developers, the politicians and business elite
120,000 workers from the public and private sector marched through Dublin last week. Thousands of low paid civil servants have already taken one day strike action. This government’s satisfaction level is at rock bottom. People know that what is going on is unfair and wrong. We need to fight now to protect our wages, our pensions and our public services.

Vote YES
Scrap the pension levy, defend pension rights!

Reminder that there is a second Anglo Irish Bank Protest on Monday 23rd February at 4.30pm. All welcome