We Need

jobs!

PAPER OF THE SOCIALIST PARTY ISSUE 47 SEPTEMBER 2009

CONTACT THE SOCIALIST PARTY - (01) 6772592, PO Box 3434, Dublin 8 info@socialistparty.net www.socialistparty.net

Threat toCork A&EservicesCork’s Mercy UniversityHospital has put forward

a proposal to the HSE thatthey would close their brandnew €5 million A&E for 10hours a day and operate on a8am-10pm basis.

This is just one of many exam-ples of the deepening crisis in thehealth service as the HSE contin-ues to pursue its pro-privatisation“reconfiguration” plan and HealthMinister Mary Harney plans nearlya billion euro worth of cuts in theservice.

The Mercy proposal comesahead of a HSE report expected atthe end of September on the futureof A&E services in the Cork/Kerryregion.

Cork city is currently served bythree A&Es and it is widely expect-ed that the HSE will propose amajor cutback in these services.

There is a real danger that theHSE will propose an even moresevere cutback than the one beingsuggested by the board of theMercy.

Rather than turn Cork UniversityHospital into a “centre of excel-lence”, A&E cutbacks at the Mercyand/or the South Infirmary wouldturn CUH into a centre of trolleysand chaos.

It is not unusual for 30 patientsor more to be on CUH trolleys onany given night and cutbacks in theother two A&E services in the citywill push that crisis to breakingpoint.

The Campaign for a Real PublicHealth Service is committed tofighting A&E cutbacks in the Corkarea with a militant campaign ofstreet protests.

Union activists in the healthservice should follow that exampleby organising to increase pressureon union leaders to fight cutbacks,privatisation and the threat of paycuts in the service.

Not cuts or NAMA!

By Stephen Boyd

FIANNA FAIL has hit an all-time low with only 17%support. This is not sur-

prising when there are 450,000on the dole, the country is aboutto be NAMA-ed and An BordSnip’s menu for December’sbudget includes €5 billion incuts!

With Fianna Fail on only 11% inDublin they would struggle to get a TDelected in the capital city. Seventy fivepercent of people in the latest opinionpoll want a change of government.This government is now very weakand held in place by a fear that stalksthe Greens and Fianna Fail back-benchers - the fear of losing theirseats in an election. Stephen Collins,Irish Times political editor, believesthe odds are 50:50 that the govern-

ment will last intothe New Year.

We will soonknow howmuch it is

going to cost us to bail out the banksand the property developers. NAMAcould cost us up to €70 billion andpotentially bankrupt the country. Thebudget in December will be the mostaustere in the state’s 88-year historyand all of this will be going on againstthe backdrop of what the InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF) says is the deep-est recession endured by anyadvanced country.

Fianna Fail has driven the economyinto the ground and now ordinaryworking class people are suffering theconsequences of their mismanage-ment. At times of severe economic cri-sis, the bogeyman of the IMF is rolledout as a threat – if we don’t get ourpublic finances in order the IMF willcome in and do it for us!

While several European countrieshave implemented stimulus packages,Ireland has no reserves and insteadthe government is planning to cutsocial welfare payments.But the IMF don’t need totake over Ireland’s finances- the government are doingthe job for them.

Dermot O’Leary, an econo-

m i s t

with Goodbody stockbrokers, saidthat the cutbacks already implement-ed by the government are equivalentto about 5% of GDP. That’s one year’sworth of economic growth at theheight of the boom - taken out of theeconomy by the government. Still tocome is the deflationary impact ofDecember’s budget. As O’Leary said,“That is the kind of thing the IMFimposes on countries which need tobe rescued – and we are doing it forourselves”.

Tens of thousands of workers arelosing their jobs directly as a result ofthe government’s austerity pro-gramme.

Working class people are getting itin the neck from all sides. Employersare also trying to take advantage ofthe recession to introduce majorattacks on workers’ rights and wages.

Coca Cola are trying to get rid of 130of their employees by forcing them towork for contractors for pay cuts thatrange from €15,000 to €40,000 a year!

The High Court injunction is now afavoured weapon of employers. Oneof the most recent examples was theoutrageous injunction granted infavour of Marine Terminal Ltdagainst the dockworkers and SIPTU,

which could see workers being jailedfor calling strike breakers scabs!

Working class people are profound-ly angry at the injus-tices being

inflicted uponthem by this

government and big business. Manysee the need for something to be doneto take on the government and thebosses. If the major trade unions wereto name the date for a general strikeand build support for it, then this gov-ernment could be swept aside andmanners could be put on the employ-ers who are sticking the boot intoworkers.

The Socialist Party are campaigninghard to defeat the Lisbon Treaty, andwe will be campaigning in the monthsahead against NAMA, water charges,the property tax and the forthcomingcuts in social welfare and public serv-ices. If you want to join in the fight-back against the government and arelooking for a political alternative tothe failed politics of the establishmentparties, then contact us today. To findout more about the ideas and cam-paigns of the Socialist Party, email usat info@socialistparty.net and visitour website www.socialistparty.net .

INSIDE LISBONSPECIAL

September 2009

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By Councillor Mick Barry

ON 16 September FiannaFail’s Brian Lenihan isset to tell the Dail the

price he intends to pay forthe banks’ toxic loans. Thefigure is expected to be morethan €50 billion. It could beas high as €70 billion.

This is a truly monumentalbailout for the banks. The NAMAbailout is likely to be more than tentimes the size of the entire “menu”of cuts proposed by An Bord Snip.

Lenihan is proposing that thebanks be paid a “long term marketvaluation” for the dodgy loans. Thehorrible irony of this is that FiannaFail has spent the last decade lec-turing the Irish people on the won-ders of the capitalist market. Nowwhen it comes to one of the biggestdecisions in the history of the Statethey refuse to countenance payingmarket prices and instead plan topay above market valuations.

NAMA will only be able to breakeven in the long run by significant-ly increasing these values, that isby inflating another property bub-ble. A more likely scenario is that

the sale of toxic assets over anextended period will leave the tax-payer with ultimate losses runninginto multiple billions.

Toxic loans should not be boughtfrom the banks in the first place.Wealthy bank shareholders andbondholders are the ones whoshould pay.

AIB alone has 148 individualshareholders with holdings of morethan a million euro.

The banks are backed by about€150 billion worth of bonds. Thebondholders include enormouscapitalist institutions such as sov-ereign wealth funds, hedge fundsand other banks. These outfits

must not be bailed out.Pressure should be brought on

the unions to organise a one-daygeneral strike in opposition to thecutbacks and the massive bankbailout being planned by FiannaFail and the Greens.

The Socialist Party favours“socialist nationalisation” of the

banks to tackle the crisis. We usethis term to distinguish ourselvesfrom those such as the LabourParty who favour nationalising thebanks, injecting public funds tonurse them back to profit, then pri-vatising them once more.

Socialist nationalisation wouldinvolve sacking the boards of thebanks and putting directly electedrepresentatives from society andfrom the banks’ workforce, backedby supportive experts, in charge.

It would involve seizing theassets (including personal wealth)of developers unable to repay loansand using these to provide socialand affordable housing, communityfacilities, schools, etc.

No compensation would be paidto millionaire or billionaire share-holders or bondholders. Mortgagepayments would be lowered toreflect current property pricesrather than bubble prices. Cheapcredit would be provided for bankcustomers including small busi-nesses. Bank profits would be usedto defend jobs and services.

That’s the way to resolve thebanking crisis in favour of ordinarypeople rather than at their expense.

Multi-billion corporate welfare

By Anthony Hetherington

THE HSE plans to closelocal medical card

offices throughout the Southin an attempt to save €10mannually. HSE boss,Brendan Drumm, stated “arange of efficiency measureswill be introduced to slowthe increase in expenditureon the medical card, drugpayment and other demandled schemes.”

To achieve this, the HSEintends to centralise assessmentand processing of all medicalcard and GP visit card applica-tions to one ‘back office’ in Dublin– off Exit 5 on the M50! Initiallythe HSE set out that it wouldslash 200 – 300 jobs (thought to benon-permanent staff) and re-deploy permanent staff membersfrom local Medical Card offices tofill those jobs.

A medical card gives access toa range of services, such as freeGP visits and free medication.People must go through an appli-cation process to find out if theHSE deems them to be entitled toa Medical Card. This means a lotof paper work many cases.

Depending on the arrange-ments in the old Health Boardareas, currently people can

attend a Community Welfare

Officer and/or admin staff inthe medical card offices to dis-cuss and make a medical cardapplication amongst other com-munity welfare services.Centralising the service to a backoffice will mean moving a vitalservice away from the public atthe very time they need it most.Given how complicated it can beto access public services, thefacility to meet staff makes a bigdifference to so many people.

Since the government tookaway the automatic entitlementto the over-70s medical card, theHSE centralised processing ofthose applications to the sameoffice in Dublin. This has led tobig delays, and even in contactingthe office as the only way is byphone for the entire state.

Staff are rightly concernedabout the future of the service aswell as their jobs. Staff do notknow if they will be re-deployedto another area; let go or forciblyplaced into the job of someone theHSE has let go. Staff membershave taken a vote to take strikeaction to defend the service andtheir jobs for when the HSEattempts to ram this through.They are seeking the support ofthe public in protecting the serv-ice and are calling on their unionto stand ‘shoulder to shoulder’with them in the fight.

By Mick Murphy

THE O’TOOLE family whoown the Carrolls Joinery

group have taken full advan-tage of the economic down-turn to get their onlyunionised and longest serv-ing workers off the books, bylaying off everyone from theirfactory near Ballingarry inCo. Tipperary.

It has not closed the factory andonly recently invested in newequipment in a plant that turnedout over 3,000 doors as well asother goods per week in the mid-dle of the boom. The factory is allset to ramp up again if and whenthings pick up only this time witha new, non-union minimum wage

workforce.The 48 workers who were laid off

in July put up a strong fight to atleast make the O’Tooles pay higherredundancy terms. The minimumtwo weeks’ statutory redundancywas paid to the workers, who hadan average service of over 30 yearseach. Pickets were mounted at thefactory, but the men soon extendedthis to some of the 14 other sites,picketing outlets in Cork andDublin also.

On 25 August the men wereoffered an additional week’sredundancy per year of service andvery reluctantly voted 23 to 17 infavour of the offer. Just theSaturday before, five carloads ofstrikers supported by over 30 peo-ple from various groups around

Dublin, including the SocialistParty, shut down their main retailoutlet in Bluebell. The plan was toescalate this on the followingSaturday to the outlets in Galwayand Cork also.

The shop stewards argued tocontinue the battle but the menwere clearly not convinced that theO’Tooles could be brought to heelduring such a big downturn in thebuilding industry.

It is entirely possible that therewill be another chapter in this bat-tle when the O’Tooles go to re-openthe plant. This was the only signif-icant industrial employer in thatimmediate area and it is possible acampaign will be launched for themen to be taken back on in thefuture.

Race to the bottom in Tipperary

HSE to close localmedical card offices

NAMA

Despite the claims of some, there is no end in sight for the economic crisis.

By Liam Cullinane

4HOMES WORKERS inMitchelstown, Fermoy and

Annacotty were told thattheir stores would be closingwith the loss of 40 jobs.

They were given just four days’notice that the outlets would beshutting down and offered onlystatutory redundancy, despite thefact that many members of staffhad given decades of service. Asone member of staff put it, “Therewas no discussion, no optionsoffered, no alternative, we weretold that the store would close onSunday, full stop”. Furious at theactions of the company, 16 workersin the Mitchelstown outlet took thecourageous step of occupying thepremises.

The workers’ actions enjoyedhuge support in the town. In thepast Mitchelstown was a bustlingmarket town, but downsizing by

Dairygold (the de facto owners of4Homes) led to a decline in manu-facturing and services. Onewoman, while signing the book ofsupport for the workers, comment-ed that this type of action shouldhave taken place 20 years ago.

Initially management callouslyrefused any form of negotiation withthe workers and, unprepared for afight back, attempted to break thesit-in. Staff were threatened withlegal action if the occupation wasn’t

ended. However, thanks to the mili-tant actions of the workers and thehuge support they received from thelocal community, management wereforced to relent and enter into talks.The workers have agreed to takestrike action if progress is not madeon their demands.

Dairygold and 4Homes mademillions of profits during the boomthanks to the hard work of theirstaff and this money should now beused to maintain jobs and services.

4Homes workers occupy to save jobs

Carroll’s Joinery

Long delays for over-70s medical cards.

4Homes workers occupation in Mitchelstown.

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By Joe Higgins MEP

IF PASSED, the Lisbon Treatywill enshrine the agenda of theeconomic and political elite inthe European Union. The des-peration of the European estab-lishment to see this Treatypassed has been clear from mytime in the EuropeanParliament. All of the majorpolitical groupings in theEuropean Parliament repeated-ly and loudly proclaim the needfor a Yes vote.This is because Lisbon is a

Treaty for the interests theyrepresent - the major corpora-tions and the armaments indus-try. Its provisions are damagingto the interests of ordinaryworking people throughoutEurope and should be rejected.The key points I have strived

to raise in the public arenaabout the Lisbon Treaty are thefollowing; it:lDIMINISHES the democraticleverage of ordinary citizensthrough removing the mem-

ber state vetoes in many poli-cy areas and through a rebal-ancing of the voting system infavour of the biggest Stateswhich have the most powerfulmilitary apparatuses, thebiggest armaments industriesand the strongest capitalistestablishments;l ENTRENCHES and strength-ens the neo-liberal, pro-privati-sation economic policies whichgovern the EU;l COPPERFASTENS the rul-ings of the European Court ofJustice which legitimise arace to the bottom in workers’conditions;l FORBIDS Member Statesfrom having an independentforeign policy;lGIVES a huge push to militari-sation and for the first timeinstitutionalises the arma-ments industry in an EU Treaty.The fact that big business

interests like multinationalsIntel and Ryanair are puttinghundreds of thousands of eurosinto achieving a Yes vote shows

us exactly in whose intereststhey believe Lisbon to be. A sick joke in this campaign

has been the appearance ofIBEC’s “Yes for jobs” posters.The true record of IBEC’s mem-bers tells a very different story.Donal Byrne of Cadbury’sIreland and Director of IBEC hasoverseen 200 sackings thisyear. Tony O’Brien of C&C andDirector of IBEC pushedthrough 120 redundancies atBulmers. Gary McCann ofSmurfit Kappa and memberof the Board of IBEC hasoverseen 140 job cuts.However, the real reason for

IBEC’s support includes thefurther framework ofthe race to the bot-tom and theprofit-makingopportunitiesthey antici-pate from theopening upof publicse r v i ces ,i nc lud ing

health and education to “liberali-sation” and privatisation. Theyunderstand the full implicationsof Lisbon, which subordinates therights of working people todefend their jobs and public serv-ices to the rights of employersacross Europe to pursuetheir profit-driven agen-

da at the expense of workers’rights. The coming month will see the

debate on Lisbon intensifying asthe Left tries to bring out thecrucial issues. It will also seemoves to bail out the banks anddevelopers with NAMA and to

devise a plan of furtherbrutal cutbacks flow-ing from theMcCarthy report.When Fianna Failcalls on us to “Voteyes for the econo-

my” as their postersacross the country declare,they are inviting us to vote Yesfor NAMA, vote Yes for An BordSnip and vote Yes for their mis-management of the economygenerally. The common neo-lib-eral agenda of prioritising theinterests of big business anddevelopers over the needsof ordinary people whichis contained in Lisbon,NAMA and An BordSnip should be reject-ed on 2 October.

To defend public services & workers’ rights

Vote NO to Lisbon

By Fiona O’Loughlin

SIPTU MEMBERS in CocaCola HBC (Hellenic

Bottling Company) in Dublin,Cork, Tipperary and Tuamhave been on all-out strikesince 27 August.

Despite making massive profitsCoca Cola HBC is proposing to out-source the distribution of its prod-ucts to three outside companies,Kielys Distribution, Liam Carrolland Brian Daly Transport.

The High Court has alreadyimposed an injunction against theworkforce in an attempt to hamperpicketing of the scab companieswho are continuing to distributeCoca Cola’s products.

The workers have been beengiven a Hobson’s choice - eithertransfer to these new companies orbe made redundant. This is amultinational company that inspite of the recession is makingmassive profits. According to theWall Street Journal, Coca Cola

Hellenic increased its profits by 4%from €181.5 million to €188.1 mil-lion for the quarter ending June2009 in comparison to the sameperiod in 2008.

This is clearly an attempt by thecompany to significantly increasetheir profits by destroying the jobsand conditions won by workersover 50 years. Some of the strikershave been working more than 30

years for Coca Cola. The outsourcing of the distribu-

tion operation will result in 130 joblosses. The terms and conditionsbeing offered by the three newemployers are outrageous. Wagecuts are being imposed of between€15,000 and up to €40,000 a yeardepending on service. Strikers inCork have been told that if theywant a job with one of the new com-

panies they must move to Thurles!Letters from the new companieshave told the drivers that they willbe on zero hour contracts and theymust be prepared to deliver otherproducts including tyres, and beavailable to drive to Britain andmainland Europe!

Coca Cola HBC joins the long listof multinational companies such asDell in Limerick and SR Technicsin Dublin airport who are using theeconomic recession as a means toincrease their profits and drivedown wages and conditions in therace to the bottom.

The Coca Cola strikers havereceived messages of support fromCoca Cola Hellenic workers in fac-tories in Athens, Volos, andSalonika in Greece.

The striking workers in CocaCola are making a just stand indefence of their jobs and conditionsand they should get the full backingof the trade union movement.

The key to winning this strike isto stop the supply and distribution

of Coca Cola products. Theseproducts are bottled at Coca ColaBottlers (Ulster) Ltd in LambegCo.Down. The Lambeg workforceare members of the trade unionUSDAW. SIPTU, USDAW and NIC-ICTU have an important role intrying to get these workers to sup-port the striking workers at CocaCola HBC. A defeat of the HBCworkforce in the South wouldleave the workers at the Lambegplant open to similar attacks ontheir wages, working conditionsand job security.

SIPTU must do what ever it takesto stop the distribution of all CocaCola products. SIPTU shouldmobilise other trade unionists toparticipate in effective picketing tostop Kielys, Liam Carroll and BrianDaly transport from scabbing onthis strike. Appeals should beissued to trade unionists to refuseto handle Coca Cola products insupermarkets, shops, pubs etc. andthe general public should be askedto boycott Coca Cola products.

Coca Cola workers in battle to save jobs

By Cillian Gillespie

DOCKWORKERS AT MarineTerminal Limited (MTL)

are still continuing their bat-tle to defend jobs, decentwages and conditions againsttheir union busting employer.

These workers have been out onstrike since the end of June whenthe company ruthlessly tried toimpose forced redundancies and"take it or leave it” contracts thatwould leave the remainder of theworkforce significantly worse off.

During the course of this disputethe striking workers have receivedmagnificent support from residentsof the communities of East Wall andRingsend. This has been shown by

the three demonstrations that havemobilised hundreds who havemarched to the gates of the MTLsite on the docks. As well as thisover 200 people attended a recentfundraiser for the workers whichraised over €2,000 for the strikefund. The UNITE union which repre-sents dockworkers in Britain andBelfast has given its support to thedockworkers. At the last demon-stration dockworkers came downfrom Belfast to show their supportand solidarity. This demonstrationalso resulted in a mass trespass onthe MTL site, which forced all workto come to a halt.

A “floating picket” followed,where supporters of the dockersblocked all boats from entering

Dublin Port. Another example oftremendous workers’ solidarity wasshown by the decision of dockwork-ers in Rotterdam to serve strikenotice, which will mean all cargofrom MTL will be blacked when itenters the port.

Clearly this has rattled MTL,which has been forced back intonegotiations in the Labour court,something it said it would never doat the start of the dispute. Howeverit has also sought to intimidate theworkers and their supporters fur-ther through high court injunctions.One of these includes an injunctionwhich could see workers impris-oned for calling the strike-breakersthat MTL has brought in during thisdispute scabs!

MTL has set a dangerous prece-dent that cannot go unanswered bythe broader trade union movement.It needs to decisively take on MTLin such away that will shut all itsbusiness down. In doing so it cannotallow draconian anti-union lawssuch as the Industrial Relations Actto be a barrier to taking action.

ICTU should call an all-out picketagainst MTL that will ensureamongst other things, that its mem-bers black all of the cargo thatleaves the site in Dublin. Solidarityaction by other workers at the port,particularly by pilots who bring inthe MTL ships, would increase thepressure on MTL further.

SIPTU (the union representingthe workers) should use its vast

resources to contact workers inother ports to try and extend theinternational action being taken byworkers in Rotterdam. ICTU andSIPTU should organise a mass pick-et at the MTL site, which could con-front and prevent scabs from enter-ing it. Such actions need to taken inorder to pile on the pressure on thisanti-union company and deliver avictory for all workers.

The Socialist Party has support-ed the MTL dockworkers from thebeginning of this dispute. Our mem-bers have attended the supportprotests and have regularly visitedthe picket lines as well giving prac-tical advice and support and a€1,000 donation to the strike fund.

Coca Cola – “passion for profit”

Courts back bosses in dockers’ strike

September 2009

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Fermanagh Councillor DOMHNALL Ó COBHTHAIGH has resigned from Sinn Feinand joined the Socialist Party. This is a statement from Domhnall explaining thereasons behind his decision.

By Domhnall Ó Cobhthaigh

FOR TWELVE years I wasa committed member ofSinn Féin. Like other

members of the party I shareda total commitment and evenloyalty to the concept of a"thirty-two county democraticsocialist republic".

It was something I would havesacrificed everything for but therealities of daily struggle were oftenvery different from that long-termgoal. Like many other republicans Iopposed sectarianism and racismbut worked within a political arenabounded by the limits of communi-tarian politics.

Over time, the contradictionsseemed to grow more antagonistic.When our socialist commitmentsmet the hard realities of politicalpower, it always seemed to be thestatus quo that won out. The partyprioritised “not scaring the horses”,as leadership figures would saywhen people like me questioneddecisions. Social or economic goalscould be sacrificed to get a stableworking relationship with the DUPin the new institutions. Somehow,

this was considered critical in get-ting to a united Ireland. In the end, itboiled down to the reality that socialand economic change was dropped– a farcical re-run of the politics of"labour must wait".

The last straw to me was theleadership’s support for the bankbailout. But I was unsure of whereto go and there was a huge pressure

to stay on. So I stayed on for almost a year

but experimented with politics out-side the party. I went along to thePeople Before Profit Alliance meet-ing ahead of the last election, exper-imented with a few blogs and wentdown to the Corrib protests. While itwas much better than electoral pol-itics, I was left with a sense of being

directionless. What was neededwas what Lenin wrote of in What isto be Done: an organisation whichwas absolutely committed to revo-lutionary politics. Today, I recognisethat the Socialist Party is really theonly party in Ireland that takes thatchallenge serious anymore.

I had believed that we could bringpeople to socialism through their

commitment to IrishRepublicanism; that socialism rep-resented the "ultimate" in republi-can democracy. Over the past year Ihave realised my problems withSinn Féin stem from the party’snationalism getting in the way of itssocialism; in effect, the verificationin concrete political terms ofTrotsky’s theory of permanent revo-lution.

Building a mass socialist partycapable of revolutionary change willrequire hard work and there are noshortcuts. But the tide has definite-ly turned. The era of austerity her-alded by the bailout for finance cap-italists and their institutions hasradicalised politics: working classpeople are challenged with thethreat of a traumatic reversal intheir living conditions and a genera-tion of youth is at risk of permanentexclusion from the labour force.Today, socialism is more relevantthan ever.

I look forward to working along-side Socialist Party comrades inworking to build that revolutionarymass movement. My greatest regretis that I didn’t decide to join theSocialist Party a lot earlier.

By Gary Mulcahy

PRIVATISATION OF publicservices is at the heart of

the economic strategy beingpursued by the AssemblyExecutive. For the past tenyears, the DUP, Sinn Fein, UUPand SDLP have been collec-tively responsible for award-ing £1.3 billion to private com-panies to take over anddestroy public services. Andaccording to ProfessorAllyson M. Pollock, director ofthe Centre for InternationalPublic Health Policy at theUniversity of Edinburgh,based on current proposedPublic Private Partnership(PPP) contracts, this figure isset to rise to a massive £10billion!

The Assembly hands approxi-mately £2.2 billion to big businesseach year to ‘run’ public services.Since February, the Assembly hasawarded over £90 million in con-tracts to companies. Most of thishas been paid to consultants,including Deloitte MCS Ltd£146,898, PriceWaterhouseCoopers

£215,380 and KPMG £284,551. Thisis a complete waste of publicmoney.

No services are safe. The deci-sion of Education Minister CaitrionaRuane to privatise post-primaryschool counselling services for vul-nerable school students is particu-larly nauseating. This will cost thepublic £5.4 million.

The Assembly parties have alsoprivatised school buildings andcommunity services. Earlier thisyear, a major PPP contract wasawarded which will see at least 13schools in the Belfast Education &Library Board being taken over by aprivate company, known as AmeyFMP (a consortium of four majorcompanies). This contract willentail the re-building of new schoolbuildings, which will then be man-aged by the company. Alreadyredundancies have been announcedfor non-teaching staff. More cutsand attacks on workers’ terms andconditions are inevitable. AmeyFMP will also have exclusive rightsto design and construct all new cap-ital works in the entire BELB estate,covering every school in Belfast.This company will also be able to

make big profits by charging forlocal services such as youth clubs,sports halls and fields, gyms etc.

Schools across the North arebeing handed over to big business.In June, PPP contracts worth £80million were finalised which will seeschools in East Belfast, Carryduff,Portglenone and Downpatrick beingtaken over by and managed by themultinational company Interservefor the next 25 years. Interserve isalready involved in a £38 million PFI

deal to build and run two schools (StCecilia’s College and St Mary’sCollege) in Derry. It is also involvedin a consortium which has secureda £300 million PFI contract to buildand manage the new EnniskillenHospital. The other companiesinvolved include the Spanish multi-national FCC Construction andAllied Irish Banks. Both Interserveand Allied Irish Banks will manageservices in the hospital such asmechanical and electrical mainte-

nance for the next 30 years. PFI isnotorious for cuts in services, joblosses and poorer services. Theonly motivation of private compa-nies is to make as much profit aspossible, not to provide for people.sneeds.

All the main parties in theAssembly are committed to privati-sation. Just before the Assemblybroke for their long summer break,a piece of legislation called theLocal Government (MiscellaneousProvisions) Bill was supported by allthe Executive parties. This legisla-tion empowers and promotes localcouncils to privatise local servicesthrough the use of PPP and PFI. Allthe MLAs who spoke agreed thatwaste facilities in particular shouldbe privatised. This will inevitablylead to job losses and also raisesthe threat of bin charges on house-holds. The trade union movementmust say "Enough is enough!" andpublicly campaign against the pri-vatisation tsunami confrontingworkers and communities. A oneday public sector strike in defenseof public services should be calledand built for in order to defeat thepoliticians privatisation plans.

Assembly privatisation agenda exposed

Why I left Sinn Féin to join the Socialist Party

By Oisín Kelly, IBOA member(personal capacity)

BANK SENIOR manage-ment plan on slashing

jobs, pay, pensions and work-ing conditions for financeworkers. The recent redun-dancy announcements byFriends First and Ulster Bankare a taste of things to come.

The other banks are closely fol-lowing these developments. AfterNAMA, the Irish owned banks arelikely to be primed for take-over by

multinationals. Senior manage-ment now intend making theirbanks "attractive" for vulture capi-talists in multinational banks.

In Friends First 147 jobs arebeing cut. This represents 27% ofthe workforce. Ulster Bankannounced 250 job cuts in additionto the 750 announced earlier thisyear. Ulster Bank intends freezingpay for two years and attacking thepension scheme for new and exist-ing staff.

The treatment of the workers isin complete contrast to how senior

bankers have rewarded them-selves. Fred Goodwin, former CEOof Royal Bank of Scotland (whichowns Ulster Bank), is receivingover £700,000 per year from hispension. His pension scheme wasdoubled just before he left in dis-grace after creating a record £24.1billion loss.

The failure of a "partnership"approach is very evident in thefinancial sector. Most workers inUlster Bank first heard of the fur-ther 250 job losses on the radio.This is despite the bank being in

"talks" with the IBOA over payincreases due. In Friends First, theunion leaders in Unite merely com-mented that they wanted "consulta-tion" over job losses. In Ulster Bankthe IBOA leadership has respondedwith a letter writing campaign!

A tame strategy is not enough todefend pay, pensions and jobs.Unions need to respond to theseattacks with a determined and mil-itant campaign. Without thisapproach the greed of seniorbankers will put thousands moreworkers onto the dole.

Banks plan slashing jobs, wages & pensions!

Three of a kind! Peter Robinson, Gordon Brown and Martin McGuinness.

Jim Barbour of the FBU, Ciaran Mulholland of the SP, Domhnall Ó Cobhthaigh & Joe Higgins MEP.

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new

sSeptember 2009

Why I left Sinn Féin to join the Socialist Party By Daniel Waldron

THE ANGER and disgustof millions of Americanstowards the rotten US

healthcare system helpedBarack Obama win the presi-dential elections last year. Hepromised fundamentalreform that would providequality, affordable care forall. Yet now it looks like hisadministration will simplytry to put a plaster over someof the worst excesses of thecurrent, profit-driven system.

Rather than a universal health-care system like the NHS in Britain,the system in America is basedaround private insurance and pri-vate hospitals. Today, in the richestcountry in the world, over 15% ofthe population have no healthinsurance. These people effectivelyonly have access to accident andemergency care. Priced out of themarket by the profiteering insur-ance companies, if they develop anillness requiring long-term medica-tion or an operation, they areforced to choose between theirhealth and financial ruin.

Even those who have chosen topay through the nose for privateinsurance or who have won it fromtheir employer have plenty toworry about if they or their familybecome sick. Michael Moore’s film“Sicko” demonstrated in a shock-ing manner how the insurancecompanies would consciously findany loophole to avoid honouringtheir obligations, often leaving

their “valued customers” to die.Before winning nomination in

the Democratic primaries, Obamaclaimed he was a supporter of asingle-payer system, where citi-zens would make flat-rate pay-ments to a public body whichwould then provide the budgets forall healthcare institutions, free atthe point of use. Unfortunately,this system would not explicitlytake hospitals and clinics them-selves into public hands, but itwould certainly be a huge step for-ward for ordinary Americans andwould pull the rug from under thefeet of the vampire-like insurancecompanies.

After coming to power, however,Obama dramatically softened hisplans. Instead, he proposed theestablishment of a publicly-ownedinsurance company which wouldcater for the lowest-paidAmericans and compete againstthe private sector within the mar-ket system. This would not funda-mentally solve anything for work-ers and poor people in the UnitedStates. With the inefficiencies,waste and profiteering of the cur-rent system left intact, millionswould be left with expensive, poorquality care. These proposals mayeven be watered down furtherafter a backlash from the hardright in the Senate!

Why Obama’s change of heart?After all, poll after poll shows thatthe majority of Americans supporta universal, public health systemfunded from taxation. A look at theaccounts of the Democratic Party

may provide an answer. Theyreceived over $90.7 million fromprivate insurance companies in2008, just ahead of theRepublicans’ $76.6 million. Obama

received $18 million for his presi-dential campaign alone. Both mainparties are completely tied to theinsurance vultures, and to bigbusiness as a whole.

Obama’s limited proposals forextending the role of public bodiesin healthcare provoked shrieks ofhorror from the neo-conservativeright, represented in the media byRupert Murdoch’s Fox Network.They claimed this represented astep towards “socialized medi-cine”, which would limit people’schoice, cost astronomical amountsand lead to the rationing of health-care.

Of course, none of these claimsabout “socialized” healthcare aretrue. The US healthcare bill isalmost double per capita that ofcountries like Canada with univer-sal, public healthcare. On thebasis of a public healthcare sys-tem, the need to create huge prof-its for insurance companies’shareholders would be eliminated.So too would the massive adminis-trative costs of insurance compa-nies haggling with hospitals overevery item on every patient’s carebill, as well as their advertisingcosts. It is estimated that a publicsystem could free up $400 billionevery year for investment in front-line services.

Obama’s backtracking onhealthcare reform shows theweakness of relying on changefrom above; change from thosewho have a vested interest in thestatus quo. Instead, Americanworkers, young people and com-munity activists need to organiseto campaign and struggle for apublic, universal healthcare serv-ice, free at the point of use- andunder their democratic control!

OBAMA baulks at real health reform

By Cllr. Clare Daly

IN THE last week of AugustAer Lingus issued its half-yearly accounts along with acry of doom and gloom. Direpredictions for the future ofthe company appeared in themedia and managementemphasised the need to imme-diately cut jobs and slash pay.Sound familiar? It almostwouldn’t be autumn withoutthis annual cull!

With a global economic crisisaffecting all sectors of the economy- not least aviation - there is no waythat Aer Lingus management isgoing to forfeit this golden opportu-nity to impose its long sought aftercounter-revolution in the airline,with the attempted undoing of all ofthe benefits fought and won by theunion movement over decades.

Sadly, in recent years the unionmovement has rolled over andfacilitated this process, partly toavoid an all-out war. Instead theyhave offered up pay and conditionsin the hope that a battle could beavoided. But as workers in Aviancelearned by bitter experience, givingup conditions to “save” the compa-ny doesn’t work. These workersgave up jobs, pay and conditionslast year, only to see the companytaken over by Servisair and morejobs being lost.

Contrary to management claimsAer Lingus is not a company in cri-sis with costs totally out of line

with its competitors. While muchwas made of the fact that the cashreserves have halved from a mas-sive €800 million to just over €400million, nowhere was it explainedthat half of this went on the pur-chase of two new A330 aircraft.Over €60 million was wasted onthe defence of the first Ryanairbid, and about half that on the sec-ond bid - a direct consequence ofprivatisation.

The company’s losses of €93mil-lion are distorted by front-loadingof fuel costs and one-off mainte-nance release costs. Staff costsshow a reduction of over 10%,despite the airline carrying anextra 300,000 passengers.

These are set to fall further asthe full value of last year’s cam-paign to encourage workers to selltheir wages and conditions takeseffect. Starting rates of €22,000 forground operation staff for a 24/7,

year round operation hardly con-stitute living it up. These are yellowpack rates that any unionised jobshould be ashamed of. With half theground staff and all those in the airstill on the old rates, no doubt thecompany wants more.

The opening up of bases inGatwick and Belfast where cabincrew earn a shocking £12,000expose the real goal – the profits ofthe shareholders can be boosted ifthe wages of the staff can beslashed. If they could get away withshutting down Dublin, Cork andShannon and operating hubs toGatwick from where people couldfly on, they would.

The chickens of the privatisationdisaster are coming home to roost.Workers at Aer Lingus need torealise that we have to be preparedto take action to defend jobs andsave our standard of living. Thereis no more room for manoeuvre.

Aer Lingus - Annual cullof jobs & conditions By Councillor Terry Kelleher

AMAJOR disaster was nar-rowly avoided after thecollapse of the rail viaductover the broadmeadow estu-ary in Malahide.

Many lives could have been lostand therefore it is crucial that les-sons are learnt and the necessaryresources are provided to imple-ment new safety procedures atIrish Rail.

Two recent reports on Irish Railwere very critical of the “safetyculture” and criticised the compa-ny for its lack of progress on imple-menting a “comprehensive systemfor recording and analysing ...inci-dents and precursor events”.

One such report in 2008 actuallycriticised management for abolish-ing CARA, a confidential reportingsystem for staff to anonymouslyreport safety issues. While there isno direct link between abolishingCARA and the incident in Malahide,it reflects a process that is occur-ring in all semi-states, the under-mining of the role of the staff andtheir trade unions.

In place of adequate health and

safety resources in safety,attempts are made to introduce“safety systems”. These systemsare usually over bureaucratic andmeant to make the company meetits legal obligation under the healthand safety laws. However mostworkers will tell you while thesesystems are introduced resourcesfor health and safety are usuallyreduced. What is needed is a sys-tem, proper resources with the fullinvolvement of the rail staff to bestprevent such accidents.

Serious question needs to beanswered by Irish rail manage-ment as to how their checks didnot notice any danger signs of col-lapse. This company like mostother semi-sate companies arebeing pushed by the governmentto puts profits before public serv-ice. This needs to be reversed andmonies made available for a safe,reliable and affordable rail servicefor all.

An investigation into the col-lapse of the viaduct would have tolook at the impact of the multiplehousing developments in the NorthDublin area have had on the floodplain and the estuary.

Rail bridge collapse – healthand safety before profits

Aer Lingus chairman, Colm Barrington (right).

The Obama “Joker” poster - the rightwing view of his health reform.

n A guaranteed right to a job ortraining with decent wages and fullworkers’ rights.n For a minimum wage of €12 anhour tax free with no exemptions.n For a 35 hour week without lossof pay.n For a decent social welfarepayment, linked to averageearnings.n Free childcare for all.

n For democratic trade unions tofight in the interests of theirmembers on pay, conditions and jobsecurity. n Full time union officials should beregularly elected and receive theaverage wage of those theyrepresent.n Scrap the anti-union laws. An endto "social partnership".

n For a free public national healthservice. No to private health care.

n Free, quality education for allfrom primary to university, with aliving grant.

n For a massive public housebuilding programme, funded bycentral government to eliminate thehousing waiting lists.

n No to privatisation, public privatepartnerships and private financeinitiatives. n All publicly owned services andcompanies to be run underdemocratic working class control.

n An end to discrimination on thegrounds of race, religion, sex, sexualorientation, disability and to allforms of prejudice.n For the right to asylum and thescrapping of racist anti-asylum andimmigration laws. For the right towork, with full protection, forimmigrant workers.

n Scrap the bin charges - no todouble taxation in any form. Localauthorities to receive properfunding from central governmentfunds.

n For major investment into apublicly owned recycling service tocombat the waste crisis. No towaste incinerators.

n Oppose the big businessdominated European Union. No tothe militarisation of Europe and to aEuropean Army. n For solidarity of the Europeanworking class. For a socialist Europe.n No to imperialist wars. End theoccupation of Iraq. For a socialistIraq.

n Build a real peace process basedon uniting the working classcommunities, not on bringingdiscredited sectarian politicianstogether. n Joint trade union and communityaction to counter all forms ofsectarianism. n An end to all activity by allparamilitaries, loyalist andrepublican. Completedemilitarisation.

Capitalism is the cause of poverty,inequality, environmentaldestruction and war. We need aninternational struggle against thissystem and its effects. The workingclass can build a socialist world inwhich the resources of the planetare used to satisfy the needs of themass of the people not the thirst forprofit of a tiny minority of superrich.n Take all major industry, banks andfinancial institutions into publicownership and place them under thedemocratic control andmanagement of working classpeople. n For the working class todemocratically plan the economy toprovide for the needs of all, and toprotect our environment.n For the building of a mass politicalparty capable of uniting the workingclass in the struggle for socialism inIreland.n For a socialist Ireland as part of afree and voluntary socialistfederation of England and Wales,Scotland and Ireland.

WHAT WESTAND FORWorkers’ rights

Health

Housing

Equality

Local Taxation

International

Northern Ireland

Socialism

Reclaim the trade unions

Privatisation

Education

Waste management

PAPER OF THE SOCIALIST PARTY ISSUE 47 SEPTEMBER 2009

WWW.SOCIALISTPARTY.NET

By Cian Prendiville

THE NEXT year will be crucialin the battle to defeat fees.

From September 2010 it seemscollege fees will be back.Whether up-front fees, loans ora graduate tax, the result will bethe same – education will coststudents tens of thousands ofeuro. All first year students are being told

to prepare for full fees (probably ofaround €5,500 a year, if not more) from2010. Far from being “just for the rich”as we were told a year ago, BattO’Keeffe has hinted that there may bea discount of up to 20% for familiesthat pay the fees upfront – that isthose rich enough to afford to do so.So it’s education for the rich, dole

for the rest? The rest of us will have toforgo college, or else take the burdenof thousands of euro of debt. Alreadymost students need part-time jobs toget by, and as these jobs disappear,fees will undoubtedly shut off the

option of education to thousands ofworking class young people.This is not just an attempt by the

government to make us pay for theircrisis, it’s also a push towards privati-sation of education. As a sign of whatmay happen under full fees, power toset registration fees has been given tothe individual colleges. This “indepen-dence” is designed to encourage com-petition between colleges, includingcompetition for business investment.

Organise to defeat fees

The coming weeks and months arevital in building a campaign to defeatfees. Lobbying by student union lead-ers, backed up by occasionalprotests, is not enough. We need amass movement strong enough toforce the government back. Such acampaign should unite the anti-feesstruggle with campaigning againstthe massive registration fee hikesand cuts in education.It can be built. The Free Education

for Everyone (FEE, www.free-educa-tion.info) campaign has started thatprocess, bringing together studentsfrom around the country in building avibrant, fighting cam-paign. Such acampaignm u s tr e a chout tos c h o o lstudents,staff andparents, tobuild a unit-ed struggle forproperly fund-ed, free educa-tion. With the new

school and collegeterms starting, LeavingCert students and firstyear college students inparticular will be look-ing ahead and makingplans for the next year.

With thousands of euro at stake, get-ting active in the fight against feesshould be a toppriority.

You can’t affordNOT to fight fees

By Laura Fitzgerald, Socialist Youth

THE LENIENT sentencing ofR&B singer, Chris Brown, to

five years’ probation and sixmonths’ community labour forassaulting his former girlfriendand pop star, Rihanna, illus-trates that the courts are notserious about tackling violenceagainst women. In a vicious assault, Brown

punched, choked, bit and threatenedto kill his former girlfriend. Brown’spig-headed statement after theassault was – “Everybody that’shaters, they just being haters. I ain’t amonster.” His attitude is indicative ofthe hip hop and pop genre that he ispart of, in which women are objecti-fied. This legitimises sexism andtaken to its conclusion can send amessage that women’s bodies areplaythings to be used, abused andviolated. This sexist culture is, likeviolence against women, a product of

an economic system that forceswomen into low-paid jobs, povertyand economic dependence. Sexistimages and attitudes in popular cul-ture ideologically reinforce and justi-fy this systematic discrimination. This has a dangerous impact on

young peoples’ self-esteem and atti-tudes to relationships and sex, asgraphically illustrated by a recentUniversity of Bristol survey of 13-17year old girls. One in three girls inter-viewed said that their boyfriends hadtried to pressure them into unwantedsexual activity by bullying them or byusing physical force. One in four saidthat they had been punched orslapped by a boyfriend.Chris Brown's music videos feature

flawlessly good looking women. Lyricslike "I swear it's crazy how your man betreating ya... I'd cut him out of the pic-ture because he don't deserve you." onlyshow how vacuous his music is, givenhis own history as a violent partner.Macho threats of Jay-Z (from “I got 99

problems but a bitch ain’t one” fame)to beat up Brown as a result of hisactions hardly help matters.In contrast to the degradation of the

“bitch” and “n-word”-filled world ofmainstream hip-hop, the genre wasoriginally an opportunity for youngAfrican-Americans to express theiranger and alienation at poverty anddiscrimination. The corporatetakeover of hip-hop has put outra-geous misogyny and worshipping ofgreed and violence to the fore andshould be rejected.Young people’s very future is threat-

ened by the current economic crisis.We need a united movement of youngpeople demanding jobs, education anda future. Attacks on health, educationand welfare are disproportionatelyaffecting women. Rising unemploy-ment, debts and poverty can increasedomestic tension and force women tostay in abusive relationships. This newmovement can’t be neutral on the ques-tion of sexism and women’s oppression

and its most lethal expression - domes-tic violence. As well as speaking outloudly and clearly against domestic vio-lence and all forms of sexism, issuesthat specifically affect young womenshould become demands of a youthmovement that’s struggling for a decentfuture for all.

By Sarah Killeen,(Socialist Party Society UCD)

AS OF September 2009, freehealthcare is essentially a

thing of the past in Ireland’slargest university. Studentswill pay €10 to see a nurse, €25

to see a doctor and €40 for a

psychiatric consultation inUCD. These changes are a serious attack

on one of the most basic services thata university should provide for its stu-dents. Charging for healthcare is bothregressive and unfair, and the welfareof ordinary students will be affectedby these charges. In addition, this is

yet another example of students andother vulnerable groups paying aheavy price for a crisis they did notcreate.Students’ Union President Gary

Redmond lent his support to the newcharges. In a context of education cut-backs and the threat of college fees,this is wrong and an unacceptable

position for the union to take.The attitude of ordinary students

however, may prove to be very differ-ent and a campaign group to opposethe health charges is already beingestablished with the Socialist PartySociety’s support and assistance.For more info on the campaign,

phone/text 086 1077562

Campaign to fight UCD health charges

Sexism and Violence against Women Time to take a stand

Chris Brown in court.