PLATFORM LABOUR PARTY
Making Ireland a fairer place NO IrISHMAN or woman will ever forget where they were the day they heard that our country’s sovereignty was about to be handed over to the IMF/EU/ECB Troika. In 2010, just three short years ago, this State was in the eye of an economic and financial firestorm. It was a fight for our very survival. The rescue of bust banks and the reckless mismanagement of an economy based on speculation forced Ireland into the clutches of the lender of last resort. Fianna Fail had brought us to our nadir as a nation. The national humiliation was complete. Three years in from the infamous bank guarantee, 250,000 more people had joined the dole queue. Public services witnessed unparalleled cuts. Social welfare recipients were in the firing line. In February 2011, the people of Ireland made their judgment on Fianna Fáil at the ballot box. On our election to government, we promised to get our country on track again. To restore our independence. To fix our broken economy. To create jobs. To give the dignity of work back to those who had been denied it. To open up Irish society. To make Ireland a fairer place. In March of 2011, we might have got a new government, but we certainly didn’t get a new economy. The bad deal with the Troika which was foisted upon us by Fianna Fáil was reopened and renegotiated. We had to fix the bust banks, the institutions on which businesses depend to create jobs. The gap between what we took in as a State and what we could spend had to be closed so we could function again as a viable State, and we had to do so in as fair and equitable a manner as possible. The process of getting our country back on its feet has been a long and hard process. The Irish people are only too conscious of this. Labour is often open to criticism for the decisions we have had to take in government. rarely is the question asked – what would our government look like without Labour at its heart? • Would the JLC/ErO system on which many Mandate members depend for fairness at work have been restored? No. • Would the National Minimum Wage have been raised to pre-cut levels? Never.
Turning around the economy: new jobs are being created at a rate of 3,000 a month Picture: Unhindered by talent (CC BY-SA 2.0)
By Gerard Nash TD
• Would 330,000 of the lowest paid people in Ireland have been taken out of the USC net? No. • Would weekly social welfare rates have been protected? Not a chance. • Would the €3 billion a year Promissory Note payments have been torn up, and would Anglo Irish bank have been buried? No way. • Would we see legislation being prepared on collective bargaining rights in the absence of Labour? Absolutely no way. Ireland is making huge progress. New jobs are being created at a rate
‘Fianna Fail had brought us to our nadir as a nation. The national humiliation was complete’
INDUSTRIAL NEWS
Members at Debenhams vote for new proposals By Michael Meegan Divisional Organiser MAnDAtE members at Debenhams have accepted a proposal document by a large majority after being balloted. the proposals came out of a series of discussions between the union and management on a 16
range of issues. these discussions included: • Changes to Christmas bonus; • the incremental pay freeze; • the reduction in overtime premium in place for the last two to three years, followed by the 2% pay rise secured by the union
earlier this year. It is understood management shared detailed information about the firm’s current trading position in Ireland at the meetings. the outcome of the discussions resulted in no change to the Christmas bonus, with the incremental pay freeze and reduction in overtime pre-
mium remaining as is. this will be reviewed along with pay again in June 2014. As part of the agreement, Mandate secured an additional two days annual leave for all staff for the 2014 holiday year as well as an increase in staff discount for the month of December.
of 3,000 per month. This has meant that the jobless figures have reached below 400,000 for the first time since 1990. When we came into government, this figure was heading perilously close to 500,000. There are still far too many people suffering the horror of unemployment. There is a long way to go. But we are heading in the right direction. These levels of job creation have ensured that, for the third Budget in a row, social welfare weekly rates have remained at the same level since 2011 – in the teeth of the worst economic crisis in the history of the State. On November 14, the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste announced that Ireland will leave the Troika’s bailout programme unaided. In mid-December, 36 months after that day of ignominy, we will regain the right to allocate the resources available to us the way we, the Irish people, want them to be spent. This is no insignificant achievement. However, regaining our sovereignty is worthless if we, as a republic, don’t know what to do with it. The annual Labour Party conference provides party members, supporters and our colleagues in the trade unions an opportunity to reflect on our period in government at the half-way stage. More importantly, it gives us the chance to debate the future, to paint a picture of what a post-crisis Ireland will look like. In 1912, Labour was founded as the party of work. The opportunity to work, to play a full role in the economic and social life of one’s country is at the core of everything we do. Conference will focus on the goal of full employment; on fairness and dignity at work; on a new economy not based on speculation and graft but on hard work, innovation, imagination and skill. Simply fixing our broken economy would never be enough for Labour. We would never be content with that alone. Creating a fair and more equal society on the foundations of a sound economy is our goal, and that is what we have set out to do.
Ged Nash is a Labour TD for Louth. He is Vice- Chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party and is Chair of the Labour Party’s Policy Committee.
Why I’m in Mandate... ‘I joined Mandate to help people who are being unfairly treated’
Lorraine O’Brien, Tesco, Carlow SHOPFLOOR y December 2013