BLOW THE WHISTLE ON THE BAD BOSSES
COMMENT MUSIC Q&A POL McADAIM
TO JOIN 10 MANDATE
REASONS
1. An organising and campaigning union:
Mandate is focused on building an activist base to protect and improve employment conditions. Through better organised workplaces and the power of the collective strength, we will deliver justice for working people.
2. Modern and effective training:
Mandate provides free courses to help you learn new skills, improve existing skills and develop you and your prospective career. We negotiate agreements with employers to pay for attendance at courses and also to provide reasonable time off for employees to attend them.
3. Campaigning for success:
Mandate is a progressive campaigning union fighting on issues that really matter to our members, their families and society in general. Mandate campaigns challenge social injustice at all levels of Irish society.
4. Protection at work:
Highly trained and skilled Mandate officials provide professional advice and assistance, where appropriate, on a variety of employment issues.
5. Safety at work:
Mandate health & safety representatives are trained to minimise the risk of workplace injuries and ensure that employers meet their legal obligations at all times.
6. Better pay:
Year on year, Mandate campaigns for and wins pay rises for its members. Mandate also campaigns to close the widening gender pay gap in Irish society.
7. Legal protection:
Mandate has won significant legal compensation for members who are injured as a result of an accident at work.
8. Mandatory pensions:
Mandate has secured pension schemes with a variety of retail employers and will campaign to secure mandatory pension schemes for all members working in the private sector, partcularly those on low wages.
9.You’re less likely to be discriminated against:
Mandate has won agreements with employers on respect and dignity at work policies and procedures. Mandate will continue to campaign for tougher laws to make it illegal to discriminate on the basis of sex, race, age, disability or sexual orientation.
10. You’re less likely to be sacked:
Membership of Mandate protects you and strengthens your voice in your workplace.
Together we’re stronger
JOIN MANDATE TRADE UNION ONLINE AT http://www.mandate.ie/Contact/Join.aspx
24
Bye Bye Troika
Graphic: UNI Global
By John Douglas Mandate General Secretary YOU might have heard that the Troika are leaving Ireland on December 15 satisfied that manners have been put on the Irish Government and the Irish people. Ireland no doubt will be held up as a glowing example of the success of the Troika programmes and its harsh medicine dished out, the patient the world will be told is on the road to recovery. The Irish Government is already bathing in the glory of this turnaround from basket case to show case. You will hear it pronounced that we have regained our “financial sovereignty”, that our future destiny is now once again in our hands, that the sacrifices although harsh were worth it and that we can start rebuilding. Well, what a load of complete and utter rubbish. Yes, farewell to the Troika, but it will continue to monitor us every six months to ensure that we do no slip back off the path of continued austerity, that we continue to repay the bank bailouts, that we continue to cut public spending on health and services and that we continue to condemn future generations to shoulder the burden of massive unsustainable bank debt. The Troika has done its job and done it well – it has Ireland and the people of Ireland locked into permanent austerity. And what of the trail of destruction
that it has left in its wake? What of the social consequences of its policies? Policies which were designed to save bond holders and financial institutions. What of the 400,000 workers locked out of jobs, the 50,000 emigrating each year, the 100,000 mortgage holders in arrears and in danger of losing their homes? What of the
‘The Troika has done its job and done it well, it has Ireland and the people of Ireland locked into permanent austerity’ young workers under 26 years of age who saw their dole payments slashed, the hospitals and schools that will never be built? While part of the initial crisis was caused by the greed of the banking elite and speculators of Ireland and their cheer leaders, the policies imposed by the Troika targeted ordinary workers and citizens who had no hand or act to play in the crash. If there is one positive side to the departure of the Troika, it is that the Irish Government will have to take
full responsibility for all future policy decisions, no longer will it be able to blame the Troika. And what of the €64 billion (€32 billion Anglo Irish) of banking debt the Irish people has had to shoulder? Every single euro will be repaid and the banks will eventually be “sold off” to the private sector with clear balance sheets in the hope that we as taxpayers and citizens can recoup some our money. And, dare we say it, no banker jailed, no fine imposed? Contrast this, if you will, with the US, Lehman Brothers Bank was allowed to fail as were other delinquent institutions, senior bankers were jailed and heavy fines and settlements were extracted from banks for their misbehaviour – for example JP Morgan Chase, the biggest bank in the US has been forced to pay the US Government more than $20 billion dollars in fines and settlements. While at the same time in Europe, we cannot even reach an agreement to put a small financial transaction tax on financial institutions so that they might contribute to the repair of the damage they caused. Be in no doubt, the austerity brigade has not gone away, the senior bankers and speculators are seeking to cleanse themselves of accountability and responsibility through insolvency here and abroad, readying themselves for a rebirth of their financial empires as if nothing happened. You have been warned! SHOPFLOOR
y December 2013