Sep

Why trade unionists should oppose CETA

The main goal of CETA is to remove regulatory ‘barriers’ which restrict the potential profits to be made by transnational corporations on both sides of the Atlantic. These ‘barriers’ are in reality some of our most prized social standards CETA also seeks to create new markets by opening up public services and government procurement contracts to competition from transnational corporations, threatening to introduce a further wave of privatisations in key sectors, such as health and education. Only the rights of corporations are clarified; those of workers are ignored or couched in vague provisions. Not only does CETA not contain a […]

September 19th, 2017 by TU Left Admin | Type: Standard

Filed Under: News Tags: CETA, EU, ICTU, TTIP, TULF Comments are off for this post

Oct

Unlocking the potential of trade unions for working people

Overcoming common misunderstandings about trade unions There are some common misunderstandings about unions that fall wide of the mark and lead to a lot of confusion; and some of this comes from within the movement itself and is given life by some unions’ language and actions. For example, a union is an insurance policy for workers when something goes wrong at work; it’s a professional representative body; it’s an interest group . . . These are all common answers to the question “What are trade unions?” but none are right. Trade unions are the collective and pooled effort and resources of working […]

October 22nd, 2016 by TU Left Admin | Type: Standard

Filed Under: News Tags: capital, Class Consciousness, Congress, ICTU, irish union, ITGWU, labour, political unions, SIPTU, socialism, Solidarity, Trade Union Left Forum, Trade Unions, TULF, union organising, worker power Comments are off for this post

Aug

Does the trade union movement need a new political strategy?

Below is the the final contribution to our recent debate on a new politics for the trade union movement by Dave Gibney. A follow up meeting will be held in September to further the discussion on what should be in a class based political programme for the trade union movement. If you have thoughts on this please post on our FB page The very first question asked by an Irish Independent journalist at the founding press conference of Right2Water in August 2014 was: “why are trade unions getting involved in politics, shouldn’t you just be focusing on workplace issues?” To trade […]

August 12th, 2016 by TU Left Admin | Type: Standard

Filed Under: News Tags: ICTU, Mandate, neri, new politics, right2change, right2water, trademark, TULF Comments are off for this post

Aug

Irish trade unionism and the end of Civil War politics?

By Sean Byers, delivered at the TULF meeting a political strategy for the trade union movement. In December 2015, as the Right2Water campaign continued to confound its opponents with mass demonstrations attracting upwards of 100,000 people, former Taoiseach John Bruton made this revealing statement to the Irish media: FG and FF have complemented each other through Irish history. In Ireland we have had consensus about major long-term policies largely because we haven’t had a sharp left/right or ideological divide. We have had differences, but they are differences about other things, not economics, and that has served the country very well… […]

August 5th, 2016 by TU Left Admin | Type: Standard

Filed Under: News Tags: capitalism, class, class organisation, class unions, communist party, Connolly, ICTU, Labour Party, Larkin, r2w, SIPTU, socialism, strike, TINA, trade unions in ireland, TTIP Comments are off for this post

Aug

United Action is Key to Way Forward

By Eoin Ó Murchú When the Labour Party was established in 1912, it was in order to give political effect to the trade union movement, and it was in that context that James Connolly, Jim Larkin and William O’Brien presented their proposal in Clonmel that year. It is obvious that that is no longer the party’s view of itself. At the recent Magill summer school, party leader Brendan Howlin argued that “the Labour Party must dare to imagine a better form of capitalism – one that serves the many, and not just the few.” And the key former adviser to […]

August 2nd, 2016 by TU Left Admin | Type: Standard

Filed Under: News Tags: class conscious trade unionism, Class Consciousness, class relations ireland, ICTU, TULF, unions and politics, unions and the labour party Comments are off for this post

Apr

ICTU President Brian Campfield at the SF Ard Fheis

I wish to thank Sinn Fein for providing the opportunity to address this Ard Fheis on behalf the Irish trade union movement. It is of course an historic year during which we are commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising and the trade unions, generally, if not universally, take great pride in the role played by James Connolly and the Irish Citizen Army in the Rising. I say generally because trades unions are also victims of the divisions in our country and in the interests of working class and trade union unity we have had to adopt a nuanced […]

April 27th, 2016 by TU Left Admin | Type: Standard

Filed Under: News Tags: 1916, ard fheis, brian campfield, CETA, ICTU, sinn fein, trade unions and 1916, TTIP Comments are off for this post

Feb

Stop · Halt · Arrêtez · Στάση · Stad TTIP

Many trade unions are calling for CETA, the Canadian-European trade agreement, and TTIP, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, to be stopped and scrapped; and here is why. In summary the concern of ICTU is that TTIP is a manifestation of an aggressive neo-liberalism aimed at so circumscribing the policy space for governments that policies will be separated from economics such that it will not matter what government is elected. It will, in other words, complete the subjugation of society to markets. Moreover, this issue has to be seen in the context of a European integration project which has lost […]

February 22nd, 2016 by TU Left Admin | Type: Standard

Filed Under: News Tags: CETA, environment, EU, EU treaties, ICTU, international trade agreements, jobs, monopolocy capitalism, NAFTA, scrap ttip, stop ttip, TTIP, TULF Comments are off for this post

Dec

2015: resistance, struggles, and developments

Capital’s strategic offensive to open up new areas of profit, weaken the collective and reform education continued during the past year. However, there has been some increased resistance from workers on a number of fronts and pay increases won by union members, as well as a strengthening of the water movement in opposition to privatisation, double taxation, and Irish Water. The following is a brief overview of some of the important moments of the year. Water movement continues to grow Without doubt the most important development for workers this year has been the leading role played by trade unions in […]

December 31st, 2015 by TU Left Admin | Type: Standard

Filed Under: News Tags: 2015, collective bargaining, decency for Dunnes, housing action, ICTU, TULF, water movement, year in review Comments are off for this post

Jan

It’s time for a radically new Congress

Ireland: the greatest small country in the world to do business in. Unfortunately, it’s not the greatest small country in the world to live or work in. Ultimately that’s the success of the business class (the actual capitalist class of owners and speculators, the big farmer class and the layer of ‘management’ that run capitalism here for their masters) and the failure of the trade union and workers’ movement. Low corporation tax, low income tax for high earners, tax avoidance schemes that are ultimately compensated for by workers, indirect taxes that go to bondholders, low investment in public infrastructure, public […]

January 18th, 2015 by TU Left Admin | Type: Standard

Filed Under: News Tags: class, Class Consciousness, Congress, ICTU, trade union renewal, TULF Comments are off for this post

Nov

Rejecting the slurs and seizing the moment

In recent weeks we have seen a concerted and co-ordinated effort by the Government, the Gardaí and the media to paint protesters as dangerous and violent, with an agenda of manipulating communities into confrontation for the sake of confrontation. This is a deliberate and outrageous misrepresentation of protesters and communities that are opposing Irish Water, the installation of meters, and water charges more generally. It is insulting to our class and shows the contempt in which the establishment hold us. Reports of violence against Irish Water employees and gardaí are spun and widely commented on without a shred of evidence. […]

November 23rd, 2014 by TU Left Admin | Type: Standard

Filed Under: News Tags: ICTU, Irish Water, pickets, protest, right2water, Solidarity, Trade Unions, TULF Comments are off for this post