Why Irish union bosses hope to sell out national nurses’ strike
Thousands of Irish nurses took to the streets of Dublin on October 21 in one of the most significant industrial disputes for many years.
On one side are the fat cats of the "Celtic tiger", besmirched by scandal which involves the entire economic and political establishment.
The former premier, Charlie Haughey, stands accused of wholesale robbery of the public purse. The Ansbacher scandal involves offshore accounts which connect much of Irish banking in a criminal conspiracy.
Facing them stand 27,000 nurses – representing a public sector workforce that has been subjected to years of wage austerity, and facing a process of privatisation, cutbacks and hospital closures. The nurses have overwhelming public support.
The result should be open and shut. There is however another element to the equation which seems to go almost unnoticed – that is the Irish trade union leadership.
The truth is that the years of austerity were the result of a series of national understandings between government, business and the trade unions. The trade union leadership supported and enforced the austerity.
It is not surprising that the same leadership is now working openly to betray the nurses: what does require explanation is the cloak of invisibility that leaves the majority of the working class blind to their activities.
There is really no mystery about what has been happening. The government have been standing by a Labour Court ruling issued within the terms of the partnership agreement, that restricted pay awards to the nurses.
In the run-up to the strike Barry Cowan, Health Minister, said "If the nursing unions really commit themselves to social partnership, there’s a whole range of possibilities open to them to pursue their agenda."
Bertie Ahern said; "We have proposals to move this on, but that can only be with collective agreement."
Almost immediately Des Geraghty, vice president of the nursing union SIPTU, was in contact with the government to begin a negotiation process which, because it was designed to stay within the partnership agreement, could not meet the nurses’ demands.
On Wednesday the Irish TUC (ICTU) leadership met and informed the nurses’ leadership that they had their support if – and only if – they were prepared to stay with within the framework of Partnership 2000.
As the nurses’ leaders entered talks with the government, they issued a statement which significantly did not include any mention of increments, the central demand of nurses looking for a decent wage.
The stage is set for minor concessions by the government, leaving room for the trade union leadership to call off the strike action.
Yet even if this happens the nurses’ strike will have been significant. Irish workers see massive private wealth and widespread public corruption. They are now looking for a their share of the cake, while government and big business know that the recipe for the cake is starvation wages for the working class.
Their chief weakness is blindness to the activities of the trade union leaders, a blindness shared by the majority of the Irish left. That blindness won’t last. The long sleep of the Irish working class is coming to an end.