Month: March 2009
Joe Higgins, Socialist Party, speaking at Dublin Bus workers rally against cuts in services
Taxi Drivers: No to slave hours -For a living wage
By Peter Kinsella
BY DE-REGULATING the taxi industry in 2000, the Fianna Fail/PD government sentenced thousands of taxi drivers and their families to years of unnecessary economic hardship and strain.
Taxi drivers today are working 16 hour days and are still unable to earn a living wage. There are 14,000 taxis in Dublin, more than New York that has ten times the population! This is the neo-liberal market gone mad.
NI Learning from the history of the Troubles
By Ciaran Mulholland
THE CONSULTATIVE Group on the Past, or Eames-Bradley group, has published its report on the Troubles. Lord Eames, one of the report’s authors, says it is time for a “final step out of the conflict by dealing with the legacy of the past.” The problem is that this report does anything but deal with the actual legacy of the past.
NI: Workers unity needed to defend jobs
By Kevin Henry
THE RECENT comments by the Northern Ireland Minister for the Environment Sammy Wilson, “that preference should be given to people from Northern Ireland” when employers are advertising jobs shows the complete inability of local politicians to deal with current economic crisis.
NI: Fight the health cuts
Hands off our health service
By Pat Lawlor, health worker RVH Belfast
IN 2007, the Northern Ireland Executive introduced its Programme for Government for health. It was heralded as a means to enhance the health and well-being of the people of Northern Ireland into the next decade.
It has become obvious to all that this was a lie, as cuts, closures and job losses are now being implemented across the health service. All the political parties in the NI Executive have agreed to carry out £700 million cuts in health.
Amicus/Unite: Elect Jerry Hicks as General Secretary
THE ELECTION for the next General Secretary of Amicus/Unite is now well underway, but there have already been many twists and turns.
NI: Unison expel Pat Lawlor
By Peter Hadden
An attack on all Unison members
THE RIGHT wing leadership of Unison has gone ahead with the expulsion of RVH nursing convenor, Pat Lawlor (right), from the union.
The grounds given to justify this expulsion were that Pat, who is a member of the Socialist Party, sent an email giving support to striking Classroom Assistants and criticising the failure of the Unison leadership to back that strike.
NI: Defend Public Transport
By Owen McCracken
MANY TRANSLINK workers face an uncertain future after bosses refused to rule out job losses as part of a £11.5 million package of cuts to bus services in Northern Ireland.
NI: How to resist job losses
By Gary Mulcahy
FIGURES RELEASED in January reveal Northern Ireland has seen the biggest annual rise in unemployment in 37 years. 12,000 extra people were without work in 2008 compared to 2007, with the total number officially unemployed now standing at over 36,000.
NI: Nationalise Energy Companies
By Sarah Mair
LAST WINTER, over 500 elderly people in Northern Ireland died of the cold because they could not afford to heat their homes. This shocking statistic, which the utility companies want to hide from people, shows the real consequences of rising energy bills.