By Conor Tormey
On Friday, 6 September, mechanical workers organised by Unite, including plumbers, welders and fitters, began an industrial campaign to restore travel time pay. This pay was snatched from workers during the 2008 economic crash – originally intended as a temporary measure. The campaign is organised in nine different locations in Dublin, Cork, and Limerick.
Long overdue measure
There’s no question that the construction bosses are well able to afford this travel pay. The profits of contractors in this sector have soared to levels not seen since the years of the Celtic Tiger. The turnover of the top 50 contractors has increased by 68% since July 2021, an increase of €7.2 billion. The sector is booming, and workers should assert their right to the bigger share of the wealth they themselves create.
Now is the time for bold and radical action against the effective cost-of-living pay cuts facing all workers. Unite construction reps have rightly noted that construction workers are building houses, but they can’t afford to buy those same houses because of the inequality in this capitalist economy.
Wages and living standards are being undermined by wage restraint and price inflation. A win for mechanical workers will be a win for all workers, and give a real example as to how working-class action can achieve concrete gains.
Unity is strength
By standing together and refusing to be divided, mechanical workers are challenging the employers. The solidarity shown by other grades of workers is to be applauded, but it also shows the basis for building that unity into a real force for change.
This unity should be organised across unions, across the different trades and grades. Workers should come together on the ground and on the sites to push back against bogus self-employment, against the proliferation of employment agencies. Union-busting must be resisted by all workers.
If the strikes are successful, it will be another important boost for Unite the Union, which has made many vital gains since the election of Sharon Graham as General Secretary and a turn to the workplace in 2021. Unite has a success rate of 81% in Britain and Ireland. This has been the result of tactics focusing on organising workers, rebuilding existing structures of workplaces reps, and fighting union-busting.
These are not new ideas but ones that are crucial for the rebuilding of trade unions as effective fighting forces, and represent a clear alternative to the corrosive social partnership model that dominates among trade unions in Ireland.
