Striking Construction Workers Show The Way To Fight

This morning Unite construction workers - fitters, plumbers and welders - went on strike over a pay cut enacted after the 2008 financial crash. This pay cut was meant to be temporary but we all know as workers when you give employers an inch – they take a mile.  

These workers often have to travel to different sites and in the past were paid for the first hour of this ‘travel time.’ This payment was in place since the 1960’s but was cut following the 2008 financial crash and was to be reviewed after a year, but of course it was never reviewed.

Over a decade later workers are still fighting to restore it!

These workers went out on strike last year on this issue and the employers have done everything but pay the workers a fair wage. We all know that these construction companies have been making record profits over the last decade.

Employers went to the High Court to get an injunction to block another strike but the workers’ union Unite challenged the injunction in the High Court and then in the Supreme Court. The greedy employers would rather pay Barristers and Court fees than pay the workers a fair wage.

They have refused to engage with the union in the WRC and through other channels since then.

They refuse to engage because they know the government and the law is on their side. Fianna Fail changed the laws around strikes in 1990 to take as much power from workers as they could - and hand it all over to greedy employers and bosses.

They made it illegal for other workers to refuse to cross a picket, limited where you can strike, limited how you can strike and slowed the entire industrial relations process so that any cost to the employer is minimal.

This morning at the Intel site we stood with workers on the picket as we did in March of last year. The number of workers crossing the picket was noticeably way down from last year with many unionised and non unionised workers choosing to stay at home today.

No worker should ever pass a picket. That used to be a golden rule for all workers. It should be again.

Solidarity is building. Gardaí were on hand to make sure there was no disruption for the employers and made sure to move us back from the road showing that the state and its police force work for the bosses and not us workers!

Although Unite Construction workers went on strike on this issue in March of last year it took until September 2024 before they could go back out on a picket – greedy employers had the law and the courts on their side to slow workers down and take the momentum from our strikes.

This strike puts it up to other unions in Ireland - are you going to fight for workers or not? Workers will join unions that fight. The Unite strike shows the way to take on greedy bosses. We need more of this.

We need to show support and solidarity with every workers’ struggle – because to even get to the stage of a strike is an uphill fight. Take time to stand with the strikers today and show your support. Be a part of the worker fightback!