Members of the newly formed Kerry Public Service Workers Alliance picketed Fianna Fail TD Tom McEllistrim’s clinic twice in a row. On the first occasion he didn’t turn up and his mother instead fielded questions. McEllistrim, who is well known for never voicing an opinion if he can avoid it, was confronted by over 100 angry workers at a second meeting. Martin O’Grady of the KPSWA said afterwards that the TD was very evasive, and refused to give them support in having their wage cuts reversed.
“The wage cuts will result in a direct loss of over €25 million per annum to Kerry. Local businesses will suffer heavily and more jobs will be lost in a county with an unemployment rate that is twice the national average. Slashing the wages of those who have jobs will not create a single job for those seeking employment”.
In a new development, the Alliance said that it would consider running general election candidates if they could get no support from Kerry’s TDs.
A week before, the KPSWA spoke at a meeting organised in association with the Tralee branch of People Before Profit, under the banner “Kerry Campaign Against Cuts”. KPSWA speaker Simon Quinn pointed out that Tralee was hugely dependent on the various services provided by the Public Sector. The KPSWA are hoping that other groups of public service workers will follow their lead of initiating grass roots union activism in the fight for jobs, pay and conditions. Also speaking was Margaret O’Shea of the Kerry Network of People with Disabilities, representing the threatened Community Development Sector, where 29 out of 182 programmes have been cut nationally.
Brid Smith of People Before Profit said that protest could get results. In Ballyfermot people mounted protests against cuts outside a local hospital and got them reversed.
The public meeting represented an initiative to encourage different campaigns to liaise and co-operate in opposing cuts. It attracted a lot of local media attention in the press and on radio, and was well attended.
Local members of People Before Profit attended the inaugural meeting of the KPSWA, and supported the local and regional demonstrations by the CDP organisations. People Before Profit member Seán Moraghan commented, “In a recession, the establishment seeks to divide sectors of society, seeks to pit them against each other, and likes them to believe that they have little in common in their struggles. This meeting saw two sectors, at least, find common cause, and there was much sharing of campaigning experiences.”
Further meetings under the umbrella of Kerry Campaign Against Cuts are planned, with different sectors, such as the unemployed.
Meanwhile, Kerry’s Community Services Programmes have also initiated a campaign to highlight the impact of cuts on the services they provide, which include rural transport and respite care.