People Before Profit stands 100% with the Water Workers. Hundreds of thousands of water warriors across Ireland are behind them too. Today would have marked the halfway point of a two-day strike action which the union leadership called off based on promises from government which surfaced late Friday evening. The promises wouldn’t have come without the strike. The workers remain on the ready to strike should the LGMA to not meet the Water Workers’ needs.
They’re right to demand 1. red-circled agreements on terms and pay. But also they need to keep the fight going for 2. the promised referendum on public water provision & ownership (with the correct wording), and 3. a vote on the final transfer agreement. These things were promised by the unions and government when people were showing their power in the streets. With the victory of the movement, people let their organisation slip. But the workers kept their organisation strong in the network of union members between SIPTU, Unite, and Fórsa.
IT WAS THE WORKERS, AND IT STILL IS THE WORKERS
It was that network of workers that remained vigilant not just for their conditions and pay, but also on the broad objective of the people’s movement opposing water charges and privatisation: No more broken promises. They organised local protests and connected them.
It’s great that SIPTU officials backed the workers call for strike action. But it’s the water workers’ own determination, clear demands and their extraordinary organisation that forced the ballot. It took them organising almost a dozen local protests to focus national attention on the issues. The workers’ broader demands – supporting the water charges movement, and a ballot on the final agreement – would have got a hearing across Ireland today had the workers actually got to the pickets for the last 24 hours.
90-95% of water workers across Ireland demanded a strike. Note: Dublin City Council workers were not balloted. And with no written guarantees from DCC yet, perhaps they should have been balloted. Securing our future water supply is part of their demands. And rightly so.
NEW NAME, OLD THREAT
Privatisation is wasteful, costly, and bad for workers. The SIPTU strike was limited to terms and conditions of the transfer. Water workers know it but are using this opportunity to grow the fight. They’re ready to fight much harder. We’ll be with them. We’ll need more people and organisations need to get behind the water workers.
The new name Uisce Éireann stands for the same old threat of privatised water and services. The Water Services Workers Ireland campaign called out the double talk, abandoned promises and lack of democracy. They didn’t stop at being watchdogs on social media: they organised protests on the streets around the country.
THE WORKERS UNITED
We were with the workers when the fight was just against individual councils. They united to make the fight winnable – and they were right. Get behind the water workers.
The workers united can win the fight to
1. Red-circle their current agreements. – They need to see this in writing.
2. Get the promised referendum on public water provision and ownership (with the correct wording).
3. Get the vote on the transfer agreement.
A big bualadh bos from the water warriors across the country and from the thousands of members in People Before Profit.
