The first meeting of the Kerry Public Service Workers’ Alliance took place at the beginning of December 2009. The meeting, which was attended by 10 people, had been called by trade union activists from the Teachers’ Union of Ireland in IT Tralee, in an effort to organise public service workers in Kerry against the swingeing wage cuts and levies that are being inflicted by the FF/GP government.
The turnout at that first meeting was disappointing, coming as it did the day after the most savage budget the country has seen to date, a budget that specifically targeted public servants and the services they deliver. Moreover, notices for the meeting had been distributed in almost every public service workplace, including the hospital, county council buildings, Institute of Technology, revenue and social welfare offices etc.
The discussion at the meeting centred on the need to open up lines of communication between local workers, mount resistance to the attacks on public services and force a moribund national trade union movement to make a stand. It was clear that there is a complete absence of leadership at the top of the trade union movement and that the only way to address this was through a grassroots movement of members.
It was decided that, rather than try and appeal directly to public service workers, the KPSWA should seek to engage local branch representatives, and it was agreed that a meeting would take place again the following week. During the intervening time a huge amount of effort was expended in trying to identify and contact representatives of the different unions in Tralee to inform them of the meeting.
The following meeting was a different story. About 40 people turned up, including elected representatives from a wide range of public service unions and associations: TUI, CPSU, IMPACT, SIPTU, GRA, INTO, PSEU, PNA. The discussion focused on developing a strategy to:
• Reverse the wage cuts
• Stop further attacks on the public service
• Counter the unending propaganda against the public services
It was felt that in a place like Kerry where, given the absence of large private sector employers, the cuts would have a devastating effect on the local economy. Therefore it was decided that the local politicians needed to be targeted first.
All of the unions present nominated someone to join a committee to develop joint positions and strategies and to feed back the decisions to branch members. As a first step, an open letter to the five local government TD’s was drafted and signed by the unions.
A media campaign was launched in which KPSWA representatives spoke on local radio, contacted local and national newspapers and presented alternative views on the current economic crisis and our government’s response. A website (kpswa.wordpress.com) was established to distribute information and provide rolling coverage of the campaign.
Direct action in the form of a picket on the local FF TD’s constituency clinic further focused attention on the political parties responsible for the current crisis.
Delegations from the KPSWA have been meeting with opposition TD’s to hammer home the point that, come the next election, we will actively campaign against any candidates and parties who support attacks on the public services. During one such meeting, which took place in the meeting room of the local fire station, graphic evidence was presented of the importance of the public service when, the fire call sounded, and the representatives of the fire service present immediately bolted up and shot out of the meeting to handle an emergency.
In the near future we plan to expand our campaign, which to date has been Tralee focused, to other areas of Kerry. As our numbers grow we will be mounting flying pickets on TD’s clinics across the county, as well as targeting local and county councils.
As the campaign has progressed it has become clear that what we are attempting is completely new – a local grassroots movement of politicised public service workers. It has come as quite a shock to our local politicians when they come face to face with a delegation of public service workers, which includes teachers, nurses, ambulance workers, gardai and firefighters. We are also forming alliances with other groups – community employment groups, private sector workers, groups that represent the unemployed and marginalised in our society.
What is needed now for real and sustained change is that similar initiatives be started across the country. The time is now ripe for the emergence of a coherent civil movement to sweep away the debased political system that cripples Ireland and to give Irish people hope for the future.
For more on the Kerry Public Service Workers’ Alliance (KPSWA) visit: http://kpswa.wordpress.com/