In a statement today (Tuesday 20th December), Richard Boyd Barrett TD and Finance spokesperson for the United Left Alliance has pledged support for today’s strike by 300 EBS workers, who are demanding the re-instatement of their annual “13th month” payment.
Deputy Boyd Barrett who first raised the issue in the Dail last week will visit the picket lines of the EBS workers this morning to show his support for the strikers.
Deputy Boyd Barrett condemned the failure of Finance Minister Michael Noonan to re-instate the payment in the bank which is majority state owned. He also said it was “beyond belief” that the Labour Party, and its leader Tainiste Eamon Gilmore had defended the cutting of the payment in the Dail last week.
Deputy Boyd Barrett accused Minister Noonan and the government of “cynical political dishonesty” for suggesting that the withdrawal of an average payment of €2500 from each of the 300 workers was justified in the context of reining in banker’s bonuses.
Deputy Boyd Barrett said that the annual payment to low and middle income workers in the EBS was part of the workforces annual salary and was in no way comparable to the sort of bonuses paid to bank executives and managers, which had contributed to the reckless lending policies in the banking sector that had caused the property bubble and current financial crisis.
Deputy Boyd Barrett said the hypocrisy and double standards in the government’s position on the dispute was sharply exposed in that that while low and middle income bank officials had seen a massive chunk taken out of their salary just weeks before Christmas, top managers and executives were to receive their annual bonuses.
Deputy Boyd Barrett said:“It is absolutely outrageous that 300 workers earning below the average industrial wage should have €2,500 that they were depending on for Christmas stolen out of their pay packets at just a few days notice. The bank with Minister Noonan standing behind them is literally stealing Christmas from more than 300 low income families. It is simply beyond belief that the Labour Party and its leader, Eamon Gilmore, defended this theft of ordinary workers salaries in the Dail last week.
Many of these workers had even borrowed against the certainty of getting this payment or were entirely depending on it to pay for Christmas – a payment which they got every year and which was an integral part of their annual budgeting.
Minister Noonan’s response to the plight of these ordinary workers has been absolutely shocking and utterly dishonest. He implied in the Dail that somehow the removal of this payment was somehow justified in the context of getting tough on the bonus culture in the banking system.
This is cynical political dishonesty when the Minister knows quite well that these are ordinary bank officials who were in no way responsible for the banks lending policies, and these payments are in no way comparable to sort of bonuses paid to top bank managers and executives.
The outrageous irony and double-standard in this situation is that while ordinary workers have had a massive chunk taken out of their annual salary, top managers and executives will still receive their “13th month” payments.
It is an absolute scandal that in a state-owned bank, the Minister for Finance should slash the earnings of ordinary low paid workers while protecting the much higher salaries of the top management and bank executives.
In microcosm, this situation in EBS seems to reflect the wider policy of this government when it comes to dealing with the current economic and financial crisis – forcing workers and the least well-off to pay for the crisis while protecting the super-wealthy and those at the top. It is an absolute disgrace.
Minister Noonan should immediately re-instate this payment to these workers and concentrate his efforts on reining in the still outrageously high salaries of those at the top of the banking and financial sector.”
Watch Video of background to the strike HERE