14 October delivered a real blow to Micheál Martin’s government. A mass public sector strike severely dented his swagger and bluster. The overwhelming public support for the 320,000 public sector workers on strike, and the tens of thousands who took to the picket lines, clearly unsettled him and his sidekick, Jack Chambers. Their arrogance led them to badly misjudge the public mood and to make a serious political miscalculation. Their dismissal of workers’ legitimate pay demands will come back to haunt them.
What pay award will protect living standards?
14 October has forced the government to engage with public sector unions. The strike planned for 21 October was suspended to allow talks. The question arises for workers: what is a win? It is not clear what proposals will emerge from the current talks. Will it be enough to protect living standards, in a situation where the world capitalist economy is moving, once more, into deep crisis? Almost certainly not.
Union negotiators cannot agree a deal that sees another real cut in pay. Any deal must protect incomes over the coming years. It must protect real, after inflation, incomes – and help make up for the losses suffered by workers over the past years. Importantly, there must be a mechanism to allow the re-opening of any deal, if there is a sharp spike in inflation in 2027 or 2027. The money is there to fund a proper pay increase. We are bombarded with talk of the ‘surplus’ and ‘windfall’ corporation tax receipts. We can’t afford one that just leaves workers running to standstill over the next few years.
Defend the value of wages
The need to protect and increase the value of wages is fundamental to protecting the living standards of the working class under capitalism. This government only cares about protecting and increasing the value of profits and rents. It will never act to ensure real wage increases for the working class. We must demand a bigger share of the wealth our labour generates. We need to not just defend the value of wages we need an industrial offensive to increase the share of national income that goes to workers.
Anti-worker government
Working class people have responded very positively to a glimpse, just a glimpse, of the slowly re-emerging power of workers’ organising collectively. This shift in consciousness needs to be methodically built upon by the trade unions in the period ahead. Implementing collective bargaining rights for workers in the private sector, particularly the hundreds of thousands who are badly exploited every day by cut-throat bosses, must form part of any deal agreed. No decent person could oppose this demand.
Micheál Martin’s government is a nasty, anti-worker, right-wing outfit whose only ideas are rooted in a long-discredited Thatcherism. The risible ‘SME Test’ that dominated their programme for government was an early warning sign that they would do little or nothing for workers. Their claims to be ‘a pro-worker government’ are hollow lies.
We must truthfully reckon with the blunt fact that there is no political force that represents workers. That makes workers rights and living standards a matter of principle. The main ‘left alternative’ parties, particularly Labour, will not defend workers when it comes to the crunch. The public sector workforce is still grappling with the Labour Party’s savage austerity cuts to sick leave, annual leave and pensions, implemented in the infamous austerity coalition between 2011-16. Workers and trade unions can place very little faith in these parties. Instead, unions must begin a discussion aimed at truly advancing our political interests in the form of a new mass workers’ party. One that will never compromise on workers’ rights or living standards.
Resist wage suppression
Some are struggling to understand why the government let the issue of public sector pay drift for months. The answer lies in IBEC’s agenda of wage suppression. Lower wages for all workers across the economy means higher profits for the capitalist class. A below inflation pay award for public sector workers sets the stage for lowering the real wages for workers across the private sector. It is as simple as that. Wage suppression is IBEC’s agenda; it is the government’s agenda. We must be ready and organised to face them down.
Should the deal that comes back from the present negotiations result in a real pay cut we must be prepared to strike again. Public sector workers know what is at stake here. They are prepared to take action to defend their living standards. If another one-day strike fails to knock some sense into the government we must escalate to, at least, a two-day strike, all the way, if we have to, to all out strike. While the talks continue the work to rule must be consolidated. Joint union committees in workplaces should be built to prepare for the next phase of what could be a prolonged struggle.
The capitalist class are ruthless and unapologetic in defending their profits and wealth. They don’t care who suffers so long as their wealth is protected. All workers must adopt the same approach, while protecting vital services. 2026 will prove a turning point for the Irish labour movement. As Jim Larkin famously put it: ‘the great appear great because we are on our knees: let us rise!’ A victory for public sector workers in this pay battle will be a victory for all workers.