Support the EBS workers

Today’s action by the EBS workers deserves 100% support from workers and the unemployed. A clear distinction must be made between the obscene rewards still given to the senior management in Ireland’s banks and the hard won pay and conditions of the ordinary employees.

Today’s action by the EBS workers deserves 100% support from workers and the unemployed. A clear distinction must be made between the obscene rewards still given to the senior management in Ireland’s banks and the hard won pay and conditions of the ordinary employees.

The strike by the EBS workers clearly falls into the latter category. The 13th month payment was a modest but important concession won by EBS workers 45 years ago to supplement a basic salary range which today amounts to €18,000 to €34,000, in other words below the average industrial wage.

When I called upon Minister Noonan in the Dáil last week to intervene and give his consent to the 13th month payment he scandalously attempted to put the EBS workers in the same category as the top bankers who, incidentally, in the case of EBS received bonuses this year thanks to an exemption stood over by this government.

The strike is a warning to senior management and the government that these workers have had enough. If there is no movement from the employer further action will likely be needed to place the necessary pressure on the employers.

This dispute has to be understood in a wider context of an assault on the jobs and conditions of ordinary workers across the entire financial sector since the crisis began.  The employers and government are opportunistically using the crisis and the justifiable anger that exists among the wider public towards the banks and financial institutions to implement sackings and cuts.

A fighting response is needed and the lead from UNITE and the IBOA is vital in that regard. The EBS workers have set a good example to others.

The Socialist Party will continue to give the EBS workers every practical support we can until the workers win back the payment they are rightfully due.

Total
0
Shares
Previous Article

Threats to deduct household tax misleading & will be fought

Next Article

Household tax 'no benefit' to councils, Manager confirms

Related Posts

Time for workers and students to unite!

By James Mc Cabe

UCD PRESIDENT, Hugh Brady is proposing a series of cost-cutting measures such as pay-freezes and voluntary redundancies for staff. This tactic is typical of Brady’s neo-liberal agenda, which has seen dramatic library cutbacks and the introduction of student health service charges in the past couple of years. Meanwhile he and his vice presidents earn salaries of over ?200,000.

Read More

Davenport Hotel forced to restore pay

In February, five brave women mounted a picket on the Davenport Hotel on Lower Merrion Street, Dublin.  They were doing so in response to the decision made by the O’Callaghan Hotel Group to cut their already low wages from €8.65 to €7.80 per hour.  The company decided to implement this wage cut on the back of the outgoing government’s decision to allow a €1 per hour cut in the minimum wage.