Lockout at Allegro

 
One hundred and twenty Marine Port and General Workers Union members were locked out of their work last Friday 3 October at the Allegro distribution company in Sandyford, Dublin.

The workers were struck off the payroll for refusing to sign a new contract of employment which would have meant a dramatic cut in earnings. Employees would have to put in an extra 500 hours work a year to maintain their present earnings.

MPGWU Branch Secretary Michael Corcoran told An Phoblacht that ``The union is willing to agree change but we are not going to sell our souls''. Corcoran said he believed that the agreement management were introducing was prompted by demands from Tesco who wanted Allegro to cut its charges to them or lose Tesco contracts for supplying goods to Quinnsworth and Crazy Prices.

Allegro attempted to bring in drivers from the Six Counties to move goods from their Dublin Depot, but they would not work when they realised workers had been locked out. Drivers brought in from Liverpool left the lorries on the Naas Road and returned to Britain. We contacted Allegro about the dispute but they would make no comment.

The MPGWU claim that Allegro management carried out a range of pressurising and intimidatory tactics on workers prior to the lockout. These included setting up a strike breaking distribution network from the Six Counties using Dukes Transport as well as sending letters to workers homes demanding that they sign the new contracts or lose their jobs.

The MPGWU believe that there has to be movement on both sides, but Allegros' lockout seems designed to deliberately create an unnecessary crisis for themselves and their workers.

Last chance to say No?

Freedom, Security and Peace. No, this is not a new twist on the Sinn Féin slogan but the new gloss that the EU is using to cover up the cracks in its flawed plans for a military super state.

One of the last official acts of Ray Burke in office was to start the process of yet another chapter in our descent into being part of this European military superclub. He signed on behalf of 26-county citizens what is called the Amsterdam Treaty.

The Treaty is the result of 18 months of negotiations where EU governments wrestled with the realities that the EU they had created was really an exclusive club more tuned to the demands of international business than the needs of its citizens.

The Amsterdam Treaty is a botched attempt by EU leaders to overcome its obvious deficiencies. The new Treaty asserts that the EU is founded on ``the principles of liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms''.

On paper this sounds good as does the proposal to make all EU member states abolish the death penalty, but the Treaty also contains commitments extending current proposals to have a European police force Europol controlled by the EU's secret unelected K2 security committee.

No account is taken of the corruption and bias of some EU police forces that would make up Europol, notably the British police and the RUC. The treaty would also oblige member states to allow political extraditions.

The Treaty also requires member states to participate in the EU's military activities and participate in what the Treaty calls ``joint actions'' and again affirms the role of NATO subsidiary the WEU.

The Amsterdam Treaty contains some hopeful assertions on employment, social policy, environment and public health. However the real question is why were these commitments not in any of the previous three treaties.

Next year 26-County voters will have one last chance to vote No to the EU Superclub and say yes to a real people's Europe not a military superstate. Six County voters will not even get that chance.

Coalition's broken promise

The heady days of last June might seem like an age ago but retired 26-County public service workers have been counting the days. It is now four months since Bertie Ahern and Mary Harney pledged themselves to restore the link between public service pay and public service pensions.

For decades increases in public service pay meant corresponding increases in the pensions of retired public service workers. Last week public service pensioners marched on Leinster House to remind Bertie and Mary of their forgotten promise, because four months on since taking office the pensioners have heard nothing from the Fianna Fáil/Progressive Democrat Government.

National Gallery strike

``Art-ache for gallery staff'' was the headline on the fliers given out by striking SIPTU members at Dublin's National Gallery this week. The SIPTU staff are taking industrial action against the Gallery management who they say are refusing to re-employ three workers who had been hired last year on a temporary basis.

The three workers were initially employed to provide holiday cover for existing staff and were then kept on until Christmas 1996. They were then let go on the basis that there was no funding available.

However in 1997 the National Gallery proceeded to interview and employ temporary staff. The previous temporary workers applied and got interviews only to be told afterwards that they ``had failed the interview''. The full-time workers were concerned that the treatment of the part-time workers was unfair. They say that ``Temporary workers should not be treated in such an off-hand manner. We believe that if a worker was satisfactory last year then s/he should be given the work this year''.

To highlight this injustice and their own long-standing claim for increases under the Programme For Competitiveness and Work, the SIPTU staff have organised a series of one day stoppages at the National Gallery.

The pickets have been successful with building workers employed on constructing the Gallery's extension walking off site when the pickets were put in place. The Gallery itself is almost empty and the normally packed restaraunt has given their workers a half day. SIPTU have filed proceedings at the Labour Court but claim that management have so far refused to go. The next one day stoppage is 14 October.