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5 February 1998 Edition

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Workers in struggle: Industrial Relations Act has ``legalised scabbing''

Crampton workers reject sub-contractors' claims



     
It was a solemn thought to think that 41 workers have died over the last 36 months  
High Court injunctions, broken promises, employer exploitation, the role of sub contractors in the building industry, the double standards of the Industrial Relations Act and deteriorating safety conditions on building sites - these were the issues debated at a meeting of Concerned Building Workers last week.

The ATGWU hall in Dublin's Abbey Street was the smoke-filled venue for the building workers meeting attended by over 100 construction workers. Many of the workers had come straight from sites around the city and sat in their working clothes listening to the speakers who included BATU official Dave Farrell, Dublin Branch Chairperson Bill O'Brien and MANDATE's Maurice Sheehan.

Concerned Workers


The meeting was chaired by Neville Farrelly of the Building and Allied Trades Union. He briefly explained the origins of the Concerned Workers and how he and others set up the support group to campaign against the casualisation of the 26 Counties construction industry.

His analysis was a simple one. Casualisation of the construction industry workforce was leading to more accidents, more injuries and worst of all, more deaths. The construction workers had been promised changes to employment legislation that allowed building contractors fill their sites with casual labour. The changes introduced were according to Farrelly, ``only cosmetic''.

41 dead over 36 months


Bill O'Brien told the meeting that ``it was a solemn thought to think that 41 workers have died over the last 36 months''. There are, he said, up to eight serious accidents on 26-County sites every day.

O'Brien quoted figures from the Health and Safety Authority which showed that of the last 1,900 serious accidents on building sites only 3,000 were reported to the authority.

The average fine was £250 said O'Brien and gave a recent example of an accident at a Zoe site in Dublin where a worker had to have his leg amputated. Zoe were fined only £1,200.

Broken Promises


One of MANDATE's national organisers and member of the International Centre for Trade Union Rights Maurice Sheehan was next up to address the workers. Sheehan outlined the ``ridiculous uses of the Industrial Relations Act''. He said that when the act was introduced by the then Labour minister Bertie Ahern, a commitment was given that the secret ballot sections of the act would not be used by employers against workers.

Sheehan made the point that there is no secret ballot in Leinster House and that ``under the guise of democracy workers are being denied their democratic right to take industrial action''.

The industrial disputes at Crampton building sites were raised throughout the meeting as being an example of the 1990 Industrial Relations Act being used against workers by employers. Crampton claimed in court that proper ballot procedures had not been followed by the workers.

Speakers from the floor raised the Crampton issue, asking what were other building workers going to do to show solidarity with the workers in Clonskeagh and Dublin City University. One proposal was to have a one day strike across the city bringing all construction in Dublin to a halt.

However the organisers of the meeting wary of the possibility of High Court injunctions would not decide there and then on such actions. At one stage Bill O'Brien told the meeting to huge cheers ``We are breaking the High Court injunction by having this conversation''.

Sub-contractors


  The government should decide what tax you should pay, not your employer  
 
The other side of the Crampton dispute - the role of sub contractors, one of whom was interviewed in last week's An Phoblacht, was raised on the floor of the meeting and in discussions after the meeting.

Several of the building workers voiced their displeasure at the interview, maintaining sub-contractors' claims to have all workers on the books and paid full PAYE and PRSI were false.

In terms of assertions about the Clonskeagh dispute a statement from Brendan Gray, one of the strikers, which was read in the High Court and given to An Phoblacht, clearly contradicts claims in the paper last week.

In it Gray apologises to G&T Crampton for the actions ``we were forced to take. Unfortunately they employ Colm Murphy, who is the one we have the dispute with, for him wanting us to work and sign on the dole''. Gray also says that he and three others realised ``that we would not have to pay any tax or PRSI.'' When they queried this they said they were told ``there were ways of doing it''.

One speaker addressed this issue at the meeting and said that ``The government should decide what tax you should pay, not your employer'' and that what was happening in Crampton was prevalent around the city.

A fear raised by many of the workers was that the dispute was being given a Dublin versus Northerners angle which they claimed was untrue. One of the sacked workers from the Clonskeagh site was from Tyrone. Union officals told An Phoblacht that there are many Northern members in the union.and such claims are distracting from the real nature of the dispute.

Neville Farrelly told the meeting the real background to the dispute is the sub contractor problem and that the main contractors were using them and the Industrial Relations Act which has ``legalised scabbing''. His message was simple ``Don't sack us Sack the Act''.

Lockout in Monaghan


Sixty nine production workers were locked out of their workplace this week by IJM Timber Engineering Ltd. The lockout came after workers rejected management proposals for changing hours of work. Management have refused to recognise the workers' rights to join and be represented by a Trade Union and workers are now picketing the timber plant since their dismissal.

Sinn Féin TD Caoimhghín O Caolain visted the workers on the picket line. In a statement he said ``It is incomprehensible to me that as we look to a new millenium, we see echoes of the bad and sad old days of the early years of this century with lock-out tactics being used against workers seeking to secure the basic right of trade union membership and representation''

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