OPINION:IT WAS an ill-conceived and potentially dangerous misadventure. Normally, when you see 120,000 people swarming into a city centre, stopping traffic, it either means aliens have landed, all hell has broken loose or, more likely, we ordinary folk have got up off our backsides, turned off our high-definition flat-screen televisions, bought americanos-to-go and let our voices be heard.
But to what end? The pension levy/pay cut for public sector workers was a convenient starting point, but there was not one common reason among the crowd last Saturday except unhappiness.
There was a consensus that life isn’t fair, that the vulnerable – old people, young people, working people, unemployed people – shouldn’t have to pay, and that something has got to give . . . just not in our backyard.
Marches usually celebrate the power of the little people standing up against a rusting political machine, just like the march of the elderly last year scared the living daylights out of the Government and shocked it into doing a U-turn on medical cards for the over-70s. Not this one. Behind the placards, there was obviously anger and camaraderie, but there was not a small amount of divilment too.
There was little to celebrate with this trade union-choreographed flash dance. It was an epic, desperate and hysterical media event that threatened to unleash an unmerciful ill-wind of industrial unrest. And so it begins. On Tuesday, trade unions announced they will ballot for a one-day national strike on March 30th if the Government doesn’t engage on a new three-year economic stability plan.
The Government was right to stand firm on pay cuts for public sector workers, who earn about €10,000 a year on average more than private sector workers. However, it should have tackled higher earners first. It should spread the tough love around, taking a bigger cut of political salaries, but it would be fatal to miss the bigger picture. Irish Congress of Trade Unions general secretary David Begg was right about one thing: we need to wake up and smell the coffee.
Call for the heads of senior bankers, who cowardly disappear from public view, refusing to give answers or closure. Cry out for Fianna Fáil to take political responsibility for creating this mess, but be prepared to take personal responsibility and look at the role we played in it too. Look in the reflection of those shop windows on O’Connell Street as you march by and, for once, ask yourself what you see.
Did we march against the Government for offering extravagant SSIAs with 25 per cent bonuses . . . in return for votes? No, we didn’t. We marched to our banks, dreaming of new cars and kitchen units. We knew well the difference between MDF and the IMF. The latter is far less attractive. Did we march against round after round of a jammy public sector pay deal, which helped erode our competitiveness? What do you think? Don’t be fooled by Ictu, the pied piper of Liberty Hall. This was not an act of brotherly love to bring public and private sectors together. It was an act of vengeance to fan the flames of fear and fury. Yes, there should be more equitable cuts but, unlike the haemorrhage of jobs in the private sector, not to mention those working part-time to keep small businesses afloat, at least most public sector workers still have their jobs.
During the soap box theatrics, Patricia McKeown, president of Ictu, rallied the workers. “That power is today on the streets of Dublin, it is in industrial action but most significantly it is at the ballot box.” Unless politicians cross party lines without the glory of a general election, it is too late for the ballot box. We already voted back in the party that took a wrecking ball to the economy, remember?
Begg accused bankers of “economic treason”. Fighting words. But Brian Lenihan already accepted comments by Senator Dan Boyle that the behaviour of Anglo Irish Bank management amounts to economic treason. That’s why the Director of Corporate Enforcement was called in. If you’re going to crib from someone else’s script, at least make sure it’s not the script of those against whom you are protesting.
A wave of strikes could make this Government buckle. This would not achieve Ictu’s “social cohesion”. It would tear us apart, and do more damage to Ireland’s credit rating and international reputation, something unions say they wish to protect. Begg said adopting Ictu’s three-year plan would send a “very powerful signal internationally” to say Ireland was dealing with the crisis. No, it would do the exact opposite.
Saturday’s march involved just 5 per cent of the working population, consisting of public sector workers still in employment and many unionised workers from the private sector, some of whom have lost their jobs. With frozen or dwindling salaries, many others in the private sector are also struggling to pay huge mortgages (again, our choice). A summer of industrial discontent would make matters far, far worse.
There was a much smaller crowd gathering on the street this week. On Tuesday, members of the public and the media waited outside Anglo Irish Bank’s headquarters on St Stephen’s Green in Dublin, hoping for a glimpse of gardaí and officers from the Director of Corporate Enforcement hot-footing their way out with boxes of files. That’s the kind of march we need right now, one that might finally encourage us all to pull together.