The President of the Workers’ Party, Michael Finnegan has sent a message of solidarity to all workers worldwide and said that the struggle of workers, while it may have many different forms, is the same in every country.

Mr. Finnegan said that while May Day was a celebration of workers throughout the world it was also a useful date on which to measure the progress of the working class movement.  May Day 2012 sees workers facing a renewed onslaught on hard-won rights by a capitalism which has reacted to its own internal crisis by lashing out and trying to force workers to bail it out.

“On this May Day 2012”, said Mr. Finnegan,  “Irish workers are under attack more than they have been for decades.  They are being saddled with the huge debts of banks and are facing vicious austerity.  Workers throughout Ireland are having to fight for the most basic rights and on this May Day I wish to send out the Workers’ Party strong solidarity and warm greetings to the workers at Vita Cortex in Cork who have been forced to occupy their factory for the last 138 days in order to achieve justice in relation to their redundancy payments.  The same solidarity goes out to workers at Lagan Brick who have been involved in a similar action and to all other workers who are fighting for their rights”

“It is deplorable”, said the Workers Party President”, that 99 years after the 1913 Dublin lockout we still have employers behaving with the same contempt for workers rights as the likes of William Martin Murphy and despite almost a century of an independent Irish state and with a current government containing the Labour Party, so little has changed.   Only workers unity and a determined stand against injustice by all workers putting the struggle of their comrades before sectoral differences.  The motto “United We Stand, divided We Fall” has never been more relevant and the Workers Party calls on all workers to unite against capitalism”.

Issued: May 1st 2012