The President of the Workers Party, Michael Finnegan, has called on the government
to "rein-in" management at Dublin Bus which, he said,
was behaving as if it owned the company rather than
managing it
on behalf of the state.
Mr. Finnegan said that it was a sad state of affairs to have the Labour Party in government allowing Dublin
Bus management to engage in a total assault on the pay and conditions of bus workers.
"In this centenary year of the Dublin
lockout, which started with the sacking of thousands of tram workers in August 1913, we have the sorry sight of a Labour Tánaiste, Eamon Gilmore and his party colleague Junior
Transport Minister Alan Kelly wringing their hands and
appealing to both sides in the dispute as if they had nothing to do with the company, of which the government is sole shareholder".
"Mr. Gilmore, a former
senior SIPTU official and Minister Kelly are standing by while their Fine Gael colleague and arch-enemy of the public sector
Leo Varadkar calls the shots. The intransigence of Dublin Bus management and their decision to unilaterally proceed with pay cuts and new work arrangements is all part of the move
towards privatisation which many in management yearn
for. Does the Labour Party really want to mark 2013 by standing over the same type of tactics employed by William Martin
Murphy and the Dublin employers a century ago?"
The Workers' Party President called on the public to support the striking Dublin Bus workers.
"When people are angry about being inconvenienced they should direct their anger, not at the workers who have been directly
attacked, but on the government and Dublin Bus management. "As government ministers and top Dublin Bus executives and public
relations hacks on six figure salaries pontificate against the strikers people should be wary that this is not just an attack
on bus workers but a foretaste of further assaults on all workers pay and conditions", said Michael Finnegan.
Issued 6th August 2013
