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SPEECH BY SIPTU GENERAL PRESIDENT JACK O'CONNOR SALUTING THE MEMORY OF CHRISTOPHER SUPPLE AND THE ATHY FARM LABOURERS WHO WERE LOCKED OUT IN SOUTH KILDARE FOR RESISTING PAY CUTS FROM DECEMBER 1922 TO NOVEMBER 1923.
02.05.2010MAY DAY FESTIVAL ATHY COUNTY KILDARE SATURDAY 1st MAY 2010. It is a humbling privilege to speak here to salute the memory of Christopher Supple, farm labourer, trade union organiser and labour man in the presence of members of his family and to reflect on the heroic legacy of the working men and women and their families who suffered and starved in the great lock-out of farm labourers in 1923. This, ironically enough, given our current circumstances in Ireland was fought to resist savage pay cuts.
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SIPTU General President, Jack O'Connor, speaking at the Annual Countess Markievicz Memorial Lecture in Liberty Hall on Monday, November 23, 2009.
23.11.2009I have the honour this year to give the Countess Markievicz Memorial Lecture and it is a privilege, as well as an opportunity to present my own views on the present grave crisis in which we find ourselves and possible strategies for dealing with it. I will come to the present crisis shortly but I wish to say a few words about the Countess first because there is a tendency to either airbrush her out of history or portray her as some sort of aristocratic dilettante who dabbled in revolutionary and socialist politics that she did not really understand.
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Statement on the Economic Crisis
19.01.2009It is important that we analyse the economic crisis properly and respond to the challenge in a manner that best protects the jobs, pay and living standards of union members and workers generally. There is no point in under-estimating things. This is a global crisis on a scale that has not been seen since the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and its aftermath. It was correctly described in a recent editorial in the Irish Times as ‘… intrinsic to the very functioning of the capitalist system’. Tragically, the global problem has been compounded by the policies pursued here since 1997. These embraced the neo-liberal free-market model hook, line and sinker. The tax base was dismantled by cutting capital taxes and the higher rates of income tax dramatically in the interests of the well off. This was offset by shifting the emphasis from direct to indirect taxes such as VAT and stamp duty, thereby transferring the burden disproportionately onto the middle and lower income groups during the credit-led property boom which followed. When it evaporated, this left a gaping hole in the public finances.
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SIPTU President says Government can only resolve economic crisis with all sectors of society contributing their fair share
10.01.2009Responding to remarks attributed to the Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan in this morning’s Irish Independent, implying pay cuts in the public sector by the end of this month, SIPTU General President Jack O’Connor, who is also Joint Vice President of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions said that, “The scale of the figures presented by the Department of Finance yesterday are truly horrendous and they have enormous implications for our society and our economy. They are a consequence of the reckless agenda pursued by the PDs and the right wing of Fianna Fail between 2002 and 2007, during which our tax base was dismantled in the interests of the well off, capital taxation was all but abolished and top tax rates were reduced to a degree unparalleled in any developed western European country. All of this was camouflaged by the credit led property bubble it generated, which has now exploded against a background of an international depression, to the detriment of everyone in Ireland. It will require an unprecedented national effort, to which all sectors of society must contribute, to stabilise the economy over the next five to seven years.
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Centenary Year Greetings
01.01.2009On behalf of the National Executive Council of the Union, we would like to extend to all SIPTU members and their families our very best wishes for 2009. In this our centenary year, we salute the courage, personal sacrifice, commitment and solidarity of the women and men who founded, built and sustained this great trade union. We are proud of the organisation of tens of thousands of men and women, the improvement of pay and conditions of work and the contribution made to the economic, social and political life of the country.
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SIPTU President tells Labour Party Conference that supporting Fine Gael’s neo-liberal policies ‘is the political equivalent of leaping from the frying pan into the fire’
29.11.2008SIPTU General President Jack O’Connor told delegates to the Labour Party Conference in Kilkenny today that, “Despite all the seductive potency of the language of change” employed by Fine Gael “the reality is that for any working person, shifting support from the PDs and Fianna Fail to Fine Gael is the political equivalent of leaping from the frying pan into the fire.”
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SIPTU General President says Enda Kenny’s call to suspend the national wage agreement is ‘worst possible approach imaginable’ to economic crisis
22.11.2008“Tonight’s call for suspension of the national wage agreement by Enda Kenny is more of the ‘same old, same old’ from Fine Gael, attacking workers to shore up profits”, SIPTU General President Jack O’Connor said tonight in response to the party leader’s speech.
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SIPTU response to the decision of the Construction Industry Federation to renege on the National Pay Agreement
26.11.2008SIPTU General President Jack O’Connor said he very much regretted the decision of the Construction Industry Federation not to honour the new national pay agreement. Responding to news that the CIF would not be complying with Module II of Towards 2016 he said, “It is ironic that the employers who benefitted more than any other sector of Irish business from the Social Partnership model that created the Celtic Tiger, many of whom grew wealthy beyond their wildest dreams, should be the first to renege on it.
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SIPTU leader says any employer who reneges on terms of new agreement will be guilty of national sabotage
17.11.2008SIPTU General President Jack O’Connor, speaking in favour of the new agreement with the other social partners at the Irish Congress of Trade Unions conference today said unions must adhere to their side of the bargain so that they could call to account the Government and employers if they breached it. “And let us call a spade a spade. Any attempt to renege upon the deal, especially on the part of those who did best in the Celtic Tiger years, will represent nothing short of national sabotage at this critical moment for our economy and society”, he said.
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SIPTU General Secretary calls for urgent Government action to reduce burden on low paid workers
16.10.2008SIPTU General Secretary Joe O’Flynn told the Union’s Dublin Regional Conference this afternoon said that the employment levy in the Budget would seriously undermine the positive aspects of the new national agreement and the prospects of workers voting for it. He also proposed that the Government intervene to end the high charges of between 20 per cent and 30 per cent that workers face on occupational pensions.
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SIPTU to defer ballot on National Agreement until after trade union Leaders meet with Government over Budget
15.10.2008The General President of SIPTU, Jack O’Connor, made the following statement this afternoon: “The National Executive Council of SIPTU met today to consider the terms of a new National Wage Agreement. In view of the decision earlier today of the Executive of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions to seek a meeting with the Taoiseach to discuss issues arising from yesterday’s Budget the SIPTU Executive adjourned and decided to postpone the Union ballot due to commence tomorrow morning.
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SIPTU President condemns one per cent levy as ‘crude instrument’ that makes middle and low income earners pay for economic crisis
14.10.2008The one per cent levy in the Budget was described as “a crude instrument that disregards the principle of ability to pay and will inflict further hardship on those on middle to lower incomes”, SIPTU General President Jack O’Connor said this evening. “While we recognise the reality of the scale of the problem in relation to the public finances, the principle applied should have been to ensure that those who benefitted most from the Celtic Tiger should have paid the most.
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Championing the right to organise and defend democratic standards is one of the major challenges posed by the collapse of the neo-liberal experiment
04.10.2008The right to organise is fundamental to a free society and a democratic Europe, SIPTU General President Jack O’Connor told delegates at the Union’s South-West Regional Conference today.
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SIPTU economist says pay deal should match inflation
04.10.2008SIPTU’s head of research, Manus O’Riordan, told delegates to the Union’s South West Regional Conference in Tralee today that the six per cent pay increase secured under the new national agreement should match inflation over the next 21 months. Mr. O’Riordan said that the two phases of the agreement, worth 3.5 per cent for six months, after a three months pay pause and 2.5 per cent for 12 months, should be 0.3 per cent above inflation and could be worth up to one per cent.
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SIPTU General Secretary warns that Government must give priority to protecting workers' pension funds in any bank restructuring
02.10.2008SIPTU General Secretary Joe O'Flynn has warned the Government that it must move to protect workers pension funds in the current financial crisis. We are living in a very volatile and challenging economic period, not just here at home but worldwide, brought about by the greed of those in a golden circle who had little or no regard for the implications of their reckless and irresponsible actions , he told delegates at the opening of the Union s South-West Regional Conference this evening. At the same time workers are witnessing the near collapse of their pension schemes with a massive reduction in equity, property and other returns which are undermining defined benefit pensions.
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SIPTU President says banks must pay premium rates for gilt edged guarantee from the tax payer
30.09.2008“This morning’s guarantee by the Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan, to the Irish banking system essentially represents an exercise in shoring up the pyramid”, SIPTU General President Jack O’Connor said today. “One has to presume that the Government reconnaissance renders them confident that their bet will never be called.
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SIPTU leader condemns proposal to reintroduce third level fees
11.08.2008SIPTU Vice President Brendan Hayes has condemned the Government proposal to examine the reintroduction of third level fees. “The proposal to reintroduce third level fees is a retrograde step that would adversely affect the children of tens of thousands of low and middle income families, including those of many of our own members. The dramatic increase in participation in third level education for children from low and middle income groups since the abolition of fees has been of immense benefit not only for those involved but the economy and for society as a whole.
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Comment on collapse of pay talks between the Social Partners
05.08.2008Commenting on the situation, following the collapse of the national pay talks, SIPTU General President Jack O’Connor said in a statement: “For the avoidance of doubt about what trade unions were prepared to contemplate in an national agreement, we were prepared to accept that it would be somewhat better than inflation for the lower paid whilst it might be something less than inflation for the better paid. If such an agreement was supported by a Government anti-inflation strategy this would send out a very positive message about our economic management, whilst simultaneously protecting the lower paid and placing the burden of dealing with inflation on those better able to afford it.”
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SIPTU welcomes breakthrough on Agency Workers Directive
10.06.2008SIPTU General President Jack O’Connor has welcomed the breakthrough on a draft EU Directive for agency workers.
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SIPTU will not support Lisbon Treaty unless Government commits to legislate fully for Rights Charter
30.05.2008SIPTU will not support what it terms “a watered down” version of the Lisbon Treaty that exposes workers to its “Free Market” aspects, while denying them the benefit of “balancing measures” which are integral to it.
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SIPTU leader calls on unions to rise to challenge of globalisation by organising and educating workers
23.04.2008SIPTU General President Jack O’Connor called on unions and the Government to meet the challenge of boosting the skill levels of our workforce head on by creating a new University targeted at trade union members. He said that if the Government would not rise to the challenge then the trade union movement must seek out its own strategic partners in the field of education to do so.
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New pay talks must deliver on pay, exploitation and upskilling
17.04.2008SIPTU General President, Jack O’Connor told the ICTU Special Delegate Conference on entering a new round of pay talks today that unions should be prepared to “engage fully” with employers and the Government on pay increases in the context of the wider economic problems facing the country. But he criticised the “disingenuous campaign under way on inflation that is pitting jobs against wage costs”.
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SIPTU General Secretary critical of 'Americanisation' of Health Service
14.04.2008Ireland’s two tier health system is being heavily promoted by a Government policy that is driving the Americanisation of our health service - where the patient is seen as a commodity rather than a person in need of care, declared SIPTU General Secretary, Joe O’Flynn.
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SIPTU delegates vote to enter talks on new national agreement
14.04.2008SIPTU delegates voted overwhelmingly today to enter talks on a new national agreement. However the Union’s General Secretary Joe O’Flynn said afterwards that, “These will probably be the toughest set of negotiations since the current generation of agreements began over twenty years ago. The current economic difficulties are due to factors outside the control of ordinary working people, such as the irresponsible speculation of major financial institutions. It is neither morally nor socially acceptable that ordinary working people be accepted to pick up the tab.
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Bertie Ahern's legacy is enormously significant but poses major challenges for Irish society
02.04.2008Commenting on the announcement by An Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, of his intention to resign, SIPTU General President, Jack O’Connor said "two enormously significant developments have come about during the tenure in office of Bertie Ahern."
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Time to widen definition of work-related deaths
01.04.2008SIPTU’s General Secretary, Joe O’Flynn has welcomed the call for a widening of the definition of work-related deaths by Dr. Jukka Takala, head of the European Agency for Safety and Health.
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Jack O'Connor gives guarded welcome to new Employment Law Compliance Bill
18.03.2008SIPTU General President Jack O’Connor has welcomed the publication of the Employment Law Compliance Bill by the Government today. However he added that the Union would need to study the measure further before giving a final verdict on its contents. SIPTU warned that it will not enter talks on a new national agreement unless this important commitment in Towards 2016 was delivered. The legislation was originally supposed to be enacted by the end of 2007.
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Latest inflation trends impacts hardest on low to middle income families
13.03.2008“The renewed rise in inflation is extremely worrying, especially as the greatest increases affected health and food costs” SIPTU General Secretary Joe O’Flynn, said today. “Health costs have risen by 5.7 per cent on an annualised basis, almost double the comparable figure of 2.9 per cent for last year, and food has risen by 8.5 per cent, compared with 1.1 per cent in 2007. These increases impact hardest on people with low to middle incomes, especially families with children.”
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SIPTU rejects call for pay cuts in construction industry
05.03.2008SIPTU General President Jack O’Connor has rejected a call by Tom Parlon, Director General of the Construction Industry Federation, for a 12 month pay freeze and a 30 per cent cut in entry rates for construction workers. Mr. O’Connor said that the call had the potential "to turn building sites into battle grounds".
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FAS Opportunities Fair shows way towards a knowledge based economy
29.02.2008SIPTU General President Jack O’Connor has welcomed the opening of FÁS Opportunities 2008 today. He said the state training and employment agency was playing a leading role in addressing our skills deficit. “I would like to pay tribute to everyone at FÁS, not alone for the tremendous work they have done in mounting Opportunities 2008, but for their commitment throughout the year in helping our workforce gear up for the challenging times ahead.
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Inequality of treatment of agency workers a major difficulty for the trade union movement
The Ireland of early trade unionism was a much different place to the Ireland of today. Workers at the turn of the 20th century - despite engaging in arduous physical labour - had little of the basics of human life and were generally caught in dismal material circumstances. The struggle of Irish trade unions has always been to assert labour rights, to improve terms and conditions of employment and to champion the principle of equality in society at large. Notwithstanding the improvements in living standards that have come about over the past one hundred years, the core mission of organised labour remains as important today as ever.
Picture shows (from left to right) Marguerite Neville, Regional Vice President, Jack O'Connor, General President, Gene Mealy, Regional Secretary and Tim Daly, Regional President.
SIPTU General President, Jack O'Connor's address to national delegate conference October 2007
Welcome to Tralee for Conference 2007. Only two calendar years have elapsed since the Irish Ferries dispute registered so dramatically on us how fast and radically the world of work is changing in the new Ireland. It was a brutal demonstration of the general assault on people’s rights at work – but the pace of change has intensified even more since.
Employment Standards and a new Industrial Relations Strategy
Standards of employment hard won through the struggles of previous decades such as the 39 hour week, security of tenure, occupational pension schemes and the right to be paid the rate for the job are under unprecedented attack as the agents of capital wield an axe through the terms that until a few years ago people had come to take for granted.
Jack O'Connor, General President, speaking at the Michael O'Brien Memorial Lecture on February 1, 2007 in the Waterford Institute of Technology
I am very glad of this opportunity to give the Michael O’Brien Memorial Lecture, not only because Michael was a sterling trade unionist and committed socialist but because it provides me with an opportunity to raise an issue that was very close to his heart – the role that education can, and must play in the development of the South-East. For Michael, as for many of us, the trade union movement has been our school and our university of life. In Michael’s case, and in keeping with another long standing Irish tradition, his ‘time in college’, as he put it, included internment in The Curragh during the 1950s Border Campaign. Characteristically he used that time well and obtained a Diploma in Social Science from Oxford University.
Address by General President Jack O'Connor at the launch of the Union's campaign against the proposed Services Directive, January 13, 2006
The proposed Services Directive has enormous implications for labour standards in Ireland. Indeed, it is no understatement to say that if implemented in its present form, the Directive has the potential to destroy gains made by the trade union movement over a period of thirty years or more.
Are Trade Unions Up for Change? The General President addresses the Progressive Democrates, April 22, 2006
21.04.2006‘Change’ is not a neutral word. It is laden with potential and consequence. It can be employed in the promotion of all sorts of objectives, always conveying an aura of goodness.
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Justice and Fair Play in Irish Society
In more ways than one we are living through a remarkable period in our history, one which is laden with potential for good but one in which danger lurks as well. We have unprecedented levels of prosperity but are also experiencing the most sustained assault on the gains made by working people here, and across Europe, since 1945.
Rosheen Callender, Equality Officer and Vice President of ICTU speaking at the Congress pensions summit on February 14, 2007 in Croke Park, Dublin.
Billy Fury’s song from the ‘60s - Half Way to Paradise - isn’t particularly appropriate for St. Valentine’s Day – but it does capture some of what I feel about our pensions system at the moment and it just came into my head when I was thinking about getting started on this paper. The chorus goes:
“You lead me half-way to paradise, So near, yet so far away …”Agreed new labour standards must be seen to work before open border status granted to Romania and Bulgaria
Speaking at the Union's Regional Conferences, SIPTU General President, Jack O'Connor told delegates that agreed new labour standards must be implemented and enforcement in place before open border status is extended to Romania or Bulgaria. Otherwise he said Ireland will continue to witness the exploitation of vulnerable migrant labour to drive down pay levels and dismantle pensions.
Jack O’Connor, General President, addressing the Northern Regional Conference of SIPTU in City Hotel, Derry on Saturday, October 28, 2006.
Today unions such as SIPTU, are one of the few bulwarks that remain against unfettered big business and its neo-liberal allies in government who are intent on appropriating what remains of publicly owned assets and services. This is nothing new. We have a long and proud tradition of defending the public good.
No national agreement unless employment standards are protected - Joe O'Flynn, SIPTU General Secretary speaking at seminar on EU Services Directive in Cork - March 10, 2006.
This seminar is about one of the most important issues to have confronted Irish workers, and the trade union movement since our entry into what was then the European Economic Community 33 years ago. To be fair it is important to acknowledge the benefits that can flow from the free movement of goods, labour and services across the EU. But is it also important to be aware of the potential dangers and the very powerful vested interests that are promoting an agenda that gives big business, and employers in particular, the power to exploit ever larger markets without having to accept any responsibility for the social consequences.
'Supporting Workplace Change' by Jack O'Connor speaking at the IBEC HR Summit 2006: 'Managing Uncertainty - Exploding the Change Myth' on October 10, 2006
“On the whole the past is more congenial than the present, and the present is much to be preferred to the future”. The second is as follows:“In human history, the agricultural revolution – where our ancestors moved from being hunter-gatherers to farmers - took around 3,000 years. The industrial revolution took around 300 years while the information revolution took around thirty years. The rate of change is growing exponentially."
A trade union perspective on the pressures across the Public Sector and in the Universities by Jack O'Connor speaking at the Irish Universities Association HR Conference on September 29, 2006.
Education holds a special place in hearts and minds of trade unionists. For many of us the trade union movement has been our school and our university of life and it is no accident that unions have played a leading role in the development of adult education over the past century.
Is There Too Much Labour Regulation in Ireland? by Jack O'Connor - speaking at the ISME National Conference ' Challenging Minds in Changing Times' on October 6, 2006
This is the first time I have ever been invited to address any event organised by ISME. I appreciate the invitation and indeed I was surprised by it. I don’t know that I can usefully contribute to your deliberations, but can I respectfully say that I think you have more important issues upon which you can usefully spend your time than discussing whether there is too much labour market regulation in Ireland.
Address by General President at ATGWU Delegate Conference May 12, 2006
SIPTU General President, Jack O'Connor conveyed fraternal good wishes from SIPTU's National Executive Council and members to the ATGWU Delegate Conference and to their wider membership and the Transport and General Workers’ Union in Britain at the ATGWU's conference in Derry on May 12, 2006.
The future is for workers too!
13.10.2005Opening Address by General President, Jack O'Connor, to the Union's National Delegate Conference 2005
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SIPTU General Secretary Joe O'Flynn address to the Health Forum on the Care of Older People on May 26, 2006
Health care is a basic right in any civilised society and I strongly believe that it is particularly a right of our older citizens. These are the people who helped to create the economic market which we are fortunate enough to enjoy today. Ironically, they are also the people who, on the one hand, are the most likely to need access to the Health Services and, on the other hand, are least likely to have health insurance and the fast tracking that can often provide.
Jack O’Connor, General President, addressing the Northern Regional Conference of SIPTU in City Hotel, Derry, on Saturday, October 28, 2006
It is an honour to address the Northern Regional Conference of SIPTU at an important time in the history of the North, and in the history of our Union. The next few months will be crucial in determining whether the government of Northern Ireland returns to its people and our own resolve will be tested, north and south, in ensuring a greater say for organised workers in reforming two very unequal societies.
ADDRESS BY SIPTU GENERAL PRESIDENT, JACK O’ CONNOR, AT THE LABOUR PARTY COMMEMORATION OF JAMES CONNOLLY AT ARBOUR HILL, 16TH MAY 2010
16.05.2010We are gathered here to day to commemorate the great trade unionist and socialist, James Connolly, who laid down his life for his country and for his class.
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SIPTU General Secretary says Larkin’s message of social solidarity more important now than ever at launch of Commemorative Stamp
29.04.2009SIPTU General Secretary Joe O’Flynn says values of social solidarity espoused by Big Jim Larkin more important now than ever. He was speaking at the launch of the An Post stamp issued today to commemorate the centenary of the founding of SIPTU’s forerunner, the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union, in 1909.
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“SOCIAL DIVIDEND” ESSENTIAL IF THERE IS TO BE ANY NEW AGREEMENT WITH GOVERNMENT
18.04.2009Jack O’Connor, SIPTU General President speaking at the Limerick Soviet Commemoration - I want to thank the organisers for affording me an opportunity to participate in this commemoration of the Limerick Soviet. Your event is taking place against the background of the collapse of the Anglo American model of capitalism globally which is compounded by a domestic crisis which is entirely attributable to the way in which it was slavishly mimicked by policy makers in this country. My predecessor as an officer of our Union, Bill O’Brien, was severely criticised for the way in which he dealt with the issues presenting around the Limerick Soviet. I had hoped the invitation would afford me the opportunity to make some amends. However, I have to say I’m offering a reformist perspective on contemporary issues.
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