A Unite the union members’ picket line on Wednesday (Photo: UniteSharon/X)
Over 300,000 public sector workers in Ireland struck on Wednesday over pay.
The strike, called by the ICTU union federation, involves the whole public sector, including teachers, nurses, doctors, other health workers and civil servants.
Almost one in ten people in the south of Ireland struck, in the largest strike the republic since the financial crisis of 2008.
Patricia is a clinical nurse manager working in disability services and a rep of the Cork branch of the INMO nurses’ and midwives’ union. She spoke to Socialist Worker from the picket line.
“The trade unions have been trying to sit down with the government, to have a proper negotiation about pay, about the cost of living,” she said. “But they haven’t listened and we’ve had enough.
“Our nurses are working around the clock, working longer hours, coming in earlier, going home later. We’re constantly short of staff.
“And the basic cost of living—we can’t afford it! The rents have gone through the roof. We can’t even afford a reasonable amount of groceries because the price of everything has skyrocketed.
“We have to keep going. What we want today is fair pay that matches the cost of living in Ireland. That’s not too much to ask.”
In the new budget, the right wing coalition of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael has set aside €1.2 billion for pay increases for these public sector workers. But at least €2 billion is needed to match inflation and allow workers to stay ahead.
People Before Profit (PBP), a socialist party in Ireland, say they need at least a 10 percent pay rise.
There is currently an unallocated €1.6 billion in the budget and workers are demanding this goes to their pay.
Workers will strike again next Wednesday if their demands are not met.
“The whole public service sector is on strike today, so we are hoping the government does feel the impact,” Patricia continued. “We’re willing to have a discussion, as long as it is meaningful and can reflect the suffering the cost of living crisis is causing us. But if not, we’re out again on 21 October.
“Everyone is getting the brunt of this. We’re all out here together, saying the same thing—what do we want? For pay to reflect the cost of living. And we need it now.”
The Irish government and media are painting the strike as an act of cruelty by the workers—the same workers who look after children, and sick and elderly people across the country.
It is only because the government has refused to pay them properly that they are on strike. They have spent the summer balloting after an insufficient pay deal expired in June.
Mass strike action has the power to get results. Almost every school in Ireland closed due to the strike. Hospitals were covering emergency work only. And court proceedings ground to a halt as workers picketed the steps of the Criminal Courts of Justice.
A statement from PBP said, “The prospect of an all-out strike that would close down the country would force the government to take the demands of the unions seriously.
“We must guard against any attempt to deescalate the action.”
The Irish strike shows the power of workers—and escalating action has the power to force the government to cough up.
Another day of mass resistance
