Irish Republican Socialist Party
Connolly House, 4 Cavendish Row, Dublin 1
Tel. Email:  Dublinirsp@hotmail.com
Costello House, 392 Falls Road Belfast, BT12 6DH

Press Release: No let-up in the class war!

The Irish Republican Socialist Party call on all workers to grasp the opportunity of workplace unionisation. On March 8th the British government will set in motion a new law that will prevent bosses from threatening any worker with dismissal for being part of a union.

"As Republican Socialists we welcome such steps however it is a minor step forward from the anti-union days of Thatcher by a government who claim to represent the working class.

"New Labour' have fooled no one with endless anti-worker positions, that includes the slight increase in the minimum wage.

"We are regularly confronted by workers who face totally unacceptable levels of violent and abusive behaviour directed towards them by their bosses.

"We call on all workers to apply for union membership and take a stand against all forms of ill treatment towards non-unionised workers.

"This is particularly the case for those workers who are classed as being part of the low waged sector. Workers who come under attack daily. For instance during the height of 'holiday periods', especially over the New Year, our party received complaints from workers, correctly furious at the levels of ill treatment directed at them and other workers by their employers and management staff.

"Reports of management who

* 'shout and scream' at staff,
* Use aggressive behavior such as 'pushing and shoving' workers while demanding immediate or rapid reactions.
* use 'foul and colorful language' in order to issue directives within their place of work as well as,
* Singling out members of staff in what can only be described as bullying tactics.

"Bosses have on other objective other than greed and profit, treating casual workers as mere workhorses, hiring and firing those who demanded respect as can be seen in the increased number of 'Call Centres'.

In conclusion, "What is clear from the number of callers is that the majority of workers regularly attacked, verbally or otherwise by employers are women, who take up the biggest percentage of low paid jobs throughout the country.

"We recognise that this new law will give workers limited protection against employers who will no longer be able to dismiss any person who joins a union.

"Strangely, this comes at a time when we have a change in the law, that is to give workers the right to union recognition on international working woman's day, which could be described as humorous if it wasn't so offensive.

"With that in mind as a republican socialist party, it is our view that there must be no let up in the class war, workers have every right to take the initiative, we must unionise now and fight back."

Irish Republican Socialist Party

STATEMENT ENDS