The revolt against austerity in Europe is spreading. In the Greek elections, the radical left party, Syriza, made huge gains on a programme calling for a moratorium on the repayment of interest on sovereign debt and further negotiations to write it down. Pro-austerity parties got less than a third of the vote.
Editorials
One week after the mass vote rejecting austerity, Greece is in the midst of the worst political crisis in years. According to the constitution, the leaders of the three parties with the largest share of the vote have been invited by the president of the republic in turn to try to form a coalition government.
Panos Garganas Greek SWP in Athens
The results of the Greek general election have exploded like a bombshell in the face of the ruling class.
The parties that had supported the "technocratic" coalition government headed by former banker Lucas Papademos suffered a crushing defeat.
The Labour Party is a disgrace. They have pushed up the retirement age of workers to 68 and have attacked single parents. Despite promising to stop payments to bondholders, they now squeeze the poor to feed the rich.
Jack Ronan, owner of Vita Cortex, gave the workers another slap in the face when he walked away from talks in the Labour Relations Commission on Saturday 21 April. The talks were aimed at finding a compromise but this proved too much for Ronan.
The recommendations were accepted by the workers following a SIPTU ballot in Cork.
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In The Unions
NIPSA members in the NI Civil Service and a number of Non Departmental Public Bodies will be taking part in a 24 hour strike on Thursday 10th May in protest at the continuing attack on civil service pensions.
Workers at Bord na Móna have voted by over 80% for strike action if their demand that the company honours a 3.5% pay increase, due under the ‘Towards 2016’ transitional agreement, is not met.
Nearly 2000 workers, members of SIPTU, TEEU and UNITE took part in the ballot last month. The company is trying to use the economic crisis as an excuse not to pay the increase.
The owners of Lagan Brick got a big surprise on Wednesday 4 April, when a bus load of workers turned up at their Belfast HQ to demand management accept workers grievances at the firm’s manufacturing plant in Kingscourt, county Cavan.
