Dublin's stormclouds
* Ireland Ireland's middle class has never had it so good. The town centres are populated with dozens of new boutiques, restaurants and wine bars especially tailored to their tastes. Paul Flannigan reports Since 1987 the percentage of national income going to profits has risen by 10%. More than 50 new luxury hotels have opened in Dublin since 1993.
Consumer spending has risen from less than £14 billion in 1988 to over £27 billion in 1997. The number of new car registrations has gone up from 68,000 in 1992 to 150,000 in 1998.
The Irish Central Bank is forecasting 9% growth in 1998 and 7% in 1999. But, in a generally very optimistic annual report, it identifies one threat to healthy profits - "possible wage inflation. Unemployment is down to 7%, there are skill shortages in key sectors, increasing unfilled vacancies, and a legal minimum wage may soon be introduced. Rising rents and a certain "feel good factor could combine to raise workers' expectations and spark a wage-push inflation.
The report noted that the 2-3% pay restraint rule agreed between government and the unions under the "Partnership 2000" arrangement is already being breached. The average pay rise in manufacturing is now 6%, and 14% in the booming building sector.
Gerry Adams has been deepening Sinn Fein's links with the southern Irish party Fianna Fail, currently in power in Dublin. The party is bankrolled by some of the island's most exploitative capitalists. As southern workers radicalise, Sinn Fein may regret its choice of partners. UD] Ireland has the fastest growing building sector in the European Union. £7 billion was invested in 1997. The industry has trebled in size since 1988, it now employs 100,000. Despite this year's pay rises for skilled workers, the terms and conditions faced by the majority of building workers have actually worsened Britain over the period of the boom.
In 1998 alone, 18 workers were killed on the sites, and scores more seriously injured. When a worker dies as a result of a safety lapse, the maximum that can be awarded against a contractor is £1,000.
According to a union representative "It's cheaper for a developer not to put up a proper safety structure and just keep paying f500 or a £1,000 every time someone gets killed, and that's what has been happening."
In 1997 a high court judge called the biggest developer of luxury departments in the country, Zoe Developments, ta disgrace to the construction industry."
Two building workers were recently sent to prison after a protest against the crudely exploitative contracting-out scheme. This scheme, recently developed by the main building employers, cuts costs by employing workers only indirectly - by small contractors or telephone
Usually the worker starts as an employee of a major contractor, but within a few weeks he is told that if he wants to keep working he should re-register with a sub-contractor or even as self-employed.
Union officials estimate that by reemploying workers as individuals the main employers have cut their wage bills by about 12%. They also avoid payıng any PRSI (national insurance), contributions to the industry pension scheme, or any holiday or sick pay.
The two bricklayers were imprisoned on October 21 for picketing the site of O'Connor Construction on the site of the old British embassy after the firm had obtained an court injunction.
The men are part of the rank and file group Building Workers Against the Black Economy, set up in late 199.
The picketing began in late August
Health and (for some) safety Increasing militancy
We are beginning to see the first signs of a new wave of working class militancy. • In November train drivers brought the network to a standstill, a threat of strike action by busmen forced the company to concede a £1,350 bonus plus a 7% pay rise. • 98% of Dublin's fire fighters voted for strike action if the Corporation went ahead with a productivity plan. • Disputes are daily breaking out in the hospitals, mainly against the vicious programme of cuts. • The leadership of the civil service union (CPSU) has been forced by rank and file pressure to convene a national conference to reconsider the union's commitment to Partnership 2000
The most intense bout of militancy has occurred within the building industry. 6 International Viewpoint #308 February 1999