Trade union action needed to force Government to address spiralling cost-of-living crisis
Unite member consultation to assess energy cost impact
Unite, which represents workers throughout Ireland, said today (Sunday) that public support for the fuel protests reflects anger at the government’s pitiful response to spiralling energy prices, and demanded that the ongoing cost-of-living crisis facing workers be front and centre of any new package of measures developed by the government.
Last month, Unite released the results of a survey of public sector workers showing that 80 per cent of respondents had to cut back on essential spending over the past year, with a third forced to borrow to meet household costs. The survey was largely undertaken before the current crisis began.
Unite’s Irish Executive Committee is clear that backing our members at this time of crisis is a priority, and the union is currently engaged in direct consultation with members across all sectors of the economy to identify the impact of the latest energy price rises.
Unite’s Irish secretary Susan Fitzgerald said: “The cost-of-living measures introduced last month were nothing more than a sticking plaster and did not address the cost crisis facing workers across Ireland.
“Radical surgery is required to ensure that the economy meets the needs of workers and our communities, and that they are not asked to pick up the tab for yet another crisis.
“Mobilising organised workers is the only way of ensuring that workers are protected from the impacts of this crisis, and that is the focus of discussion within Unite.”
Unite said that the government must put forward an immediate suite of measures to alleviate pressures on workers, including energy supports, free public transport and a default working-from-home option where practical.
In addition, Unite said the government must push for an energy windfall tax at EU level to address super-profiteering, while moving immediately to cap energy prices paid by households, in order to address what the union termed ‘a culture of super-profiteering.’
Susan Fitzgerald stressed that the most effective way of maintaining workers’ living standards and cushioning against future shocks is to ensure inflation-busting wage increases, and she warned that any employers using the crisis as a pretext for attacking members’ terms and conditions would be met with swift and coordinated action:
She added: “Unite is engaging directly with our members across all sectors to identify the impact of recent energy price increases both on households and on different industrial sectors across Ireland.
“This will be used not only to inform our ongoing campaigns for inflation-busting wage increases, but also our wider political demands. Given that there no real end in sight to war in the Middle East, the likelihood is that the cost-of-living crisis will worsen further. As a result, unions must be sharply focused on the need to defend the living standards of all workers.
“Unite is warning employers not to repeat previous attempts to use this crisis to lowball workers or renege on pay agreements. Our union will respond to any such moves with both workplace and sector-wide industrial action.
“We will be discussing with our elected shop stewards how best to use our industrial muscle – and the muscle of the wider trade union movement – to force this deeply unpopular government to act in the interests of workers. Whether demanding action at workplace or at government level, our members will have Unite’s full support.”
