Caption: Cllr Mick Barry
Socialist Party councillor Mick Barry said this morning that Irish workers should “speak French” and follow the example of striking French workers in combatting austerity policies.
French workers undertake their sixth national strike in a month today in advance of Thursday’s Senate vote on plans to increase the age at which French people are entitled to a pension.
The Government of Nicolas Sarkozy is under real pressure now with France’s 12 oil refineries shut down, go-slow motorway protests by lorry drivers and young people coming onto the streets in support of workers’ protests. Threats to workers’ living standards in Ireland are growing more serious by the day with the prospect of 5 billion euro worth of cutbacks and tax increases now being flagged for December’s Budget.
City Cllr Barry said this morning: “Pressure should be brought to bear on the Irish Congress of Trade Unions to organise a nationwide 24 hour General Strike involving both public and private sector workers as the first step in a campaign to oppose the Government’s cuts programme, demand closure of Anglo Irish Bank and force this Government from office.”
