SIPTU’s Manufacturing Divisional Organiser, Neil McGowan, has called for workers’ rights and the right to unionise to be central to the debate in the upcoming General Election at the Union’s Manufacturing Division Biennial Delegate Conference in Galway last week.
Neil McGowan said that if we are to renew the movement they must get serious about how they collectively engage with the political system and all its actors.
“The fight for workers’ rights is not just a workplace issue; it is a societal one and it’s our job to win hearts and minds. We need to be a permanent fixture and strong voice for working people on the political, economic and media landscape.
“We must work with policymakers to ensure that workers’ voices are heard in the halls of power and that policies that support manufacturing, protect jobs and promote sustainable practices make every manifesto and the subsequent Programme for Government.
“Nowhere is this more important that in the context of the EU directive on Adequate Minimum Wages and in particular Article 4 on Collective Bargaining. It must be said the obstinacy of Government and their advisors in dealing with the Directive, unless challenged and changed, will leave thousands of workers in our Division without the access to collective bargaining and the benefits we in this room know it delivers.”
He added: “We must focus on the National Action Plan that the Directive obliges member states to publish in 2025. This action plan must set out concrete steps to strengthen collective bargaining, end victimisation of people trying to organise a union and level the playing pitch between capital and labour.
“We need higher wages to tackle the cost-of-living crisis, but we need to use our political power to improve workers’ social wage too. In a country, with more money than sense, and awash with billions being used to buy our votes we still have levels of poverty and deprivation that are an afront to decency. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil will only ‘giveaway’ today what they can ‘takeaway’ tomorrow.”
The SIPTU Manufacturing Division Biennial Delegate Conference takes place in Galway on Thursday 24th and Friday 25th October. The conference theme is ‘Union Renewal: Winning a Fair Deal for Workers’. It is the largest gathering of private sector worker representatives in Ireland, with over 220 delegates from every sector of the manufacturing industry, from pharma to agri-food.
The conference will be addressed by several speakers, including SIPTU General Secretary, Joe Cunningham, SIPTU Deputy General Secretary, Ethel Buckley, SIPTU Deputy General Secretary, Greg Ennis, ICTU General Secretary, Owen Reidy and IndustriAll Europe General Secretary, Judith Kirton-Darling.
