Statement by the Southern Area Committee, CPI
1 April 2017
At the Southern Area Congress of the CPI today, delegates confirmed their support for the Bus Éireann workers and their colleagues in Irish Rail and Dublin Bus in their struggle to protect pay and conditions and the rural transport network.
The Government’s strategy is quite plain: it is to hand public transport over to private capital, which will pay workers the minimum wage and slash services and health and safety conditions to a bare minimum.
The European Union dictates that a state-owned commercial company cannot receive a subsidy. This is to facilitate the privatisation of all our services and utilities. It is an attack on our sovereignty and has to be challenged.
This dispute must be won, as it is a direct attack on trade unionism and the beginning of a concerted effort to drive pay and conditions through the floor, to privatise state-owned industry, and to fundamentally change the pay and conditions of workers in Ireland.
