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Thread: Protest strike ---

  1. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by lordjohn View Post
    Everyone has the right to withdraw their labour and stage a legitimate protest.

    Problem here is that neither the public or private caused the mess that we are in.

    No it was the top 5% of wealthy people in this country.

    While some of these 5% have been hammered a lot of them retain their wealth and have no notion of parting with any of it to help this country.. However the Govts plan is to hit the ordinary worker, the sick and people on the dole to pay for this mess.

    If you are in the private sector be careful what you wish for because if a public servant is hit in the pocket (again) the most common reaction is that they will cut back on their spending.
    Agreed, everyone has the right to withdraw their labour and stage a legitimate protest. And their employer, the state, and the shareholders, ie. the taxpayers who fund the state which pays their salaries are entitled to withhold their pay while they engage in legitimate protest.

    There are a relatively small number of very wealthy people in Ireland, probably all benefited from the celtic tiger and some probably contributed to what has now come to pass. If I were one of the wealthy...the really wealthy who was'nt up to his neck in debt, and your good self or Jack O'Connor or David Begg, or Blair Horan, or Patricia King et al demanded that the state screw me on behalf the public sector workers who have never taken any risks, never created employment, never created export driven wealth, I would simply divest myself of any property, shares, assets I held in this state, shut down or sell any businesses that I owned in this state, possible making people redundant in the process and take myself and my wealth to another EU state, and there is no law to stop me.....in fact the EU guarantees me these rights. If Ireland is to get out of this mess, it needs the very people, the risk takers, the entrepreneurs, that you would screw to save the public sector from sharing some of the pain of the private sector.

    Everybody knows that the public sector did'nt create the mess, but the country cannot continue to borrow € 26 billion per annum indefinitely. At the end of the day, if you borrow you have to pay interest on it and at some stage you're going to have to start paying back the principle, so borrowing today is just deferred taxation. As you said, if we cut public sector pay, the purchasing power of public sector workers will reduce, that will affect consumption and workers in the private sector will loose their jobs as a result......that's all true. The alternative is to cut services instead of salaries.......then the children, the old, the sick, the unemployed, the poor all end up paying to maintain public sector salaries at in or about 20% above comparable private sector salary levels. The other alternative is borrow the money today to avoid cutting public sector pay. Assuming that the EU/ECB and IMF would even play ball with us in that situation, ECB rates will probably begin to move upwards again within the next 12 months. So just about at the same time, as people on variable mortgages start to take extra pain, and maybe even continue to take pay cuts to hold onto their jobs, the interest repayments on the national debt begin to rapidly eat up an ever larger proportion of government revenue. In order to try to control the current account deficit, the government would just have to cut services further, raise taxes or finally grasp the nettle of public sector reform, pay, allowances and conditions. But thankfully, the IMF would step in before this came to pass.

    Jack O'Connor and his ilk would happily bankrupt this state in order to maintain their cushy numbers, and to play their outdated class warfare games. These trotskyites have an agenda, and the entire public sector is simply a pawn or stepping stone for them to greater power. Jack O'Connor was probably a very good and dedicated binman......it's just a great pity for the nation, that he did'nt stick at it.

    So Lordjohn, I wish you all the best on your day of protest and I hope that the weather is good for you. I trust that any public sector worker who absents him/herself from their job, will have their pay docked. Furthermore I would encourage, any group of public sector workers to take permanent strike action.......until your union's strike fund is exhausted and the union itself forced to declare itself bankrupt, and your union leaders join their private sector brothers and sisters queueing outside the dole office (good old fashioned socialist solidarity) and the bankers come and take you to court because you have'nt been able to keep up with your mortgage repayments and you are pleading with your co-workers to accept a salary cut, so that you can keep your jobs and get back to work.

    Then Lordjohn, the private sector workers, the unemployed, those on waiting lists and on hospital trolleys (if they're lucky), will welcome you into the real world.

  2. #12

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    Couple of points here Carlos.

    Personally I can't blaim you for your point of view as the media has been running an anti public service propaganda for over a year now.

    Everybody in Ireland enjoys certain freedoms and rights.
    A lot of these rights have been gained over the decades by unions and union members willing to sacrifice wages, etc to gain those rights.
    If IBEC and their ilk had their way everyone would be on minimum wage or as close to it as they could get away with.

    "There are a relatively small number of very wealthy people in Ireland, probably all benefited from the celtic tiger and some probably contributed to what has now come to pass."

    Correct 5% of the population own 95% of the wealth that is how it has always been and if guys like you support the status quo then thats how it will remain.
    A lot of the guys you admire have already done a bunk.

    For example ....
    Bono moved his corporate tax to Holland and himself and his family to the USA.
    The same guy lectures us to give more to charity.

    Denis O'Brien avoided €100 million capital gains tax by declaring himself non resident.

    John Magnier avoids paying tax on stallion fees.

    Are these really the "risk" takers who you are depending on to save the 'ol sod. Yes I agree we need risk takers and entrepreneurs but they should be paying their fair share of tax like everyone else.

    I realise that we need to save money but cutting peoples pay, hitting the dole and the sick is not the answer.

    "Furthermore I would encourage, any group of public sector workers to take permanent strike action.......until your union's strike fund is exhausted and the union itself forced to declare itself bankrupt, and your union leaders join their private sector brothers and sisters queueing outside the dole office (good old fashioned socialist solidarity) and the bankers come and take you to court because you have'nt been able to keep up with your mortgage repayments and you are pleading with your co-workers to accept a salary cut, so that you can keep your jobs and get back to work."

    If that day ever came to pass it would be a sad day for our country as every workers rights would be eroded. Then the wealthy and the IBEC's would run roughshod over everyone. When that day comes Carlos don't be whining on these boards that you don't have two cents to call to your local escort !!!

    Remember the public servant is really your friend.

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