New Events

Waterford

no events posted in last week

Blog Feeds

Anti-Empire

Anti-Empire

offsite link Ukraine Buys Huge Amounts of Russian Fue... Fri Jan 20, 2023 08:34 | Antonia Kotseva

offsite link Turkey Has Sent Ukraine Cluster Munition... Thu Jan 12, 2023 00:26 | Jack Detsch

offsite link New Israeli Government Promises to Talk ... Tue Jan 10, 2023 21:13 | Al Majadeen

offsite link Russia Training Iranian Pilots Ahead of ... Tue Jan 10, 2023 15:19 | The Times of Israel

offsite link Lukashenko Abolishes Copyright Protectio... Tue Jan 10, 2023 15:05 | Nikki Main

Anti-Empire >>

Human Rights in Ireland
A Blog About Human Rights

offsite link UN human rights chief calls for priority action ahead of climate summit Sat Oct 30, 2021 17:18 | Human Rights

offsite link 5 Year Anniversary Of Kem Ley?s Death Sun Jul 11, 2021 12:34 | Human Rights

offsite link Poor Living Conditions for Migrants in Southern Italy Mon Jan 18, 2021 10:14 | Human Rights

offsite link Right to Water Mon Aug 03, 2020 19:13 | Human Rights

offsite link Human Rights Fri Mar 20, 2020 16:33 | Human Rights

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link The WHO?s Plot to Seize Power Over Nation States in Future Pandemics Must Be Stopped Thu Mar 28, 2024 11:12 | Will Jones
The World Health Organisation is gearing up to persuade the world's governments to sign a new pandemic treaty that would allow the unelected body to seize power over nation states in future pandemics, warns Matt Ridley.
The post The WHO’s Plot to Seize Power Over Nation States in Future Pandemics Must Be Stopped appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Easter Quiz: Why Are White Things So White? Thu Mar 28, 2024 09:00 | Steven Tucker
It's hard to tell the difference these days between genuine news stories relating to 'anti-racist' ? or, more realistically, anti-white ? ideas and the spoofs and fakes. Pit your wits against our Easter quiz.
The post Easter Quiz: Why Are White Things So White? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Record Ozone ?Holes? Reported Despite 35-Year CFC Ban Thu Mar 28, 2024 07:00 | Chris Morrison
The ozone hole scare of the 1980s and the banning of CFCs was the template for the subsequent alarm promoting Net Zero. Yet the ozone hole is now back as large as ever, even after a 35-year CFC ban.
The post Record Ozone “Holes” Reported Despite 35-Year CFC Ban appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link News Round-Up Thu Mar 28, 2024 00:50 | Richard Eldred
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the virus and the vaccines, the ?climate emergency? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Heart Scarring Detected Over One Year After COVID-19 Vaccination, Two New Studies Find Wed Mar 27, 2024 19:30 | Will Jones
Heart scarring was detected more than one year after COVID-19 vaccination in some people who suffered myocarditis following receipt of a shot, researchers reported in new studies.
The post Heart Scarring Detected Over One Year After COVID-19 Vaccination, Two New Studies Find appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Moscow attack reminds us of the links between Islamists and Kiev's fundamentalis... Tue Mar 26, 2024 06:57 | en

offsite link Failure to assist a people in danger of genocide, by Hassan Hamadé Tue Mar 26, 2024 06:32 | en

offsite link Yugoslavia March 24, 1999 The Founding War of the New Nato, by Manlio Dinucci Sun Mar 24, 2024 05:15 | en

offsite link France opposes Russian Korean-style peace project in Ukraine Sat Mar 23, 2024 11:11 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N°79 Fri Mar 22, 2024 11:40 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Waterford Occupation: A Snapshot Of A 'Tiny Ugly World' / Interview with Joe Kelly (UNITE)

category waterford | worker & community struggles and protests | feature author Tuesday February 03, 2009 02:20author by Cork WSM Box & Fotos / Article -by Various Report this post to the editors

featured image
'Canteen Culture'
Makeover
A 'tiny ugly world' of greed, speculation, rampant insecurity and the 'disciplining' of workers unites those who occupied 'Republic Windows and Doors' in Chicago and the workers now occupying Waterford 'Crystal'.

Who held the gun to the head of the workers in Waterford? Whose actions called up the 'Starry Plough' ? Was it those of the 'Receiver'? He's the demon bad guy in the news reports. Probably because his surname suited the job!

What about O'Reilly ? An international capitalist widely famed for his obscene wealth. He seems like a candidate. Hiding behind the 'Receiver', shafting the workers whose lives he was willing to take a punt on, happy for the acclaim that came with a national brand. The editor of the Indo during the Lockout , way back when the 'Starry Plough' was a living symbol, most certainly deserved his depiction as an iron-heeled capitalist boot-boy.

And what about Bank of America? They got greedy - swallowed Merrill Lynch. Begged for and got massive bailouts from US taxpayers as a result. Withdrew the lines of credit to longstanding industries at the whiff of trouble and destroyed lives and security for working people without a blink and away from the limelight the 'Receiver' now flinches under. Then they planned openly to destroy some more workers rights.

The 'crisis'? An all purpose boogieman. Make everyone so insecure that they'll lie down and happily accept anything short of a disastrous collapse in living standards and security. That's the program in Germany where there is also a Waterford Crystal subsidiary, in the US where events surrounding Republic Windows and Doors in Chicago are but one example of a generalised 'disciplining' of workers, it's the program in France which was shut down by a general strike last week, it's the program in the UK where EU workers are being set at each others throats and it's most definitely the program here. Pretty much the same everywhere. The bet is that people will trample over each other in desperation for 'opportunity' rather than stand together and refuse this 'discipline'.

Neo-liberal Europe is a busted flush. The workers in Waterford have begun something new by turning the tables. If they don't get their pensions and compensation, if they don't get re-employed, they should get the factory with the furnace still burning and the name 'Waterford Glass' still intact. Oh and support from the State.

The State? This is a state which is about to hand over the keys to the safe to those who turned people by the thousands coldly into slaves to debt here in the past number of years by wilfully inflating a property bubble and gambling with their proceeds from the wholesale looting of a generation. Before they pay their friends they should pay those who kept the thing afloat. They're bailing out 'supermen' who slipped right, left and centre and will probably go to court not to pay compensation to shafted workers who their 'friends' are shafting.

Who's advising them? Oh yeah. People from Merrill Lynch who blew their own operation through greed and got taken over by the too greedy 'too big to fail' Bank of America. Remember them? That's right - they withdrew their line of credit from Chicago Windows and Doors and from Waterford, longstanding businesses both, because of a glitch in the money machine - in 'their' money machine. Tiny Ugly World indeed.

We won't pay for their crisis! Better to bust the house!

Canteen Board 1
Canteen Board 1

Canteen Board 2
Canteen Board 2

Canteen Board 3
Canteen Board 3

Canteen Board 4
Canteen Board 4



MP3 of Interview with Joe Kelly - 10 minutes
audio MP3 of Interview with Joe Kelly - 10 minutes 6.77 Mb

 #   Title   Author   Date 
   More photos     Cork WSM    Mon Feb 02, 2009 20:31 
   Statement by Cork WSM in support of Waterford Glass Occupation     Cork WSM    Mon Feb 02, 2009 21:38 
   realities at Waterford     Sceptic    Mon Feb 02, 2009 21:54 
   Septic sceptic - let them eat glass?     Gearóid, Tír Eoghain    Mon Feb 02, 2009 23:37 
   Corrupt institutions are propped up - Honest Workers are Fucked over     bonker    Tue Feb 03, 2009 00:32 
   strike breaking thugs r us?     reg    Tue Feb 03, 2009 01:49 
   Sceptic outer     Anne    Tue Feb 03, 2009 02:03 
   Strange times indeed     RTE listener    Tue Feb 03, 2009 10:34 
   tragic capitalist mismanagement?     Sceptic    Tue Feb 03, 2009 11:37 
 10   Where is the interview     J.K    Tue Feb 03, 2009 11:46 
 11   Further Actions by WG workers!     fm    Tue Feb 03, 2009 12:06 
 12   reply to jk     roper - wsm    Tue Feb 03, 2009 12:16 
 13   A transcript of interview would be nice     ranter    Tue Feb 03, 2009 13:32 
 14   re: ranter     Andrew    Tue Feb 03, 2009 16:31 
 15   Waterford workers lead the way     Saoirse    Wed Feb 04, 2009 14:27 
 16   British Government can step in for Wedgwood     Kevin    Wed Feb 04, 2009 16:49 
 17   Reply to Kevin on Wedgewood - why the situations are different and other matters     Sceptic    Wed Feb 04, 2009 20:05 
 18   tiny ugly world     folksinger    Thu Feb 05, 2009 10:21 
 19   myself     ExLabour    Tue Feb 10, 2009 00:54 
 20   Raise the Last Glass     A.R    Mon Jun 15, 2009 12:35 
 21   Reckless Trading     J    Tue Mar 16, 2010 14:50 


Number of comments per page
  
 
© 2001-2024 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy