Upcoming Events

National | Anti-Capitalism

no events match your query!

New Events

National

no events posted in last week

Blog Feeds

Public Inquiry
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005

offsite link RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail?supporter? Anthony

offsite link Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony

offsite link Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony

offsite link RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony

offsite link Waiting for SIPO Anthony

Public Inquiry >>

Human Rights in Ireland
Promoting Human Rights in Ireland

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link If the Long After-Effects of Covid Mean You Have No Real Family or Friends to Talk to This Christmas... Fri Dec 27, 2024 07:00 | Steven Tucker
Steven Tucker delves into the strange world of rent-a-friend, a Japanese phenomenon whereby lonely people get to rent friends and family members during times of intense loneliness, such as Christmas.
The post If the Long After-Effects of Covid Mean You Have No Real Family or Friends to Talk to This Christmas, Why Not Pay Random Strangers to Pretend to Be Them Instead? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link News Round-Up Fri Dec 27, 2024 01:55 | Toby Young
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Christmas in A&E Thu Dec 26, 2024 17:00 | James Leary
James Leary wasn't expecting to spend Christmas evening in A&E, but an alarm went off on his Fitbit and he'd never heard that before. What was wrong? He reveals all in the Daily Sceptic.
The post Christmas in A&E appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Nigel Farage Hails ?Historic Moment?, as Reform Memberships Surpasses Tories Thu Dec 26, 2024 15:00 | Toby Young
Reform now has more members than the Conservatives, according to Nigel Farage, who has proclaimed the party "the official opposition".
The post Nigel Farage Hails ?Historic Moment?, as Reform Memberships Surpasses Tories appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Britain?s Economy to be ?Closer to Guyana? as Starmer?s Living Standards Pledge Falls Flat Thu Dec 26, 2024 12:00 | Toby Young
Thanks to Labour's management of the economy, GDP per head in the UK is likely to be closer to that of Guyana than the US by 2039, according to an economic think tank.
The post Britain?s Economy to be ?Closer to Guyana? as Starmer?s Living Standards Pledge Falls Flat appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?113 Fri Dec 20, 2024 10:42 | en

offsite link Pentagon could create a second Kurdish state Fri Dec 20, 2024 10:31 | en

offsite link How Washington and Ankara Changed the Regime in Damascus , by Thierry Meyssan Tue Dec 17, 2024 06:58 | en

offsite link Statement by President Bashar al-Assad on the Circumstances Leading to his Depar... Mon Dec 16, 2024 13:26 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?112 Fri Dec 13, 2024 15:34 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Draft Principles For A Broad Open Trade Union Grassroots Network

category national | anti-capitalism | opinion/analysis author Friday May 06, 2011 22:26author by Diarmuid Breatnach - Personal Capacity Report this post to the editors

Basic Aims & Objectives; Communication; Decision-Making.

Some readers will be aware that for some time I have been advocating the construction of a cross-union grass roots network. A meeting has been convened tomorrow to discuss such a project. Unfortunately for me (and for any other with similar interests) a conference to discuss Republicanism & Socialism has been scheduled for some time now to take place on the same day. I publish these draft principles for discussion not to promote bureaucracy but with the intention that any such network formed remains a broad and militant organisation, the property of its members and not of one political party or another nor as a sectarian battleground.

Draft Grass-Roots Union Network Basic Principles

Basic Aims & Objectives
1. The overall aim of the Network is to offer solidarity to the struggles of the workers in Ireland and to assist in making them more effective. The Network will seek to do this by:
• Publicising industrial actions and related demonstrations through Network bulletins
• Sending out requests for assistance and solidarity support through the Network as appropriate
• Taking any other promotional or coordinating actions as decided by the Network
2. The GRTUN is anti-sectarian with regard to religion and is anti-racist, anti-homophobic and anti-sexist.
3. GRTUN has come into existence as a result of our experiences of many of the TU leadership having failed to lead effective resistance against the attacks of Capital and having undermined our attempts to provide such leadership.
4. Having experienced its limiting and undermining effects, this Network stands in opposition to “social partnership” and also to the ideology underpinning it and to any measures that seek to bind the unions into no-strike agreements for any period of time.
5. GRTUN is a broad-based organisation in support of workers’ defence and resistance and considers that breadth one of its strengths. For that reason the Network
• Considers it would be harmful for the Network to fall under the control of any political organisation
• Or to permit attacks of a personal nature on Network members during its proceedings or in Network publications
• Or attacks on any political party with members in the Network and not represented in the Dáil

Communication
1. Content of bulletins shall be the decision of the General Meeting or as otherwise delegated by them.
2. The Administration of the GRTUN will keep a list of the electronic addresses of all members.
3. All members shall receive a copy of each issue of the bulletin and nobody shall be excluded from the above list except by two-thirds voting majority.

Decision-making
1. Decisions shall be made during general meetings or as delegated by majority for periods during general meetings.
2. General meetings shall be called by the GRTUN elected administration committee and
3. may also be called by one-third of the membership or by 50 members, whichever is the least
4. The ruling of the Chairperson at a meeting shall be final unless a vote of “No Confidence” in the Chair’s ruling should be proposed.
5. It shall be sufficient for one member to propose a vote of “No Confidence”; if backed by a second, then the proposer should be allowed to explain and the Chair to speak against, after which the meeting should proceed to vote on a show of hands. A simple majority will decide the issue.
6. If the challenge should be successful then the Chairperson shall vacate the Chair and a replacement shall be selected for the remainder of the meeting. The issue under discussion shall then be reopened.

author by Padraig Yeates - None in a representative capacitypublication date Sat May 07, 2011 08:06author email padraigyeates at ireland dot comauthor address author phone 35318284510Report this post to the editors

Diarmuid
The basic principles are sound. The problem is getting enough organisations with a large enough membership to provide a representative critical mass. This is essential to ensure a commercially viable audience, without which any long term project is doomed.
Padraig Yeates

author by wageslavepublication date Sat May 07, 2011 09:09author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Hey Diarmuid... You should call it "GRUNT" so people remember it more easily!

Grass Roots Union NeTwork

author by Unionistpublication date Sat May 07, 2011 09:20author address author phone Report this post to the editors

payments and renumeration for the people in charge of day to day running of the organisation is an important issue. The high salaries paid to union leaders were a factor in neutering them in the past. This issue should be up for discussion. A low ceiling should be imposed so those people are not motivated by profit but by principle. also so they retain the perspective of poorly paid union members instead of that of well paid fatcats!

author by Diarmuid Breatnach - Personal Capacitypublication date Sun May 08, 2011 15:38author address author phone Report this post to the editors

for the comments. The name of the network will be up to the founders -- I just gave it that name for the moment. I would suggest that discussion of the other issues are also premature at this moment. The Network needs to get into action and gain activists, start publicising its existence and orientation, offering solidarity whenever industrial actions occur or the workers are threatened.

When the organisation has gained some weight will be the time for it to discuss its position on some of the other issues. "Critical mass" is a thing that cannot be predicted. For now, to influence thinking of active but not compromised trade unionists and to start to gather mass, even if "uncritical" would be the important objectives. The draft rules and objectives are an attempt to facilitate the Network getting off on the right (left!) foot.

I understand that the meeting went ahead yesterday -- some kind of report on the proceedings would be usefuland I look forward to early notification of the details of the next meeting. At the other event, after a very interesting discussion about Connolly, the issues of building bases including a trade union grassroots network were given a brief airing during a discussion about resistance to the IMF etc.

 
© 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