Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I made visits this morning to picket lines at Dublin Airport and at LloydsPharmacy in Coolock. I am going to try to bring a little of the spirit of those picket lines to this Dáil exchange. In October 2016, Michael O'Leary attended a fundraiser breakfast in the Shelbourne Hotel where he made an attack on trade unionists, making reference, for example, to RTÉ as a "rat-infested North Korean union shop". Little did Michael realise at the time that within a year, his own company would be turned into a union shop. Is it not ironic that he made reference to a dictatorship, when the precise reason he is in trouble today is his attempt to run his own company as a dictatorship? There is no master seniority list for pilots in order that they might know in advance in what country they were going to live and for how long or in order that they might be able to organise their holidays. There is rule by fear; refusal to recognise unions and then when forced to, refusal to engage seriously. There is low pay in the era of crazy rents and bogus self-employment on a massive scale, facilitated by successive Irish Governments including the one in which the Tánaiste sits.

They say that workers cannot stand up to multinational corporations. Well they can, and Ryanair workers are showing precisely how. Cabin crews now plan to strike in Italy, Portugal, Spain and Belgium and are joining the union here as well. International workers' organisation and action can beat the multinationals. Karl Marx was right: "Workers of all countries, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains."

Another dictatorship, LloydsPharmacy, made nearly £500 million in profit in the UK alone in the last two years. Does it recognise unions here for its workforce, more than 90% of which is female? No. Does it exploit these women with zero-hour contracts? It does indeed. Does it operate a proper sick pay scheme? It does in my neck. Can the Tánaiste imagine that? A pharmacy that does not allow its workers a sick pay scheme. We have seen a one-sided civil war in many workplaces in recent years. In these two workplaces however, workers are fighting back. I hope their example inspires others to do the same. Capitalism, and right-wing Governments like the Tánaiste's that serve its agenda, go hand in hand with low pay, the gender pay gap, zero-hour contracts and attacks on unions. This race to the bottom should have no place in Irish society. Can the Tánaiste agree that this race to the bottom should have no place in Irish society, and that workers who fight back against it have right and justice very much on their side?

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