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

I want to voice solidarity with Royal Mail postal workers in Northern Ireland and in Britain. Their employer has announced 10,000 redundancies but plans to recruit new staff at 20% below the current rate, as well as plans to sell off the profitable parcel service. Royal Mail made a £758 million profit last year, paying out more than half of this to shareholders. The workers who are striking are fighting not just for decent pay and condition, but to defend the service. I see they have set up a strike fund, to which I intend to donate. I hope many sections of the labour movement here will likewise. All of this is downstream of the Tory Government's decision to privatise the postal service over the last decade. The Taoiseach's Government is aping Tory privatisation policy in the banking sector, bus services and local authority services. The Taoiseach may shake his head but it is a fact. Will he recognise this is not just bad news for workers but for services, and will he steer clear of such disastrous policies in future?

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