Gregor Kerr: an enlightening Facebook discussion on Lansdowne Road
4th November
Gregor Kerr post:
LRA is now officially in tatters. All trade union leaders should recognise that fact, full pay equalisation and restoration for all should be demanded NOW
Comments and debate:
Michael O’Reilly All well and good, personally I’d prefer to see the country stop borrowing for daily expenditure and a proper health service. It’s nonsense for unions to expect z return to Celtic tiger.
Gregor Kerr Maybe we should stop borrowing to pay off the debts of international financial gamblers and speculators – which thanks to decisions made by politicians and facilitated by a compliant trade union movement we will be doing for many many years
Michael O’Reilly Certainly I agree we should have burned them all, but that’s a separate issue!!
Michael O’Reilly You think you can win INTO election??
Gregor Kerr Burning or not burning the bondholders, tackling or not tackling the evasion and avoidance tax by corporations and Vulture Funds, controlling or not controlling the percentage of economy being sucked up by profits – – – these are not things that can be treated as separate issues.
Gregor Kerr In relation to the election, the objective of taking part is to encourage participation, to empower members to become more involved, to develop the thinking behind We Are The Union and to initiate a real discussion about how members are facilitated in or prevented from using the union structures to organise and campaign on the issues that affect them.
Can I win? Absolutely. Getting a very good response from branches and members that I have been engaging with. And that discussion about how members relate to the union and vice versa is certainly taking place.
As I see it, policies pursued by the current leadership have brought us to where we are. I think a change is needed and hopefully enough members will agree with me, vote for me but also step up their own involvement.
Can I win? Absolutely. Getting a very good response from branches and members that I have been engaging with. And that discussion about how members relate to the union and vice versa is certainly taking place.
As I see it, policies pursued by the current leadership have brought us to where we are. I think a change is needed and hopefully enough members will agree with me, vote for me but also step up their own involvement.
Glen Brennan Celtic Tiger?? LOL had no effect on my living… I have same house, same car. Could never afford second properties and will never. ASTI are not looking for increases but pay for work carried out and equalisation.
Larry Molloy Exactly. If the government actually were free market capitalists the housing bubble wouldnt have happened. The government ,the bondholders, the high street banks (owned by the bondholders ) colluded to enslave the citizens of this state in a criminal ponzi scheme. The amalgamation of state and corporate power is called fascism. The only solution is citizen initiated referenda.
Laura Seoighe As a teacher who started during the Celtic Tiger, Michael could you explain to me what the teachers gained during the Celtic Tiger compared to what they were getting pre Celtic Tiger please?
Michael O’Reilly Sorry, that should have said twice! If you don’t believe me check the public records…..or even a few into annual diaries!!!
Mairéad De Búrca I didn’t get twice my salary but my current salary is lower than about the year 2,000. Benchmarking that gave 1% here and 0.5% there has been well wiped out.
Michael O’Reilly salary levels…. These were unrealistic always and further you are intelligent enough to realise that increasing salaries all round simply leads to inflation!
Gregor Kerr Perhaps if they introduced rent controls, built public housing, did something to control the price of car insurance, made access to health services available, controlled the spiralling cost of third level (indeed all levels of) education…. Perhaps if all this was done then the necessity to increases wages/salaries would not be so great.
Another reason why we need a trade union movement that has a bigger vision of how society should be run.
Another reason why we need a trade union movement that has a bigger vision of how society should be run.
Michael O’Reilly Can’t disagree with those but realistically “they” won’t do them so I think the point I made stands?
Michael O’Reilly Anyway I shouldn’t be wasting your holiday time. Hope you’re having a good break.
Keith Burke Michael, so you think we should continue to “take one for the good of everyone”? Fine Gael are happy to let the rich get rich again and the poor return to being poor. They would be happy to pay teachers nothing if they could get away with it. They certainly will never put pay parity in place if they aren’t forced to.
Des Derwin They won’t curb their prices (leading to inflation), but we must (in case it leads to inflation!) 🙂
Tomás Ó Flatharta 
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