Off the rails in Ireland
Any socialist, even a pessimistic one, alive in the 1880’s might have
reasonably expected that socialism would be achieved by the advent of
the new millennium. This expectation obviously hasn’t come to pass and
this book, albeit in an indirect fashion, throws some light on some of
the reasons why not.
Off the Rails, The story of ILDA (Currach Press) is the story of a
trade unionist, Brendan Ogle and details his perspective on a rail
strike in Ireland in the summer of the year 2000. Brendan Ogle comes
from Dundalk, a town just south of the border and often unfairly
caricatured in the tabloid press as an ‘El Paso’ of terrorism. He left
school early, completed an apprenticeship and then in common with many
young Irish workers in the 1980’s was forced to travel to Britain for
employment. In time-honoured fashion, he initially worked on building
sites, but tiring of the poor working conditions there, switched over
to the railways and found a position with British Rail. Brendan
returned to Ireland in the early 1990’s with the improving economic
prospects and became a train driver with the state-owned Rail Company,
Irish Rail.
At the time two unions organised amongst the drivers, SIPTU and the
NBRU, and both were officially recognised by the company. SIPTU is the
largest general union in Ireland while the NBRU had its origin as a
breakaway union from SIPTU and concentrates solely on certain grades of
transport workers. Brendan Ogle joined SIPTU but together with some
other train drivers in the union had a disagreement about how the union
handled some negotiations. This initially led to the formation of a
specific pressure group within SIPTU to press the interests of train
drivers but as differences exacerbated, the group became a small
breakaway union, ILDA (Irish Locomotive Drivers Association) led by
Ogle.
Most of the book deals with the legal and union struggles that ILDA
endured in a vain attempt to gain official recognition from the company
management, the other unions and ultimately the Irish Government (the
sole shareholder in Irish Rail). The basic fact was that ILDA became
the biggest union amongst the 300 or so train drivers with 48% of the
grade; the balance being split amongst the other two unions. However
management refused to recognise them and there was hostility from the
hierarchy of SIPTU and the NBRU. A series of lockouts, one-day rail
strikes and court actions ensued over the summer with the legal
prosecution of their case being just as important as the industrial
action. The issue of rail safety also entered the dispute, in addition
to union recognition complicating the issue.
Ultimately as Brendan Ogle admitted in a recent radio interview, their
action was unsuccessful and after 10 weeks the strikers returned to
work, from economic necessity, without achieving their objectives.
Brendan Ogle is still a train driver with the company and currently
ILDA is a sub-group within the larger ATGWU union which has a
negotiating licence with Irish Rail. However problems persist, ILDA now
represents only 30% of the drivers and more industrial action is
looming.
The wider background to the dispute (not really discussed in the book)
can be understood by appreciating the role of mainstream trade unions
in Ireland over the past 15 years or so. In 1987 the first of the
‘National Agreements’ were signed by the Government, business
representatives, trade unions, farmers and the voluntary sector. The
main players in these deals are obviously the first three and they have
been updated rounds every four years or so. Broadly, the unions
guarantee to accept controlled and predicted wage increases in return
for Government action on reducing employment, tax reform and other
social issues. The moderate pay increases resulting from this process
was one of the reasons for the very large investments by American
capitalism in Ireland and a key fact behind the ‘Celtic Tiger’ in the
late 1990’s. However certain ‘radical’ trade unionists remained
suspicious of these deals, in effect claiming that workers were being
short-changed and should demand higher increases outside any collective
agreement. This was a background factor in the dissatisfaction of
Brendan Ogle and his colleagues with SIPTU.
What is the socialist view of this story? Workers can certainly gain
tactical advantages by being members of strong trade unions but whether
they’re ‘in the system’ or outside it won't make substantial difference
in the long run. From the book, it is clear that Brendan Ogle regards
all the different workers in the railways, train drivers, clerks,
engineers, porters, etc. as having divergent interests that require
separate representation. The setting up a specific union for a
particular occupation where the maximum total national workforce is
only 300 inevitably weakens the broad labour movement, due to the
attendant inter-union strife. The book also reflects the disappointing
tendency of ‘progressive’ social movements (unions, human rights
organizations, etc.) to increasingly fight their battles by the hiring
of expensive barristers and participation in arcane arguments through
the capitalist court system rather than by democratic agitation and
mobilisation. Fundamentally it stems from a lack of understanding of
our basic political position as workers. This is particularly evident
in a section of the book where Brendan Ogle reveals he voted for Fianna
Fail, the largest and most pro-business party in the state in the 1997
general election but has recently joined Ireland’s reformist Labour
Party. The reason he joined Labour? Because it’s not Fianna Fail!
In some ways I have to say that I admire Brendan Ogle. Somebody who
works the unsociable hours of train drivers, is raising a young family
and still makes the effort to write a book while carrying out union
duties is deserving of some respect. If over the years, more workers
with his energy and undoubted abilities understood the case for
socialism then perhaps we all would be further down the track.
Kevin Cronin
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