Capitalism: Destroying the economy & our future?

limerick | worker & community struggles and protests | event notice Friday July 03, 2009 18:14 by Limerick Socialist Party - Socialist Party limericksocialist at gmail dot com 0877675890

How we can fight back!

Every singe day in the last month 33 people were forced onto the dole in Limerick alone. Thats 1,000 people in 30 days. This is a crisis which demands emergency action by the state.

The situation is even worse for young people. Over 3,000 under 25s are now unemployed in this city. Given that there are less than 10,000 people between the age of 15 and 25 living in Limerick, and many of these are in education, the scale of the crisis is far worse than many assume.

The Socialist Party is organising a Public Meeting to discuss these issues, and how we can fight back.

Speakers: Councillor Mick Barry & a young worker
When: 7pm, Wednesday July 8th
Where: Pery's Hotel, Glentworth Street

Poster for the public meeting

The shocking figures above are are more worrying when you consider that this is only one year into what many are predicting will be a 5 or 10 year recession.

This return to mass unemployment is a symptom of the worst economic crisis since the 1920s. The government has squandered the boom and now workers are paying the price – with their jobs.

The sharp rise in the amount of workers on the live register has been a shock to the system with Dole officeschronically understaffe. For Limerick, this means it takes on average 6 weeks for them to process your application - six weeks without any income.

The Socialist Party is calling on the Department of Social Welfare to immediately hire the extra staff necessary to deal with the increase in unemployment - they need look no further than their own front door for workers to hire!

Bailout working people
The government’s attempt to deal with the crisis is not only failing, it’s making things worse. The introduction of general tax hikes, cuts in public spending and the imposition of the public service levy have reduced spending in the economy leading to further job losses.

Meanwhile the government is using billions of euro of our money to save their banker and developer friends. At the same time the unemployed are treated like criminals - queuing for hours, filling out countless forms, waiting for up to 15 weeks to get your entitlements. And now they want to further cut the dole. But it was these workers who created the Celtic Tiger.

The Socialist Party believes the unemployed must get organised to fight against any dole cuts and to demand the government take action to provide jobs.

Nationalise to defend jobs
Already in the last months in Limerick, jobs have been lost or threatened at: Dell, Banta, Flextronics and in Shannon Airport & industrial park to name a few.

These companies should be nationalised in order to save the jobs and stop rising unemployment in Limerick and the rest of the country. Once in public ownership, these companies should be placed under the control and management of the workers themselves.

The Socialist Party also calls on the government to nationalise the banking sector and use the resources to invest in job creation, including a massive series of public works, building schools, hospitals, public transport and other vital infrastructure.

Unemployment is exposing the bankruptcy of the capitalist system, where the pursuit of profit takes precedence over the rest of society. All of the establishment parties are tied to this system and go to every effort to keep it afloat. To help build an alternative and to fight for a society based on need and not profit, join the Socialist Party today.

Socialist Party Says

• Hire extra dole staff
The Department of Social Welfare should hire hundreds of staff to deal with the huge increase in applications for Jobseeker’s Allowance and Jobseeker’s Benefit. This would reduce waiting times and improve services while providing extra jobs.

• Scrap the Rent Allowance cut
Rent Allowance is already hard enough to get by on without the recent cuts. The government should increase rent allowance and the amount of social and affordable housing.

• No cuts to the Dole
Cuts of up to 3.4 billion euro could be made in the Social Welfare budget in December. Ireland already spends the third least in Europe on social welfare. All cuts to the dole should be resisted.

• Share out the work
Introduce a 35 hour week, without loss of pay to create more jobs in the economy.

• State must act to create jobs
The state should cut across spiralling unemployment by nationalising job shedding companies and by investing in a massive series of public works.

Come along to the public meeting to find out more

Join the fight back - Join the Socialist Party today!

PDF of a Socialist Party leaflet titled "No to Dole Cuts" handed out on Limerick Dole Queues recently 0.23 Mb