Eastwall and Ringsend communities march to support Strikers at Dublin Port

dublin | worker & community struggles and protests | news report Tuesday July 28, 2009 14:19 by Paula Geraghty mspgeraghty at yahoo dot ie 0876101340

Communities unite on East link bridge in solidarity with Dublin Port strikers

Dublin Port Workers Support Group will held two simultaneous protest actions, North and South of the Liffey, today. Groups gathered in East Wall and Ringsend and march to meet together at the East Link Bridge . This meeting point symbolises unity between the communities, coming together in solidarity with Dublin Port Workers currently on strike.

Local Community activist Joe Mooney stated
“We want to draw attention to what is happening in Dublin Port , where workers rights are under attack. We are witnessing a U.K. based company abusing it’s work force , on a site owned by an Irish State Company.We are calling on the Dublin Port Company to intervene ,and to tackle this appalling behaviour being carried out by it’s tenant.”

The support group, in calling the protest has stated:
“ Generations of Dockland Residents worked hard to make Dublin Port a success. They fought for workers rights, and to guarantee employment opportunities for future generations.These are now under threat. This protest action is taking place to support striking workers and to safeguard future employment at Dublin Port. ”

The group supplied the following information about the strike:

Jobs, working conditions and job security are all under threat at Marine Terminal in Dublin Port. The owners, the UK based Peel Group have targeted Dublin workers. They have implemented forced redundancies, with no consultation, and with no fair or transparent process. They have introduced new “take it or leave it” contracts, reducing wages and severely worsening working conditions. These contracts, if signed, would see Dublin workers forced to go work in UK ports at the company’s discretion.

The company has repeatedly refused to engage with the Labour Relations Court and Labour Court . Faced with bully boy tactics the workers were left with no alternative but to commence Official strike action.

Peel Group are the second largest group of Ports in the UK . They are part of a larger commercial enterprise involved in property development and land speculation, having assets valued at over £4.5 billion. Ironically, they are only a tenant of Dublin Port , an Irish State company. They are behaving in this appalling manner on property owned by the Irish tax payer.
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