HMV Workers Win Wages

I believe an agreement has now been reached which has ended the sit-ins and wages owed will be paid to workers in HMV this Friday.

Below is the Trade Union Left Forum statement on HMV workers occupations

The Trade Union Left Forum extends its support and solidarity to the workers at HMV who are facing unemployment, loss of wages, and reduced redundancy pay. The TULF supports these workers, who are occupying their buildings in anger at the way they have been treated, and the union members trying to achieve a better outcome for all involved.

But these last-minute occupations, which we have seen before, are not enough to challenge the fundamental injustices of the system today. We can no longer afford to leave struggle to the last minute, otherwise we will continue to merely have these heroic defeats. Workers all over Ireland must join a union and organise workers’ power in their employment.

A year after the La Senza sit-ins, and 100 years after the great Lock-Out, the economic and political system shows no signs of having any more concern for workers than it had in Larkin and Connolly’s time. The lesson to be learnt is that it is only through workers struggling for an economic and political system that meets our needs that rights can be gained or defended. Nothing is handed to us on a plate.

As we build towards the 9th of February, these workers should remind us all to stand up up for each other, for our families, and for our future, to unionise our work-places and say No to job losses, No to pay cuts, No to social welfare cuts, and Yes to an Ireland democratically owned and controlled by the people, for the people.