Waterford Glass Occupation: nationalise without compensation!

Waterford workers have been in occupation of the Waterford Crystal plant for almost three weeks now. Maureen Gallagher reports from Ireland.

On Friday 30^th January, when it was leaked that a receiver was about to close the plant, the workers forced their way into the Visitors Centre at Kilbarry, and occupied the building. Rallies in Waterford city the following week brought thousands of workers and trade unionists out onto the streets in support.

The receiver had been in discussions with US-based KPS Capital and Clarion Capital with regard to a takeover. One of the bids, from Clarion Capital, would see some workers being re-employed at much lower wages and worse conditions, while KPS, the second bidder, was only interested in the group’s brand names, product design and manufacturing processes. With ongoing financial problems in the company, a significant number of workers were prepared to take redundancy. The closure threatens not only 700 jobs but also their redundancy payments. Now in bankruptcy, all they would get would be a basic statutory payment.

In addition, if the plant had closed, hundreds of former Waterford Crystal workers would face retirement without a proper pension because of the company liquidation. Under pressure from employers, the Irish government has systematically opposed legislation for a pension protection scheme, arguing that it would cost employers too much. As a direct result Waterford Crystal workers stand to lose much of their pensions as well as their jobs.

Waterford Glass has a core profitable business of making quality crystal glass products for export, with a brand that’s world famous. It has long been a strategic industry that attracts tens of thousands of tourists to the South East. However due to the management’s acquisitions of other companies, for example the loss making Wedgewood, it has built up significant debts over the years.  Now the workers are expected to pay the price.

Growing recession

The workers have occupied Waterford Glass at a time when the Irish economy has been in freefall for months, a combination of the global banking crisis and a collapse of construction has brought the economy to its knees. The Irish government want to make workers pay for the capitalist crisis. The bankers who appointed the receiver for Waterford Glass, are the same ones that are every day exposed with some new scandal, every day shown as corrupt.

While Brian Cowen, the current Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of Ireland has bailed out the Anglo Irish Bank with a blank cheque of Irish taxpayers money, and is using €7bn from the pension reserve fund to re-capitalise AIB & BOI, he attacks public sector pensions and withdraws resources from special needs education. He supports bankers who say they will just have to “make do” on salaries of nearly €2m, while at the same time launching an unprecedented attack on workers’ pay and living standards. And his Fianna Fail government, currently in coalition with the Green Party and Progressive Democrats, is warning of four more years of even steeper cuts, such is their determination to slash wages and conditions.

Occupy, nationalise, fight for the right to work

Unite, the union involved in Waterford, instead of calling for and leading a campaign for nationalisation without compensation, has focused exclusively on finding a private buyer. Workers need to take the fight into their own hands “with the union leaders where possible, without them where necessary”.

What happened in Waterford Crystal is likely to happen and is happening to hundreds of workers as businesses fall like dominoes, some new closure is announced every day. The Waterford Crystal workers have set an example. We should follow it and spread the resistance up and down the country against closures and attacks on wages.

The bosses in Waterford Glass, especially Tony O’Reilly, are experts in business secrecy and hiding their multi-million assets. We say break through business secrecy and open all the bosses accounts to workers inspection. If they are really bankrupt we must demand and fight for the nationalisation of Waterford Crystal without compensation under workers control.

We must help the Waterford Crystal workers win by solidarity action. We must start by urging workers in other unions to organise collections and send delegations to visit the occupation. This would be a starting point to build strike actions, street actions and if necessary mass civil disobedience to defend the jobs at Waterford Crystal and show the workers are not going to be the ones who pay for the bankers crisis.

Thu 19, February 2009 @ 21:05