Unionisation is the main way to stop unfairness in the workplace, mass redundancies and many other issues that employers get away with it in Ireland.
It is a re-occurring theme on reddit and in general for people to raise issues about things happening in their job. You will often see that the advice from many commentators is to take a case, talk to a solicitor or find a new job. In all three instances the solutions are individual, short term and don't fix the primary problem in Irish employee-employer power dynamics.
The problem is very simple. Workers are negotiating from a weaker position, with less leverage and in isolation instead of doing so collectively, together and with the threat and ability to execute industrial action to leverage their demands.
The power imbalance in Irish society skewered heavily towards employers is not balanced by the Workplace Relations Commission. Employers all have a budget for doing people in and make an active calculation before dismissing someone if they can dangle a few grand over their head in the knowledge that a low income earner needs that money more than they do and will accept it. Very few workers get back into their jobs ( or want to ) and the financial compensation that's given is often far below expectations. Medium to large employers know all of this and are not afraid of cases being referred there.
The power imbalance can only be tweaked by regulation, for example if a right to access piece of legislation was brought in that allowed trade unions to access workers in a job with no unions, to talk to them and hear their grievances, but that is nowhere near in sight and will not shift the culture of exploitation and abuse that is rife in many workplaces and jobs. Culture of employer unipolarity does not change overnight, but through time and through struggle.
Workers have all the power in this country. They make the food, they serve it, they clean everything, they manufacture everything, they unload the ships, they drive the busses the fuel the planes. Organising your workplace and taking those first steps can be daunting and it can be easier to jump to a new job in the hopes it'll be better. Organising your workplace takes time and effort that many don't have capacity for. I understand all of these obstacles.
But it's not complicated.
It doesn't need martyrs.
Everybody can play a role in kickstarting the unionisation process in their job.
The organising model is flexible and easily transferrable to most jobs.
Fight for yourself. Fight for your mates. Fight for your co-workers.
Unionise.
"if the workers take a notion
They can stop all speeding trains;
Every ship upon the ocean
They can tie with mighty chains.
Every wheel in the creation,
Every mine and every mill,
Fleets and armies of the nation
Will at their command stand still."
