In payment we got nothing unless you count yet more closures, threats and management aggression like has happened at Silverlea, Sunbeam, TEAM, Dunnes Stores and a multitude of other employments. At the same time the economy is doing very well for most employers. Cut hours, not jobs In Ireland we work an average 53 hours longer in a year than the EC average. Even if only those extra hours worked by the 200,000 industrial employees were distributed among the unemployed there would be 10,600,000 additional work hours available each year. At the average 1,813 hours worked in the EU this would mean almost 6,000 new jobs.
Irish workers produce all the country's wealth.
We should seek to win further reductions in the working week, without any loss of pay. Ultimately, however, we will be stuck with the contradiction of a rich economy but a poor workforce until we get rid of the present system and set about reorganising society in the interests of the great majority. The reality of capitalism is the best argument for its abolition.