Dublin is in an increasingly bitter Labour dispute at the moment because one of the main rubbish collection companies has locked out a large part of their workforce after they refused to accept a 35% pay cut. Earlier this week I witnessed one of the community organised blockades of scab crewed lorries that are disrupting the collection service and wrote a couple of short pieces to accompany photos of these actions.
Dublin is in an increasingly bitter Labour dispute at the moment because one of the main rubbish collection companies has locked out a large part of their workforce after they refused to accept a 35% pay cut. Earlier this week I witnessed one of the community organised blockades of scab crewed lorries that are disrupting the collection service and wrote a couple of short pieces to accompany photos of these actions.
Residents in two neighbouring areas of Dublin took action this morning against the continued activity of scab strike breaking refuse collections in their areas.
A network of people who knew each other from other struggles in the area organised online to leaflet much of Stoneybatter last night with details about the lockout of the Greyhound workers before blockading two trucks in the area this morning.
The workers have been locked out for over a month after refusing to accept 30%+ pay cuts.
If you want to organise something in your area you can pick up posters from our office. They can also be collected from Connolly Books in Temple Bar or the Sinn Fein Bookshop on Parnell square
Similar actions have already been taken by communities in other areas of Dublin determined to resist the ‘race to the bottom’ that threatens all our living standards.
A reply to Greyhounds blame anyone but us email
Following today’s multiple blockades of scab refuse lorries Greyhound have sent this hilariously whiny email to customers blaming ‘Social Media’ for their woes.
We’d suggest they look closer to home and end the lockout of their workers. No lockout, no blockades – that seems simple enough to understand!
For all the whining about Health & Safety below outrageous violations of H&S have been widely logged by replacement scab crews whose only required skills seem to be a lack of backbone and the ability to thus slither across a picket line.
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Dear Customer,
Unfortunately, there will be a delay in collections in your area today due to continuous incidents where our collection vehicles are being deliberately blocked by groups of protesters and picketers that are standing in the middle of the road.
This has been orchestrated by members of certain political organisations through social media.
Due to the concern for the safety of our collection crews we cannot collect your household waste safely at this time. The continued harassment and abuse of our collection crews has resulted in us having to stop collecting from your area today in order to defuse the situation.
This is unsafe and disruptive behaviour and we will not risk anyone being hurt. We have a wider responsibility for the safety of our crews, you as a customer, and the general public. We have informed the local Gardaí and they will be dealing with this in an official capacity.
We realise this delays your waste from being collected and we apologise for this inconvenience to you and your families. However, this is out of our control and in the hands of the political organisations involved.
Please be patient, as soon as it is safe to return to the area we will collect your bins
WORDS Andrew Flood (Follow Andrew on Twitter )
2 replies on “Greyhound lockout – refuse trucks stopped in Stoneybatter”
Additional day of
Additional day of action
For the 2nd week running residents of the Stoneybatter area blockaded a scab bin truck in solidarity with the Greyhound workers locked out since the 17th June last when they refused to accept a 35% pay cut.
1500 leaflets had been distributed door to door in the area in advance of this action. See individual photo captions for more details of what happened today.
They say "It is our intention to continue there protests over the coming week. We feel ordinary workers in Ireland have taken enough cuts and its time we all looked out for each other."
Thumbs up for solidarity. As
Thumbs up for solidarity. As a result of the 1500 leaflets supporting the locked out Greyhound workers distributed in the area on Monday 100 euro in donations has been received from residents of Stoneybatter in the last couple of days.
Many people who have accounts with Greyhound are showing their opposition to the lockout of the workers by putting stickers etc on their bins. If anyone hears of bins not being collected at houses that show support for the workers please let us know.
If you’d like to donate there are details of the account below to make donations to below.
Name of Bank Account : SIPTU Greyhound Workers Support Fund Address : Bank Of Ireland, 6 O’Connell Street Lower, Dublin 1. Account Number : 75188183
Branch Code : 90-00-33
Bank Identifier Code : BOF11E2D
IBAN : IE31 BOFI 9000 3375 1881 83
For a photo story of resident action in support of the locked out workers in Stoneybatter see https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.919956414696839.1073741873.132000150159140