Columnsocial cohesion
The recent public sector pickets can teach younger people more about workers’ rights and solidarity than any textbook could.
LAST UPDATE | 24 mins ago
Kelly Earley
LAST WEDNESDAY, TEACHERS all over Ireland got a taste of Enoch Burke’s lifestyle, as they spent hours standing at school gates around the country. These teachers joined hundreds of thousands of public sector workers in coordinated industrial action calling for a new public sector pay deal.
When we think of strikes and industrial action, we generally tend to do so through the lens of relations between workers and employers.
These large-scale strikes have shown that there are far-reaching impacts beyond workplace relations – with the protest buoying much of the country. Particularly those who like to beep their horns.
In the run-up to last Wednesday’s strike, there were countless small businesses offering discounts and freebies to workers on the picket. Yogahub offered €5 classes to striking workers at all of its locations as a gesture of solidarity, while coffee shops around the country were churning out free drinks. Convenience stores were allowing picketers to use their staff bathrooms and people were delivering snacks en masse to teachers, hospital staff and civil servants around the country.
It was clear that support was coming from far and wide. It was the only time I’ve ever witnessed Dubliners display jubilance at the growing piles of rubbish on the city’s streets.
Immersive education
One of the lesser discussed benefits of large-scale strikes is how formative these demonstrations can be for young people. When you’re a teenager, and you haven’t had any exposure to the workplace yet, it can be easy to underestimate the work that goes into keeping the world running relatively smoothly.
Many of us, adults included, take for granted the work that public sector employees do until we notice it’s missing. That’s the whole point of a strike, of course.
When we have educators, SNAs and school secretaries going on strike, there’s no avoiding the conversation with students. Rather than being a chapter in the CSPE curriculum, industrial action ends up a topic of all of their classes. Teachers show students firsthand what tension between employers and workers looks like, while helping young people understand why their own parents and family members are on strike too. This particular example comes with an additional lesson on the power dynamics between the state and its people.
I know this, because I’ve experienced it myself. I was a completely politically illiterate teenager until the teachers went on strike in 2009. We got a bit of time off of school, which made me very sympathetic to their plight.
The teachers invited us to picket Seán Haughey’s old constituency office and me and my friends went solely “for the laugh” which is an odd justification, but a motivating factor for a lot of things that young people do, no less. We did actually end up having fun.
The teachers passed the megaphones around, quickly yanking them back when we went off script. Eventually, it actually felt a bit heartening to see how many cars were beeping and how much the general public was in support of decent conditions for teachers. I realised then that there was a bit more to all of this than getting a few days off school.
Sowing hope
Both of my parents worked in jobs that came with their fair share of grievances, which were regularly the topic of national news.
My mother worked in Dunnes Stores for decades and like many others have been in the past week, she was stuck for childcare and had to bring my sister out on the picket during the dispute in 1995 (which saw millions of pounds worth of profit lost for the retailer). Two decades later, I’d find myself working in the same supermarket, enjoying the conditions and rights that my mother had unknowingly earned for me.
The exposure that young people get to political and civic engagement from often accidental involvement, as well as widespread coverage of these disputes, cannot be overstated.
It may sound silly, but getting to understand that our lollipop ladies and school caretakers cannot afford to make ends meet gives many young people their first insight into how unfair society can be. Seeing all of these workers take to the streets and demand better shows young people that all hope is not lost.
The better conditions become for public sector workers, the better they become for all of us. Many of us will have seen commentators remark that a rising tide raises all ships, which is true. Private companies will have to compete with the standards set by the government for public sector workers, but those same private businesses will benefit from people having more money in their pockets to spend on things beyond the sheer basics of rent and bills.
We don’t know how things will pan out for public sector workers going into the future, and indeed those working in the private sector, as life becomes increasingly precarious in this political climate. In the last decade, I’ve found myself in a steady state of despair, seeing how little faith my friends and colleagues have in trade unions – though I hope that public sector workers have changed that, by showing that the power lies with the workers at the end of the day.
There is still plenty of uncertainty ahead. The only thing that’s clear at this point is that people are still ready to put up a fight.
Kelly Earley is a writer and podcaster from Coolock, who has a deep interest in culture, technology, community and social justice. She writes for The Journal every week.