The 2019
lockout NIALL MONAGHAN, looks at the economic and political forces behind the farmers gate protests across Ireland this year and makes the case for why this is the left´s battle The chaotic scenes we have witnessed outside meat factory gates this year are the outworking of a process that began decades ago, a process which threatens the very existence of rural Ireland. The politics of the situation are clear and it would be a grave mistake if the left failed to see the importance of this battle as part of our war against the scourge that is neoliberalism. What is taking place is the last stand of a group of workers squeezed to breaking point by a small cartel of factory owners. As the largest left wing party on the island, it is imperative that Sinn Féin represents the vanguard of the response. Fine Gael and the EU have already bowed to the interests of multinational corporations, consciously accelerating a decline in Irish agriculture, rural communities and the environment. Allowing this to continue any longer means driving more workers off the land, and eroding the bedrock on which our nation is built.
THE MARKET IS BROKEN The meat processing sector in Ireland is highly concentrated and three dominant companies use their position to control prices. The erosion of competition from the sector through mergers, has rendered farmers no longer free sole traders, but piece rate workers dependent on powerful conglomerates. Price increases are consistently rejected and industrial action has been met with court injunctions and intimidation. Make no mistake, when a farmer is barred from entering a factory, the factory owner is locking them out of their place of work. In this case, factories have also locked out the factory processing staff, in an attempt to drive public opinion against what they perceive as farmer ungratefulness. For the last number of years, factory bosses have walked the line of paying just enough to keep the farmers from all out rebellion. Disgracefully, this does not even cover the cost of production for the farmer. These corporate giants rely on taxpayer money to bail the farmers out of the hole in which they are left, when all their bills are paid. Essentially, EU Common Agricultural Policy funds are being used to subside factories paying farmers unsustainably low prices. This is the same system used by Walmart in the USA, which operates on the basis
anphoblacht UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 4
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