MANDATE Press Release - WORKERS IN SPAWELL CONTINUE PROTEST AT NON PAYMENT OF WAGES

Mandate calls on Minister for Enterprise to investigate Spawell dispute

Mandate Trade Union members in the Spawell Pub and Nightclub are continuing their protest today at the Spawell complex in Templeogue. The workers were made redundant two weeks ago with no redundancy money and with approximately one month’s wages owed to each of the staff members.

CB Taverns, trading as the Spawell Licenced Premises, ceased trading on Monday, 10 August 2009 with the loss of 32 jobs. The company has still not paid staff members wages outstanding to them including over two weeks wages and holiday pay.

Mr Eddie Cassidy, Divisional Organiser for Mandate said the workers are getting increasingly frustrated by the lack of action by management in the company and are disappointed that an employer can treat its workers in this manner and get away with it for so long.

“Clearly this should be a wake up call to workers and unions and it shows that closer scrutiny of businesses is needed in order to prevent this type of incident happening again. The management in CB Taverns have been very confrontational and unhelpful during this whole debacle. They are responsible for the situation these workers find themselves in but it would appear that they are unwilling to shoulder any of that responsibility.

“Mandate will do everything in its power to ensure that these workers receive appropriate compensation and that preventative measures are taken to ensure employers behave responsibly in future. Mandate is calling on Mary Coughlan, the Minister for the Enterprise, Trade and Employment, to investigate this incident and take steps to protect workers from unscrupulous and irresponsible employers in future.”

Mr Cassidy also said that the workers have received tremendous support from members of the public and also from political representatives.

“We’ve received a lot of support from the public and politicians in the area. The workers have asked me in particular to thank Deputy Pat Rabbitte and Cllr Dermot Looney of the Labour Party, Deputy Brian Hayes of Fine Gael and Cllr Sean Crowe of Sinn Fein for their continued support,” concluded Mr Cassidy.

Election Diary: T- 13: Time Only for Politics

Tony Benn, who I don't mind admitting is a huge source of political inspiration to me, called one of his diary collections "More Time For Politics" which refers to a quote he made on retiring from the House of Commons. Benn himself remains a political dynamo at 84 years of age. I'm starting to believe, though, that there comes a time when there is no more time for politics - when you fill up your days and nights with its practice. And the last few days of a campaign, rightly so, mean time only for politics.

I did manage to get a game of football in this morning, a very rare thing in the last few months of this campaign, and escaped without doing too much damage to my dodgy ankle. I've been avoiding the physio since I hurt it in January in the hope that it'd get better; one of the first things I'll do post-election is get some treatment on it. The football took away some of the stress of the campaign and gave a good start to a day of canvassing in Tallaght.

Met some of the Fianna Fáil team at Kilnamanagh shopping centre at lunchtime; Charlie O'Connor was his usual ebullient self but the heads seemed down. We had two more new campaign team members out today, the numbers are really picking up for us but we need more for the final push in the coming few days. The weather wasn't the worst either, despite a downpour between 12.30 and 1; though I'm not sure we'll have a day when the umbrellas aren't needed anytime soon?

Today's canvass had to stop at 5 pm on the dot so as not to interrupt the rugby. We ended up listening to it on the radio at home because, scandalously, Sky maintain all the rights to the Heineken Cup in Ireland. While I was delighted to see (or hear) an Irish team do so well, it was hardly euphoric. Leinster rugby remains, sadly, class-based and I have never felt a part of the 'scene' despite having a genuine interest in the sport. However, the IRFU are doing some fine work in Tallaght and I hope the Leinster teams of the future might include some of the kids learning tag and tip rugby in our schools and at Tallaght Rugby Club right now.

And it was straight from there to a 'gig' at Templeogue United Football Club to honour 20 years of Dáil service by Pat Rabbitte TD. It also coupled as a celebration of Pat's 60th birthday which was last Monday- and for which he spent the evening on the canvass with us. The speeches from Eamon Gilmore TD, Mayor Marie Corr, local activists Gerry Kelly and Denis Mackin, Pat's wife Derry and Pat himself were full of humour and warmth and Pat himself was in flying form. It was nice to chat to others in the constituency about how their own campaigns are going and a real belief that we can pull off three seats in Tallaght Central.

To do that with three first-time candidates would be incredible but these are incredible times; the notion of a Labour Taoiseach and the party leading a government is coming up more and more, and people are realising that the movement to achieve that will need to be built and supported from the ground up.

Election Diary: T- 18: WORKing on a Dream

Very quick post tonight as the bed awaits.

The first phone call of the day came at 8.30 a.m. and the last an hour or so ago. Any serious candidate at this stage is pretty much electioneering as a full-time job; though, as I blogged yesterday, I do have one of those too!

Nominations closed on Saturday and candidates had until today to withdraw - so, this evening, the full list of runners and riders went up on the South Dublin County Council website. No surprises for Tallaght Central - 13 candidates for six seats; 3 Labour, 2 FF and FG, one each from the Greens, the Socialist Party, the People Before Profit Alliance and Sinn Féin and two independents. We must be one of the few LEA's in the country in which Labour is running more candidates than anyone else; an indication of the ambition we candidates and our party share for three seats and a serious vote to build Labour's alternative.

Canvassed tonight with one of our biggest groups yet in the driving rain in the Osprey and Willington areas. Those of you from the area will know local residents and politicians alike sometimes refer to this area as "WORK" - standing for Willington, Osprey, Rushbrook and Kennington. Just like the PD's launching a manifesto some years back in Prosperous, Co Kildare, it might make a good location for Eamon Gilmore to push our jobs policy in the time ahead.

Pat Rabbitte TD - celebrating his 60th birthday - joined us once more along with Cllr Eamonn Walsh and the support for Labour on the doors was very strong indeed. Thankfully, we brought enough brollies to save our canavssers and their paperwork - the weather has been awful but at this stage of a campaign you've gotta press on regardless.

That said, my attempts to sing Rihanna's Umbrella (the Manic Street Preachers version I hasten to add) on the way home were cut short by those around me. I suppose bringing the guitar out on the canvass tomorrow is probably pushing it too far...

Plenty of interesting stories on the doors too. Local issues such as the infamous Burmah Garage site, the Orwell roundabout and worries about Tymon Park came up frequently, as they have done since I began campaigning in the "WORK" area many months ago - but national issues, and jobs in particular, remain to the fore.

I was most heartened by one middle-aged man who paid a lengthy tribute to our campaign for bringing so many principled young people to the doors.

Tonight's team included canvassers in their teens, twenties, thirties, forties, fifties and sixties - our seventysomethings were otherwise engaged - but overall, our youthful campaign has been noted across the ward. I've blogged before that engaging so many young people in our campaign is my proudest achievement to date; I want to give them something to be proud of come count day.

Press Release - Looney Lashes Bus Cutbacks, Calls for Clarification

Dermot Looney, the Labour Party candidate in June's local elections in Tallaght Central, has slammed cutbacks in Dublin Bus routes, claiming they will hit those on low incomes, the elderly and the immobile hardest. He has also sought clarification on whether services local to Greenhills, Tallaght and the Dublin 6w area will be affected under the restructuring of bus routes and frequency.

"As a daily bus user for many years I know how important a reliable, well-funded Dublin bus service is to local people – particularly those on low incomes, older people and those who are disabled," said Looney. "The government's decision to cut jobs at Dublin Bus and the ensuing confusion about affected services means those people, who are being hit hardest by the recession in the first place, now face the prospect of being left without bus routes or with reduced services."

"I have written to Dublin Bus seeking clarifications on how cutbacks will affect the 15a, 17, 19a, 50, 56a, 77, 77a, 77x, 77n and 150 routes."

"We need to ensure that transport services are accessible to all, so I have also asked for a bus shelter to be put in place at the top of 'the Dip' in Greenpark, as well as for one to be re-installed opposite the Cuckoo's Nest in Kilnamanagh. I have also asked Dublin Bus to consider a feeder bus to the Luas line from Greenhills, where so many older people are reliant on public transport."

"It is particularly galling for the Green Party Ministers to go along with these cuts. Labour recognises that the social, environmental and economic infrastructure of our local communities is dependent on a stable, well-funded and effective public transport system. Simply put, public transport is the best way to curb vehicle emissions and reduce our carbon footprint."

"Perhaps the Greens expect us all to be able to afford hybrid cars, but they and their Fianna Fáil masters are clearly out of touch with working people by carrying through with a slash-and-burn policy at Dublin Bus."

"As a Labour candidate, I am committed to a well-funded, effective and affordable Dublin Bus service in public ownership, serving all communities in the Dublin area, and acting in an integrated manner with other public transport services in the region."

Guest Post - Colm Lawless

As part of a new series of occasional guest posts, I am asking members of our campaign to let the readers of this blog know about their motivation for involvement, the work they do and the hopes they have for our campaign for community and change. This week's first guest blog post is from Colm Lawless, Labour Youth's National Secretary who lives in Templeogue.

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My name is Colm Lawless and I am a Fifth Year secondary school student. I got involved in Dermot’s campaign through local work as a Labour Party member. I first met Dermot at the Labour Party Conference in Wexford in 2007, having previously known him as the Communications Officer of Labour Youth and a strong voice against coalescing with Fine Gael. From there, Dermot announced that he had intentions to run for South Dublin County Council. Having a local young councillor with strong socialist convictions is something that the majority of council wards and boroughs in Ireland do not have, and we are very lucky in Dublin South-West to have just that representation. In an age dominated by corporatism, exploitation and greed it is vital that we have candidates like Dermot who are ready to push the cause for a decent society, based on merit and not means.

Since becoming involved in the campaign I have participated in various promoting activities. I am actively involved in leafleting at weekends, distributing leaflets about important local issues and campaigns and highlighting the importance of the community as a means to solve local issues. The issue of the McHugh’s site in Greenhills remains a prominent campaign issue, as people are marginalised without a place to buy their messages or to go to the chemist. We have had huge success as a campaign, which has the youngest team on average in Ireland. We have fought against incompetency and conservatism, and we have fought to ensure that the ordinary people of Greenhills receive a Councillor that is ready to meet the challenges of an ever changing society. I have greatly enjoyed my time so far as a volunteer for Dermot, as I feel that the work we have done has served the community well, and the hope is always that any effort made is an effort made on behalf of the community.

Looking into the future, I believe that we can win a seat in Greenhills and change the way South Dublin County Council looks at ordinary residents. It’s time for political representatives to step up to the mark and serve the people that they were elected to serve. I firmly believe that we have that candidate in Dermot Looney, who as a Greenhills resident all his life, has stood up for the rights of ordinary people and has stood up for the cause of socialism. Dermot has always been a diligent campaigner, a diligent worker and will be a diligent Councillor. Our campaign is focused on the principles of equal opportunity and the right to a safe neighbourhood with decent infrastructure. Dermot has been a great source of inspiration to me as a young person, showing how young people can be heard in politics. I have never met a candidate who shares such similar views to my own and who I know will serve South Dublin County Council with the same energy, flair and enthusiasm that I know Dermot for expressing. It has been a pleasure working with the campaign so far, and I look forward to the contest ahead.