The struggle by workers at Greyhound Recycling to return to their jobs after being locked out by the waste company over 13 weeks ago is one that should concern all workers in Ireland, according to Workers’ Party President Michael Finnegan. 
Welcoming the decsion of the Greyhound Recycling workers to enter into “intense negotiations” with the company, Mr. Finnegan said: “The locked out Greyhound workers have brought the owners of this company, the millionaire Buckley brothers, back to the negotiating table through a campaign which has married effective industrial and political action. “If this company was to get away with its attempt to enforce a 35% wage reduction on these workers, every worker in Ireland would be under threat. With the support of their union, SIPTU, political activists from across the Left and local communities successful action has been taken to bring this rogue employer to heel. “However, this employer has a long history of lying and its agreement to engage in intense negotiations over the next week to find a just solution to this dispute must not mean that the workers’ campaign ends. The workers and their supporters must prepare to return to mounting effective blockades at the company’s depot in Clondalkin in Dublin and in working class communities across that city, if these talks fail.”
He added: “Of course the root of this dispute is the privatisation of public services. This dispute must re-energise the campaign to bring waste collection services across the country back under the control of local councils so they can be carried out in an effective manner and not put into the hands of people with no concept of civic duty or basic human respect.”