Wage agreement slammed
A Chairde,
In reference to Neil Forde's article in An Phoblacht (30
January), it may be of interest to mention that not only
have workers in Telecom Eireann not been paid their already
agreed increases in wages but outrageous demands have been
made on the operating staff that they should lose their
additional allowances for Sunday work and Saturday work as
well as all overtime. In addition, part-time staff are to be
employed - this will have a prejudicial effect on the
conditions and security of employment of those now employed.
(As well as the staff being affected, pensioners, whose
pension is related to that of the staff as far as increases
in pensions are concerned, have not received increases due
to them in line with the existing agreement.)
In the light of this it is difficult to see how workers can
place faith in these kind of wage agreements if supposed
``champions'' of the working class in the form of Democratic
Left and the Labour Party, as well as their Trade Union
backers, are stabbing in the back those whose interests they
supposedly represent.
It must amuse as well as sadden anybody who sees these
hypocrites pay lip service to the celebration of Jim Larkin
at invitation-only gatherings in Liberty Hall.
Peter Moore,
Dublin
Information wanted
A Chairde,
I am doing research on an uncle of mine who died in the
Civil War in 1922, and seek help and information please.
His name was William Moran, born 1902, at Carracastle,
Bohola, Claremorris, County Mayo. He served with the East
Mayo Brigade, IRA, and took the Republican side during the
Civil War.
He died in an incident on 28 June 1922 in Kiltimagh Town,
County Mayo.
His name is on the memorial erected near Kilkelly, County
Mayo along with 14 others who died for the Irish republic 16
January 1923.
I would be grateful for any information or advice.
Patrick Moran,
112 Meadow Park,
Churchtown,
Dublin 14.
ti-independence
A Chairde,
I am a young republican and after reading an article by John
A. Murphy, a Professor of Irish History in University
College, Cork, in the Sunday Independent (26 January) I am
enraged by the insults and the mockery which he made of the
Republican Movement, our brave comrades and anyone with a
republican view.
He writes: ``Only the politically retarded and the
ideological malcontents refuse to recognise the state. They
nurture fantasies about restoring an all-Ireland republic''.
He also says, ``Is it not time in this 75th anniversary year
of independence to rid ourselves of this fantasy?''
Who gave this man the right to mock our heroes who gave
their lives and are still willing to give their lives for
our right to have our land free from foreign invasion?
He goes on to insult the nationalist people of the Six
Counties, saying ``Do we in this excessively bureauctratic
small island really need another complicated and expensive
overlay of cross-border institutions, just to indulge the
ideological whims of a few and appease a threatening
minority?''
It is a disgrace that he calls himself a Professor of Irish
History.
Shane Galligan,
Cavan.