Outrage as SIPTU endorse Fine Gael coalition

Amid the outrage at the SIPTU statement calling for a vote for Labour and a return of the coalition there are some facts that we should take seriously. 
 
The first is that even SIPTU do not argue that Labour is a party of the working class.  They admit their true nature as a lobbying platform attempting to soften the blows of capitalism or to direct them more scientifically.
 
By doing so SIPTU announce that they too are a lobbying platform for conciliating and collaborating with capitalism. For their members this will cast a bright light on decades of social partnership and all the marches and defiant speeches that ended in sell out and surrender. The  socialist groups argue that support for Labour leads union leaders to collaborate. The truth is exactly opposite - it is because they collaborate that they need the Labour Party. 
 
We should also be aware that the divisions between right and left in the union bureaucracy are much thinner than it appears. It was Jack O’Connor who proposed the idea that we should have a constitutional referendum on water charges. This was designed to demobilize the campaign and divert attention from union involvement in Irish Water However it was adopted by the left, who now propose a left government with Sinn Fein – just as unlikely a curb to the capitalist offensive as Labour has proved.
 
However the SIPTU executive are right in dismissing any possibility of a "left government". The fact that they see a Fianna Fail / Sinn Fein coalition as the left option shows the extent to which the desperation of workers is constrained within a network of pro-capitalist parties.  
 
The world of the SIPTU bureaucrat is a grim place. Either capitalism will recover and we can plead for relief or recession gathers pace and we plead for mercy.
 
The figures give them the lie. The "recovery" has seen massive transfers from the poor to the rich. With this brake on economies it is hardly surprising that stock markets across the globe are signalling a second slump.
 
Because he is so deeply immersed in capitulation to capital Jack O'Connor has been pushed to an act of desperation. He has called on 200 000 members to support the coalition. It is unlikely that more than 200 will obey.
 
In the election post mortem the role of O'Connor, Begg and their ilk will be highlighted and the need for an independent party of the working class, independent action on the streets and in the communities and workplaces, will come into ever sharper focus.