SIPTU General President, Jack O’Connor, has called on the Left to unite in providing a “coherent vision” of how Irish society can move beyond “the culture of the quick buck” which has devastated Irish society towards building a “New Republic”.

O’Connor made his call in an oration at the grave of Alicia Brady one of the last martyrs of the 1913 Lockout. She died after being fatally wounded during a confrontation with strike breakers and was buried one hundred years ago on Saturday, 4th January.

“It is time now to abandon the failed strategy of basing public policy on individual greed and to revisit the task of building a New Republic informed by the ideals of collective solidarity which were so brutally suppressed in this city in 1913. 

“In that regard the trade union movement and the Left are the only forces in our society which reflect the interests of the majority and which are sufficiently organised and resourced to lead the way.”

He added: “If we are really serious about being true to the memory of Alicia Brady and all those she stood with throughout that epic struggle, we have an obligation to offer more than protest and caustic commentary.”

It was necessary to face up to the challenge of developing a coherent vision for Irish society based “on equality and the primacy of the common good. We must also demonstrate that we have the capacity to bring it about and outline a strategy as to how it would work in the context of today’s globalised economy.”

That meant people on the Left realising that until "we command a majority it is entirely legitimate, indeed essential, for parties and individuals to participate in government with those on the centre right either in Dublin, or Belfast.

“We have to have a more rational strategy than standing aside and allowing working people to be battered into the ground in the hope they would follow us as a result of the experience.”

The Left and the trade union movement needed to display “an intellectual generosity of spirit that recognises that no one has a monopoly of wisdom. We must be sufficiently pragmatic to avoid condemning those with whom we disagree on questions of strategy and tactics, or dismissing their programmes as ‘fantasy economics’ and the like.”

Also addressing the commemoration was Alicia’s niece, Brigid Taylor, Chairperson of the Irish Women Workers’ Union Committee, Terese Caherty, and 1913 Committee co-ordinator, Padraig Yeates. SIPTU Campaigns and Equality Organiser, Ethel Buckley, chaired the event.

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The Making of the Great 1913 Lockout Tapestry details the background and those who helped produce each of its 30 panels designed by artists Robert Ballagh and Cathy Henderson. Featuring a full colour picture of each of the Tapestry’s panels and with only 600 available the book makes the perfect gift for all those with an interest in Irish labour history or handicrafts.

SIPTU General Secretary, Joe O’Flynn, said: “The Tapestry will be a living testament not just to a century of past struggle but a commitment to continuing that struggle until the working families who make up the vast majority of our citizens, secure their rightful place in the sun. When we make this State worthy of the dreams and aspirations of the leaders of the Lockout we will at last come into our own.”

Copies of the The Making of the Great 1913 Lockout Tapestry are available from the SIPTU Communications Department (Liberty Hall), the Glasnevin Cemetery Museum Bookshop, the Abbey Theatre, the National Gallery Bookshop and Books Upstairs, 36 College Green, Dublin 2.

The book costs €15 (€12 for SIPTU members) with an additional €6 for post and packaging .

The SIPTU Meath District Council expressed its sincere condolences to the family of Shane Donnelly who was tragically killed in an accident on Sunday (22nd December).

The company had also proposed to abolish the workers’ Christmas bonus, reduce premium pay and reduce the numbers of section managers.

SIPTU Organiser, Neil McGowan, said: “The Labour Court recommendation allows for the potential for this dispute to be resolved in a satisfactory manner for our members. SIPTU and our colleagues in Mandate Trade Union have consistently requested adequate financial information to underpin the company’s claims. This has not been forthcoming to date but the Labour Court recommendation gives us the means to achieve this and deal with the matters in dispute in an orderly fashion.”

Approximately 140 SIPTU members are employed in seven Marks and Spencer stores across the Dublin area.

Despite major advances made by Irish labor activists in the 19th century, Connolly found that employers still had the advantage when he arrived in Ireland in 1902. Over the next eight years, he was among an influential second generation of Irish American leaders in the United States who rallied immigrants from all over Europe to press for the dignity of labour. Turning homeward, he insisted that the fight for Irish nationalism was inseparable from the battle for the rights of all workers, in factories as well as on farms.

Connolly's experiences in the US influenced his actions during the Dublin Lockout of 1913, which was part of a larger transatlantic effort to secure the rights of the working class in the years before World War I.

The 'Labor & Dignity' exhibition is Glucksman Ireland House's first contribution to Ireland's Decade of Commemorations, which was announced in 2012 by the Taoiseach, Enda Kenny. It is also part of a year-long series of special academic initiatives to mark the twentieth anniversary of Glucksman Ireland House, established as the Center for Irish and Irish American Studies at New York University in 1993.

Professor Marion R. Casey, a faculty member at Glucksman Ireland House, and Daphne Dyer Wolf, a PhD candidate in History and Culture at Drew University, curated the exhibition, which was designed by Hilary J. Sweeney.

Download the exhibit program. (2MB)