Norton
was an excellent Deputy as far as Labour in Carlow was concerned. He
attended at Branch and public meetings whenever requested. He was a
great orator and his advent gave a fillip to the Party which it
badly needed. Carlow is the biggest town in the Constituency of
Carlow/Kildare, only the second biggest in Carlow/Kilkenny.
In
1932 Fianna Fail had come to power as a Government supported by
Labour, and as they had vigorously opposed the setting up of the
Sugar Industry there were fears that Carlow's major industry would
be closed. Instead, however, Mr. De Valera pointed out that their
opposition was based on the fact that one sugar factory was
un-economic, so he proceeded to build three more, in Thurles, Tuam
and Mallow. On this occasion there was no need for foreign workers
to be brought in as Carlow men had become sufficiently skilled to
train the workers in the new factories.
To
go back to the Trade Union side of things and with particular
reference to the I.E.I.E.U. a scheme was inaugurated by the Carlow
Vocational Education Committee. When nine boys were taken at the
sugar factory to learn the trade of sugar cooking. This trade had
been carried on exclusively by Europeans from the start of the
Industry. Some were employed permanently in the factory working at
other trades during the non-manufacturing season. Sugar Cooking
consists of boiling the juices that come from the sugar beet until
sufficient water has been evaporated to give a supersaturated
solution, when it is possible to extract crystals from the juices.
These crystals are grown in the mother liquor until they become the
grains with which we are all familiar. It was a business requiring a
deal of experience and of course no matter how long they remained in
Ireland, the European cooks could never learn the English words well
enough to explain the process.
However, the new apprentices had joined the Union, mainly to ensure
that they would be recognised as tradesmen when their apprenticeship
was completed. After some years those boys recognised their voting
strength in the Branch, where as apprentices, they could vote on all
issues except strikes. Because of a Company scheme under which they
were sent to Ringsend Technical School for full-time courses in
their secondary trades, the apprentices from all factories got to
know one another well and great bonds of friendship and loyalty were
forged. Before the apprenticeships were finished the sugar cooks
dominated the I.E.I.E.U. in Carlow. Tuam and Thurles and were a
considerable force in the factory in Mallow.
On
the outbreak of war in 1939 the Company collected its dividend on
the money invested in the training schemes, when it became
impossible to recruit sugar cooks outside Ireland. But for the Irish
trained operatives, the Industry would have been brought to a
standstill. As a matter of interest some of the young cooks joined
the army on the declaration of the emergency but were quickly
discharged as being of vital necessity to the Company.
When the Local Defence Force was formed in 1940, the first companies
were based on local industries. There was a sugar factory company, a
boot-factory company and a company from Thompsons. In the Sugar
Factory Company, the O.C. was Jimmy Rice, the one-time Irregular
Column leader with second-in-command Ned Hutton, a one time Free
State Army Sergeant. This situation of armed workers marching under
officers of their own choosing, seemed to have marvellous
revolutionary potential and was backed with enthusiasm by the Carlow
Branch of the I.E.I.E.U. This must not have passed unnoticed. First
there was a directive from the Sugar Company that their Factory
Company should be disbanded because their workers were vital to the
economy. This instruction was rejected by the workers, who refused
to resign from the L.D.F. The structure of the command of the force
was then altered and control was taken out of the workers' hands and
officers from the Army took overall control. At this stage the
members of the I.E.I.E.U. withdrew from the armed sections but
answered the call to set up a Field Ambulance Company in the Carlow
District of the force. About 70% of the branch joined this Company.
-
-
Jack O'Carroll, Bertie Bishop, Paddy Bergin.
I,
as chairman of the Union Branch became O.C. of the Field Ambulance
Company. The second-in-command was local Health Officer a man named
Terry Moran, a socialist who had learned his politics during a spell
working in factories in England. The adjutant was naturally enough
Jack O'Carroll who was the secretary of the Union Branch. All the
N.C.O.'S were members of the branch as were almost all of the
members. I was eventually promoted to staff medical officer in the
District responsible for organizing Field Ambulance services in the
counties of Carlow and Leix. I was the only non-medical man in the
country to hold such a post.
The experience of training together,
especially on the training periods spent during the summer camps in
Tramore, created among the men a camaraderie and a loyalty which was
of immense importance in the difficult industrial struggles that
came along both during the war and immediately afterwards. Apart
from this aspect of the matter all the members of the unit were
encouraged to give lectures on First Aid themselves. Instead of
being merely taught they were trained to be teachers themselves.
Thus as time passed a closely knit articulate body of militant trade
unionists emerged. We all learned a great deal about Field Ambulance
work, First Aid and Hygiene, but we learned a great deal else as
well. When the war ended and the force was facing disbandment we
spent our lecture times not on First Aid but on learning elementary
economics. We even had lectures on Dialectical Materialism from
Derry Kelleher a well-known member of the Communist Party at that
time.
During all this time and in spite of the emergency situation trade
union and political affairs carried on. In 1941 there was
considerable agitation for two weeks holidays. This agitation was
spearheaded by the Laundry Workers, members of the Irish Women
Workers Union, who went on strike to enforce their demands. The
Carlow Branch of the I.E.I.E.U. organized a demonstration to show
support for the Laundry Workers and instructed the head office of
the Union to support the strikers with as much financial aid as
possible.
Mr.
McEntee was Minister for Industry and Commerce at that time and he
introduced the infamous Emergency order 83. This order made it
illegal for an employer to give any increase in wages to his
employees. If a trade union took strike action against an employer
to enforce a wages claim it would be held to be conspiring to force
the employer to break the law. In such an event the money held by
the Government as a negotiating fee, that is 1000 pounds per 1000
members, would be forfeited. This Negotiation Licence had been made
compulsory under the Trade Union Act of 1941, in spite of opposition
from the Labour Party and all the Trade Unions except the Irish
Transport. Opposition to the wages stand still order was largely
ineffective, the Dublin Council of Trade Unions leading whatever
opposition there was.
In
that same year of 1941 a conciliation board for the Sugar Industry
was set up and was composed of Company representatives and union
representatives, and presided over by Judge Shannon. This was a
follow on from the Corporate State thinking. Strife was to be
avoided at all cost and instead a community of interests was to be
established. By 1943 the power of the Unions seemed to be fairly
shackled. The sugar cooks in the four Sugar factories devised a
means of dodging the regulations. They insisted that under the terms
of their original contract of employment they were entitled to the
same rate of pay as the most highly-paid tradesmen in the industry,
namely the sugar cooks who were or had been brought over from
Europe. The Company refused to concede to this demand. The young
Irish cooks then informed the Company that they were fed up working
and intended to leave the firm's employment. They stressed that they
were not going on strike; they placed no pickets and had no support
from their union.
They then went home. The immediate reaction from
their union was to send telegrams to all the papers condemning the
strike and the strikers and disclaiming any responsibility for
either. The sugar which had been manufactured the previous year was
almost exhausted, no sugar could be imported because of the war and
a serious sugar shortage began. All the usual stories started to
circulate. The cooks were communists, who wanted to bring down
society as it then was; they were under the control of foreign
interests who wanted Ireland destroyed, etc. The press carried on a
virulent campaign. "Quidnunc" in the Irish Times being particularly
vindictive. The Catholic Standard was far less Christian than might
be expected, and Seamus O'Farrell, a one time organiser of the
Labour Party and later secretary of the National Labour Party was
very bitter indeed. I should mention that almost immediately after
the start of the strike and on the instruction of the head office of
the Union all sugar cooks who held any positions in the sugar
factory branches were dismissed from these positions. As the sugar
shortage worsened the danger of further mass dismissals grew because
there would no raw material for jam making, or for sweet making, or
for brewing etc. I was the Chairman of the Sugar Cooks Committee and
I was summoned to the Department of Industry and Commerce, where I
was informed that I could get ten years in jail for conspiring
against property. I pointed out that if myself and my colleagues
were imprisoned for ten years then it would be that length of time
or the end of the war before sugar again became available and I,
with my companions were literally thrown out of the Department.
Two
incidents on that same day compensated for our harsh treatment at
the hands of the Department officials. The first concerned a porter
at the National Library. While wandering aimlessly along Kildare St.
and as none of us had ever been inside the building we decided to
call in and see what sort of a place this Library was. For some
reason the porter did not seem to be anxious to let us pass him. He
asked what our business inside was and when we explained that we
merely wanted to see what sort of a place it was, he explained that
it was not a place for looking at but was a place for serious
reading and study, and that if at any time there was any book or
document we wanted to read then we would be quite welcome. He of
course had no idea who we were, so when having accepted his reason
for not admitting us I said to him "When are you people going to get
rid of that awful statue of Queen Victoria from in front of Leinster
House?" He replied with some vehemence "As far as I am concerned she
can stay there as long as she likes. What she did was a long time
ago.
The shower that are inside of Leinster House right now are
worse than ever she was. It was not Victoria who passed the Trade
Union Act or imposed the wages Stand Still Order, but these lads in
the Sugar Factories have them by the short hairs and I hope they
don't give in until they get everything they are looking for. If
there were more like them we might have a much better country." We
went on our way greatly heartened and later on got to a cafe and
went for a meal. There was no sugar for the tea and when one of my
companions said to the waitress "I suppose this is because of those
Communist Sugar Cooks", she rounded on him and said that as he was
quite obviously a worker he should be ashamed of himself, that the
Sugar Cooks were fighting for all the workers and that to go without
sugar for a while was a very small sacrifice to make in their
support.
Victory
The
whole thing lasted only three weeks and eventually we suggested that
we would return to work if our case could be submitted to Judge
Shannon for arbitration and that our case be made by me and that no
Trade Union Official be involved. This was agreed and the case was
heard early in 1944. At the end of the hearing the Judge awarded
that the cooks were entitled to 100% of their claim, that the
company had dealt with them in a disgraceful manner and had
therefore been responsible for the strike and that because of this
they would have to pay half of the wages lost by those workers who
had been locked out at the sugar factories because of the trouble.
It was a complete vindication of the cooks, it breached order 83,
but none of the Press ever reported any of this.
The
victory gave a boost to Union morale and membership of the I.E.I.E.U.
in Carlow increased rapidly. The firm of Thompsons in Carlow had
never been organised even though it had been in existence since
1860. It employed about 100 men mostly highly skilled people. It was
famous as a civil and mechanical engineering firm. During the First
World War it had manufactured the wings for the British Air Forces
famous Bristol Fighter Planes. In the Second World War Thompsons
manufactured the armoured cars for the Irish Army and the canal
barges which they used to carry turf from the bogs of Ireland to
Dublin. They later built the immense machines which harvest the peat
for our turf-burning electricity stations. In 1946 the job was
organised into the Carlow branch of the I.E.I.E.U. Almost
immediately a strike took place over a trivial issue. Even so it was
hard fought and showed that although it took almost a century to get
them into a union, once in they made staunch Trade Unionists.
In
1943 a new industry had come to Carlow, a razor blade factory. It
employed mainly women, about fifty of them. In 1945 these girls
complained that they were being badly treated by the foreman, a
German.
The
girls came to me with their complaint, and I got in touch with the
Irish Women’s Workers Union. They sent Miss Chevenix to Carlow and a
Carlow Branch of that Union was established, to look after the
girls. Governeys Boot Factory had been organised by the Boot and
Shoe Operatives Union and I had succeeded in organising all the
Mental Hospital Workers into the Workers Union of Ireland. There was
no industry in the town which was not in its appropriate
organisation.
Unfortunately this progress was affected by the troubles in the
wider field of Irish Labour. A massive break away from the Irish
Trade Union Congress had occurred. This was led by the Irish
Transport Union and supported by the majority of the Irish based
unions, including the Irish Engineering Industrial and Electrical
Union. At a special delegate conference of that Union, held to
consider the matter of disaffiliation from Congress, the Carlow
Branch delegates were alone in supporting continued affiliation to
the T.U.C. The disaffiliated unions proceeded to set up a congress
of their own which was called The Congress of Irish Trade Unions.
The new body held its first delegate conference in Waterford in 1946
where it was proposed that a new Labour Party be also set up.
The
first idea was that the new Party should be part of the new Congress
and be controlled and run by congress in the same way as the
original Irish Labour Party and Trade Union Conference had been. By
a fortunate quirk of fate the rules of my Union stipulated that the
Member of the National Executive who lived nearest to the venue of
such conferences should be one of the delegates to the Conferences.
I lived in Carlow and the Conference being in Waterford I was an
automatic delegate. Both the General Secretary and the President of
the Union were annoyed but there was nothing they could do about it.
I argued passionately against the setting up of the Party and helped
defeat the motion at Congress. However, that victory was short-lived
as the rival party was set up shortly afterwards and was called The
National Labour Party. All the Irish Transport Union Dail Deputies,
with the exception of Richard Corish of Wexford, Brendan Corish's
father, joined the new organisation. It was a crippling blow for the
Irish Labour Party, as at one stroke, it lost the affiliation fees
from unions which left and as it was no longer the second largest
part in opposition in the Dail it lost its Parliamentary allowance
which had formerly paid the wages of the Head Office Staff. It must
never be forgotten of Billy Norton, that he held the Party together
at the time and held it together until the time came again for
unity.
When the Federated Union of Rural Workers was founded the inaugural
meeting was held in the Four Provinces Hall which was then owned by
the Bakers Union. Delegates attended from all over [he country,
though the Leinster Counties were better represented than elsewhere.
The meeting was held on St. Patricks Day so that the delegates might
avail of the excursion trains, being run for the final of the G.A.A.
Provincial Championship. Old Jim Larkin attended and in a most
moving speech gave the new organisation his blessing. He withdrew
immediately afterwards and the business continued under the guidance
of Sean Dunne who had not yet become a deputy. Two delegates
attended from Carlow and I was one of them.
The
new Union was a peculiar organisation. Each county was to have its
own autonomous Branch, all Branches being federated for the purpose
of using the Negotiating Licence, made necessary by the recently
passed Trade Union Act. A further peculiarity was that persons from
other Unions could hold Honorary positions in the Federation's
Branches until such time as the Farm Workers and Road Workers gained
enough experience to manage their affairs themselves.
I
was appointed Chairman of the Co. Carlow Branch of the new Union and
set about the work of organising the Rural Workers. I managed fairly
well at the beginning. Carlow Town is hedged around with large
estates and most of those became organised but in the small farms
the difficulty of collecting dues was great. It became apparent that
the main strength of the Union would be the road workers, whose
monies could be collected by the gangers. In Kildare progress was
much better and in the south of that County a man named Joe Green
was the leading figure. Joe came from Castledermot. He was a life
long member of the Labour Party, a member of the Kildare Co. Council
and a noted local comedian. His occupation was farm labourer.
An
agitation for a weekly half-holiday on Saturdays, for farm workers
was current in South Kildare. The farmers were bitterly opposed to
this idea, maintaining that farming did not lend itself to such
amenities, that, if men did not work on Saturdays stock would suffer
and crops be damaged or destroyed. The workers devised a scheme,
which, they held, would get over these difficulties, but this was
rejected by the farmers. To prove that their scheme was practical
the workers decided to take the half-day at their own expense. In
other words they stayed home on Saturday afternoons and sacrificed
half a days pay.
This situation continued for three weeks without any suffering to
stock or loss of crops, but the farmers issued an ultimatum, that
any workers absenting himself on the following Saturday would be
sacked. Most of the men did absent themselves and were sacked and
the South Kildare strike, or rather lock out was on.
A
public meeting had already been arranged, for that Saturday night,
at which the workers case would be publicised and the workers
themselves enthused for the campaign ahead. The main speaker was to
be Sean Dunne who was to be supported by Senator Michael Smith from
Kildare. On the afternoon in question I got a telegram informing me
that Sean could not attend and asking me to take his place. I
arrived at the venue for the meeting somewhat before the starting
time, to find that Senator Smith also found it impossible to be
present, and that the meeting would have to be carried by Green and
myself. Well we carried the meeting all right and we also carried
the strike, for all its long duration but with the minimum support
from outside.
There was a tremendous attendance at the meeting. The workers were
enthusiastic, and full of spirit, of one sort or another, it being
Saturday night. Immediately afterwards a committee was set up, and
Joe Green was appointed Secretary. Pickets were arranged and
detailed for duty and all the mundane matters essential to carrying
out the strike were attended to. We were fortunate that the farmers
in that part of Kildare are mainly owners of large farms. The
Jacksons, Greens, Copes and Wrights between them own quite a large
slice of South Kildare. They were all growers of large acreages of
beet. At the time the job of lifting beet was very labour intensive
and we believed the employers would have to give in, in order to
harvest the crop. Our greatest weakness was a shortage of money to
pay strike pay as the funds available to us were those of the
Kildare Branch only. If the farmers could leave the beet in the
ground, until our money ran out, we were done. However, ripe beet
left in the ground loses sugar content, which reduces its value.
Every day the strike lasted the farmers lost money, every day it
lasted our funds grew less. We tried to ease our situation by
collecting money from the strikers. The response was generous,
especially from the factories in Carlow and the Miners in
Castlecomer. The farmers were not idle either and soon Young Farmers
Clubs were organising groups of their members, to pass our pickets
and pull the beet. This practice led to some exciting times. When
word would come that a group had arrived for beet pulling, a strong
band of workers would be organised, to proceed to the affected farm,
where they endeavoured to drive out the scabs with any available
weapons, the old ash plant being a favourite item. Such a situation
could not continue and as at that time the law books were filled
with laws protecting property and no law at all protecting jobs, the
Guards were soon around the fields protecting the Young Farmers. To
attack scabs was one thing, to attack the Police was a different
proposition altogether. We changed our tactics and searched out the
strike breakers away from their work, where we reasoned with them
with big sticks. One famous fracas in Baltinglass led to Joe Green
and myself being fined five pounds each or a week in jail. The fine
was paid by Ben Farrell a Baltinglass publican and a Wicklow Co.
Councillor, who later became the centre of the famous Baltinglass
Post Office transfer row.
One
further weapon we had, a drastic one. At a meeting of the Carlow
Branch of the I.E.I.E.U., I proposed that the sugar factory workers
should refuse to handle all beet pulled by the Young Farmers.
Although I argued with all the power I had and although there was a
considerable volume of support, I could not get the resolution
carried. It seemed as if all was lost. Then, early one morning,
shortly afterwards, Sean Dunne and John Smithers, then President of
the Workers Union of Ireland arrived at my home. I had worked for
twelve hours the previous night and was not at all pleased to see
Sean, who, I believed had not paid sufficient attention to the
Kildare Strike. However they had an interesting story to tell and
one that again brought a ray of hope that the strike might still be
won. Sean Dunne explained that he had a visit from Major General
Costello, then Managing Director of the Sugar Company, during which
the Major had stressed that his sympathies lay with the farm workers
on strike in Kildare and that if the Sugar Company could get, even a
threat of strike action, from the factory workers, he, as managing
director, would refuse to take in scab pulled beet.
The factories
would of course continue to run, using beet from farms not affected
by the strike, thus ensuring that only the South Kildare Farmers
would suffer. I pointed out that I had already tried to create that
situation and had failed. Dunne stressed that Costello was so much
in sympathy with the farm workers that all he needed was a threat of
strike and that no strike would take place. He suggested that all
that was necessary was a letter from me, on Union paper, pointing
out the likelihood of the skilled workers in the factory taking
strike action. He was very persuasive, and the prospect was
tempting. I as Chairman of the Branch had no official paper, and I
felt that before doing anything I should at least consult the
Branch Secretary. This was a cautious young Cork man named Jack
O'Carroll. Sean Dunne and I were driven to his house and he also was
persuaded that the chance was worth taking, because of the plight of
the Farm Workers. Jack wrote the letter saying that the men in the
factory would strike against scab beet and I also signed it as
chairman of the Branch. We gave the letter to Dunne and that was the
last we heard about it for the rest of the strike. With the beet
lifted the strike began to fizzle out as hunger and hardship drove
the men back to work. Some of them got their old jobs back, others
did not and for them the situation was indeed disastrous.
Denial
I
might mention here that some time after the end of the Farm Workers'
strike, Major Costello, sent the letter which Jack Carroll and I had
given to Sean Dunne, threatening strike action, to the Executive of
our union. This was to point out to them how irresponsible we were
and suggesting that we were not fit persons to hold positions in the
union. This did not do us much good in the Union but it did not "do
as much hard as the General hoped.
John Smithers and myself explained how we had been persuaded to send
the letter. Although this was denied we were believed and as I
already stated the damage was not as great as was intended.
To
realise how disastrous was the position of the workers who did not
get back their jobs at the end of the strike, one has to remember
that it took place during what was called "The Emergency".
-
-
Reception for workers following the completion of
Irish Sugar Co. Offices, Strawhall. Left to Right: Bill
Egerton, Graiguecullen; Paddy Kavanagh, Tinryland; Jim Burke,
McGamhna Road; Bob McGrath, Bagenalstown; Paddy Foley, John St.;
Paddy Timmons, Henry St.; — Geoghegan, Staplestown Road; Margo
Lombard, Montgomery St. (Sec.); Louie Carr, St. Killian's
Crescent; Mick Heary, Burrin St.; Jack O'Neill, Graiguecullen;
Mick Dempsey, Buller Moore, Pollerton; Tom Whitney, St. Fiacc's;
Christy O'Brien, Quinagh; Tommy Burke (C. 1950).
This was the period of the Second World War. Under the Emergency
Regulations, one could not leave the country without obtaining a
"Travel Permit" or Visa from the Irish Government. There was plenty
of work in England where high wages could be earned, provided one
was prepared to risk the intensive bombing raids by the Germans.
There was high unemployment in Ireland, so there was not much
difficulty for urban workers in getting the necessary Visa.
Agricultural workers and Turf workers were, however, held to be
essential to Ireland, and so found it extremely difficult to get the
necessary papers to emigrate. This then was the situation of many of
my friends in South Kildare, no work at home and no hope of leaving
home to go where the work was. One way out remained. There was no
Visa necessary to join the British army. All one had to do was get
on the train, go to Pettigo on the Northern Ireland border and join
up and this of course is what many of them did.
Before leaving this matter of the Travel Permits, I should point out
that it was not merely bog and farm workers who were barred from
emigrating to Britain. This ban also applied to all those persons
who were held by the Irish Government to be "Subversive". In other
words all those who had been political prisoners or who had been
interned were similarly barred. In Carlow we had an interesting
experience with a Doctor of Science, the Cork man Derry Kelleher I
mentioned before. He had been interned as an I.R.A. man and he could
not get a job in Ireland, largely because then as now, such persons
are barred from employment in the Public Services. For the same
reason he could not emigrate to England. His was a sad situation but
while he was with us in Carlow we devised a way to circumvent the
regulations, and off he went to England where he found work in his
profession. He later travelled to Trinidad and while there wrote a
book on Sugar Technology. He is back in Ireland this many a year and
is
now a prominent member of the Labour Party having been for a period
on the Ard Chomhairle of Sinn Fein (The Workers Party).
Before leaving the Kildare Strike there are two incidents I would
like to record. One concerns a man called Jim Loughman who came from
The Lone Bush, near Kilkea Castle near Castledermot. Jim was a road
worker with the Kildare County Council and so was not directly
involved in the strike. He was a member of the union from it's
inception and lifelong member of the Labour Party. One day coming
near the end of the strike he asked me what were the prospects of
success. I told him quite honestly what the situation was and
explained about our shortage of cash. The next day he called again
to see me and handed me fifteen pounds. I was astounded and asked
him from where on earth he had got the money. He had told me he had
sold his winter supply of turf and his winter supply of hay for his
pony, and warned me not under any circumstances to tell Joe Green or
any of the strikers. He is dead now so it does not matter. While he
lived he was best known as a traditional fiddler who attended all
the Fleadhs and often performed on Radio. I have never met a more
dedicated Trade Unionist and I am proud to have known him.
The
second incident concerns Joe Green, who had become a whole-time
official of the Federated Union as secretary to the Kildare Branch.
Sometime after the end of the strike he received a wire from the
Union Head Office informing him that since there was very little
money remaining in the Branch funds it had been decided to terminate
his employment, and that he was as from receipt of the telegram, no
longer an employee of the Union. This was about a week before
Christmas and as Joe was married and had a family, his position can
well be imagined. He rushed down to the village to Doyle's pub,
where there was a phone, and tried to get through to the Union
Headquarters. The phone service then was nearly as bad as it is now,
so poor Joe had to wait for a free line. While waiting, the Publican
started advising Joe that he should give up all that old Union
business and get himself a job where he would be free from trouble
and not be making enemies of his neighbours. It must have been hard
on Green but he pointed out quite reasonably that because of his
actions in leading the strike the farmers were not likely to give
him work while as a member of the Kildare County Council he could
not work as a road worker. Where else said Joe could he get a job.
Then like a voice from heaven the Publican said that because of his
connections throughout the county and especially in the Castledermot
area, he would make an excellent Bar Man, and added "There is a job
here for you right this minute or whenever you decide to see reason
and come and take it". Salvation for Joe but he was too loyal to say
what his position was, asked for just a little time to consider the
matter, went to another phone where he told the Union Exec., what
they could do with their job, came back to the Publican, started
work and remained there, gradually coming back to his old carefree
self until he died. Not only Capitalist bosses can be unfeeling and
brutal. It is an incident on which I do not like to dwell.
Paddy
Bergin.
-
At the Round Bush in South Kildare
-
In rain or hail or sleet
-
The men on strike assembled there
-
They had no where else to meet
-
Jim Loughman from Mageney's dead:
-
but his spirit's here to-day
-
To help the strikers in distress
-
Jim Loughman sold his hay
-
And Paddy Bergin penned a note;
-
The contents I'll repeat;
-
The Carlow Sugar Factory
-
Should not handle Tainted Beet.
- P. Murphy.
Source: Source: Carlow Past & Present. Vol. 1. No. 3. 1990 pages 65
– 72.
Gouleyduff Megger club
Had
a great chat with Joe Mcdonald (back row on the right) last night,
Gouleyduff Megger club annual night in Purcells bar Athy, knew him
through both Meggars and when I worked in Armer Sammon in the late
1960s.
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