Brid Smith

Cllr. Brid Smith presenting the signed petition at the HSE HQ

The campaign occupied the offices of the HSE Headquarters for about an hour last Thursday to protest the planned closure of the Laurel Unit – an 18 bed unit at Cherryorchard Hospital. Hundreds of locals signed the petition against the closure of teh laurel uniot and we handed in the petition to Paul Connors, Head of Communications at the HSE  Headquarters. He has promised to get back to the campaign as soon as possible, yet we are still waiting.

Campaigners with Save Cherryorchard Hospital handed in a petition of 5,000 names to keep the 18 bed Laurel Unit, a specialist Alzheimers Unit open. 22/07/2010 Credit: (c) Paula Geraghty

People Before Profit candidate for Mayor, Councillor Brid Smith condemns Dublin Bus’ decision to cut a 150 jobs and attack bus services by taking a further 90 buses off the road. These cuts, on top of the 120 buses that were cut from the fleet last year, will mean that Dublin Bus is operating at levels close to the 1980s. There are now just 970 buses on the road compared to 960 buses operating in 1989.

Brid Smith said:

“This is only the start of the attacks on jobs and services in Dublin Bus. While management claims these cuts will result in a more efficient service, the reality is that these cuts can only lead to poorer service and traffic chaos. Last year when they cut the buses they reduced the running time to squeeze in extra journeys, putting drivers under pressure to make the faster travel times. Drivers had to drop journeys, which were simply adjusted away by controllers.

“These cuts are just the most recent in a long series of attacks on services and jobs in Dublin Bus. The real agenda of the company is to privatise this essential public service and allow private companies to cherry pick the most profitable routes and do away with concept of the social responsibility to provide and protect public transport.

“Just like last year it will be working class areas that will suffer the most as those who depend most on these services will once find that the axe will fall heaviest on their communities.

“The worse thing about these cuts is that they make absolutely no sense. Given the high levels of unemployment in Dublin it is ridiculous to impose these massive job cuts, voluntary or otherwise, on workers who operate such a valuable public service.

“According to the Oireachtas transport committee, we’re supposed to have a target of 80 per cent of Dublin commuters travelling by bus by the end of this year. But how can these targets ever be anything other than a joke when we have one of the lowest public subsidies for bus services in the EU?

Yesterday at the Finance SPC in Dublin City Council the issue of the work-to-rule by council workers was raised in a discussion with the personnel manager.

IMPACT trade union have notified the council that their members will not work with any TD or Councillor from today as an escalation of the work-to-rule.

Cllr Paddy Bourke complained that “the unions are going a step too far” and that the staff are going “the extra mile”. Paddy and his fellow Labour Councillors Dermot Lacey and Kevin Humphries all opposed this escalation as it hurts the public since they are representing the public and those that elected them by dealing with queries to the Council.

Never let it be said that all three have been trade unionists all their lives but this is a step too far by the unions. One of them proposed we meet the unions to put the case to them.

PBP councillor Brid Smith reminded all councillors that it is less than two months when we democratically passed a motion at the council monthly meeting by a significant majority which indicated support for the work-to-rule and acknowledged that any inconvenience resulting from the workers’ action would be the fault of the Fianna Fail/Green Party government and not of the workers or their unions. So any complaints about this escalation must be directed at the Government and not at the workers or their trade unions. It would be a major contribution to the battle for a “Fairer Way” if Dublin City Councillors would look for a meeting with Minister John Gormley and lay the blame squarely at the door where it belongs.

In a recent statement Cllr Brid Smith of the People Before Profit Alliance welcomed the decision to keep Cedar House Homeless Unit open.

Following a motion passed at the March meeting of Dublin City Council it has been agreed that Cedar House Homeless Unit will not be closing until there is solid proof that replacement services are in place.

The motion proposed by Cllr Smith said “This Council condemns the proposed closure of Cedar House Homeless Hostel in accordance with the strategy of the Homeless Agency, “Pathway to Home”. We demand that this unit remains fully open and continues the provision of services to homeless people in our city until such time as alternative and adequate housing alternatives are put in place. An essential 20 bed dormitory is due for closure by 30th March 2010 and no adequate alternative has yet been identified and communicated. 30 individual rooms and all other services are due for cessation by 30th September 2010.”

Cedar House provides services for up to 50 men per night and up to 50 men and women per day. Services provided include: emergency accommodation, counselling, methadone maintenance programmes, personal development programmes, educational programmes, doctor/nurse access, life skills programmes, key workers, day drop in centre providing shower facilities, clean clothing, bedding and food.

Cllr Brid Smith said: “I welcome this decision. This is a great victory fro the staff of Cedar House who fought a determined campaign to keep the service open. This is another example of people power bringing results.

Its also a great victory for the many homeless people who use the service. With growing waiting lists for houses there is a vital need to keep services like Cedar House open. It is also vital that we put the resources into solving the homeless crisis. With many vacant properties throughout the City there should be no need for people to be on the streets”.

Cllr Smith will be the People Before Profit Alliance candidate in the Mayoral election which will take place later in the year. Housing and homelessness will be one of her priorities on the campaign.

Brid Smith 087 9090166

Motion from People Before Profit Councillor Brid Smith Passed By City Council

Last night Dublin City Council voted overwhelmingly to save Cedar House
Homeless Unit. The Council is now seeking that the Homeless Agency reverses  its decision to close the unit.

Cedar House provides services for up to 50 men per night and up to 50 men
and women per day.  Services provided include: emergency accommodation, counselling, methadone  maintenance programmes, personal development programmes, educational  programmes, doctor/nurse access, life skills programmes, key workers, day  drop in centre providing shower facilities, clean clothing, bedding and  food.

The motion said:

“This Council condemns the proposed closure of Cedar House Homeless Hostel  in accordance with the strategy of the Homeless Agency, “Pathway to Home”. We demand that this unit remains fully open and continues the provision of  services to homeless people in our city until such time as alternative and  adequate housing alternatives are put in place. An essential 20 bed  dormitory is due for closure by 30th March 2010 and no adequate alternative  has yet been identified and communicated. 30 individual rooms and all other  services are due for cessation by 30th September 2010.”

In proposing the motion People Before Profit Councillor Brid Smith said:

“If the decision makers go ahead with planned closures of these facilities
without ensuring continued and consistent access to support services many
people will regress dramatically in their struggle to improve their lives.

The Pathway to Home strategy can only work if there is an adequate supply of  long-term housing. With 60,000 people currently on the waiting list there is  clearly a shortfall . Without a guarantee of appropriate long term  accommodation it is impossible for us to accept this closure”.
The motion was taken under Lord Mayors Business and was passed
overwhelmingly. Councillor Smith is now calling on the Mayor to ensure that  Council officials convey the clear view of the Council to the Homeless
Agency.

People Before Profit is fully committed to supporting the staff in their
campaign to keep Cedar House open.

Councillor Brid Smith of the People Before Profit Alliance will contest the election for a Dublin Mayor. It is likely this election will take place in the Autumn and will give the newly elected Mayor “substantial powers to deliver a vision for Dublin”.

The People Before Profit Alliance believes this election provides an opportunity to the people of Dublin to show their opposition to the current policies of our Government which are leading to chronic unemployment in the city, growing numbers of families on the housing list, the implementation of water charges and cut backs in local services.

Brid Smith will campaign against water charges and incineration for the Dublin Region. Instead she will advocate the creation of a public works scheme with directly employed labour to

- upgrade all water infrastructure to prevent massive waste of water through leakage

- a city-wide home insulation programme to conserve energy and protect all water piping from erosion and leakages

- installation of water conservation methods such as dual-flush toilets and grey water bins

- increased re-cycling of waste to prevent land-fill usage and the introduction of mechanical biological treatment plants to prevent incineration

- maintain and restore all the public housing stock to ensure no houses are left empty in our estates and families are taken off the housing waiting lists.

People Before Profit are opposed to incineration as a means of dealing with waste management and Brid will call for ending  the contract with Covanta and Dong for the Poolbeg incinerator.

Billions of taxpayers money has been used to bail out the banks while thousands of young people have had their homes re-possessed by the banks. Brid will demand that empty developments are taken in public ownership instead of the compulsory leasing system that local authorities are subject to, giving a further bail out to the developers.

Job creation must be a priority for our capital city and Brid will be promoting the engagement of direct labour by the local authorities to build, maintain and repair public facilities such as libraries, swimming pools, youth and family resource centres, playgrounds and crèches.

Brid Smith will actively seek the support of local community activists and trade unionists for this campaign to transform Dublin into a vibrant city that is focussed on its people and services that are publicly provided.

PBP Fund-raiser night is being held at the Clifton Court Hotel (turn at O’Connell Bridge towards  Liberty Hall).

- Admission 5 euro

- live music –raffle- craic.

All Welcome

In a statement tonight People Before Profit Councillor Joan Collins condemned the decision of Dublin City Council to sack six engineers whose responsibilities include water and flood defence.

With the backing of Councillor Brid Smyth a motion has been tabled for the next meeting of the Council calling for the decision to be reversed.

The motion states “This Council condemns the recent decision of management to terminate the contracts of six graduate engineers by the Council in the areas of drainage, environment, water, flood defence and roads. Given the recent catastrophic consequences of flooding across the country, this decision is totally inappropriate and compromises the ability of this Council to cope with similar threats of flooding of Dublin City. We call for the immediate re-instatement of these professional workers who will contribute to the prevention of a flooding disaster in Dublin. Any short term costs saved by the termination of these contracts pales significantly in the face of what it could end up costing the city in both in human and financial terms.”

The engineers are to have their contracts terminated tomorrow. Councillor Collins is calling on the City Manager to put a stay on the decision until the Council has an opportunity to discuss the matter.

The People Before Profit Alliance Councillors have pledged to provide full backing to the engineers and their union, SIPTU, in fighting these unjust and unnecessary sackings.

On the 4th of November the workers who were being denied recognition of their service by Glassco were informed by the management of the new contractors that their right to recongition of service and the full implementation of the Transfer of Undertakings has been granted.
It’s great to win something especially for the workers concerned.

A new campaign ‘The Poor Can’t Pay’ is being undertaken by a range of charities, trades unions and community organisations. The objective of the campaign is to ensure that the cost of the economic crisis does not fall on the most vulnerable in society

Check it out http://www.thepoorcantpay.ie/

At 10.00am on July 31st  management from Thomas Cook arrived at shops in Dublin to enforce closure. Members refused and occupied the shops. The context to this dispute is a company that seeks to consolidate and increase profits through the closure of more than 100 shops, the closures in Dublin fly in the face of these shops making more than £400 million profit during 2008.

The following are video clips were taken during the Thomas Cook Occupations. It shows the ability of workeres and communities to take a stand against the greed to big business

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr3YoddMVak&feature=channel_page

Day 3 of  the occupation – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv8RbGdjlPM&NR=1

Day 4- Mass picket outside Thomas Cook this morning to stop any attempt by the courts to evict the workers. Cllr Richard Boyd Barrett, People Before Profit was there throughout to show the support and commitment of People Before Profit to defend workers rights and jobs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svOFM0Q_UVw&NR=1

Gardai Arrests of  Thomas Cook Workers

At 5 AM Aug 5th, over 150 Garda took part in an operation to remove Thomas Cook workers who had occupied the building. They sealed off the street, dragged peaceful demonstrators away from the front door, and smashed their way in with a battering ram.

First, around 25 Gardaí marched up to the front door of the building. Over 150 Gardaí followed them on foot and in riot vans. The latter placed metal barriers across the street, from Trinity College to the bottom of Grafton Street and more across the top of the street affectively sealing off the area. It’s estimated 50 to 60 Gardaí manned each line of barriers.

About a dozen protesters huddled together at the front of the building. When the Gardaí arrived they immediately used force to remove the protesters even though all of them repeated the words ‘…this is a peaceful protest…’ Women were dragged along the ground by their feet, and put into arm and wrist locks by Gardaí twice their size. One man was punched as he sat on the ground by the front door.

Once the Gardaí had managed to force the handful of demonstrators back, they immediately produced a battering ram and proceeded to break the door down by breaking the glass and also the doorframe.

Before they arrived there were a number of people inside, sleeping on the floor. It’s believed at least one pregnant lady was inside, and she was taken to the Coombe Hospital as she went into labour early.

Many witnesses who saw the events unfold before their eyes were horrified at the amount of force and manpower that was used to gain entry to the building. The workers inside, and the supporters outside, had said from the start that it was a peaceful demonstration.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sW1DGa-WdQ&feature=channel_page

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsSoNFSJbds&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi_Qo_XxL64&feature=channel_page

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svOFM0Q_UVw&NR=1

In May MTL cut 19 jobs. The company then wrote to the remaining workforce threatening to sack them if they did not accept new wages and conditions.

The 13 workers who have been made compulsorily redundant in May got an average severance payment of €37,000, despite claims from MTL of payments of over €75,000.

MTL is owned by The Mersey Docks & Harbour Co, now Peel Ports Group, and had enough money to recently complete a €25million refit operation in Dublin Port.

The dockers are continuing their pickets despite MTL getting an injunction “to prevent striking dock workers disrupting the smooth operation of the Port of Dublin.”

A number of large protests have taken place in support of the dockers.

For more on this see: http://www.mtldockers.com

The following is a video link to the march on August 24th in support of the MTL dock workers at Dublin Port. Cllr Brid Smith spoke at the march and urged everyone to continue fighting and support the March on September 19th against the proposed NAMA Legislation which is bailing out banks and developers  at the expenses on workers in Ireland

People Before Profit continue to support and fight to defend workers rights and jobs both here in Dublin port and throughout the country.

Click on the link  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJzKLp2YlQM

CLick on the link below for more inforamtion about the Protest against NAMA.

NAtional Protest against NAMA

We urge you to come out and voice your opposition to NAMA