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BALLYFERMOT will be having their Fight the Household Charge Meeting on Monday 23rd of January @ 8pm in the United Football Club. Blackditch Rd.
INCHICORE will be having their Fight the Household Charge Meeting on Tuesday 24th of January @ 8pm in the Annex at the Oblates in chicore.
DRIMNAGH will be having their Fight the Household Charge Meeting on Friday 27th of January @ 8pm Bosco Youth Club, Davitt Road
CHAPELIZOD will be having their Fight the Household Charge Meeting on Wednesday 1st of February @ 8pm in the Village Inn
Councillor Brid Smith, People Before Profit, has condemned ‘the legalised extortion’ of a €100 standing charge being imposed by Greyhound for waste collection in the Dublin City Council area.
‘The Greyhound company have no right to demand €100 up front from people. They only want this money so that they can build up their financial reserves at our expense.
‘The manner in which DublinCity Council have withdrawn from waste collection represents a huge historical set back.
‘Waste collection has been seen as a public service since the Victorian era – -it should not be regarded as an opportunity to make profit.
There are three aspects of this arrangement which are deeply disturbing:
Information on the exact financial arrangement between Dublin City Council and Greyhound are being withheld from elected representatives. Under the guise of ‘commercial sensitivity’ an insidious form of censorship has been imposed. But the people ofDublinhave every right to scrutinise arrangements made with private companies. What right do unelected city managers have to do deals without public transparency’.
Dublin City Council has given Greyhound the right to pursue people who owe the council money for waste charges. No information has been provided on how much money will go back to the council or what cut Greyhound will get. Instead a private company has been given the right to harass people who are already stressed out by huge bills.
The workers of Dublin City Council – who have given loyal service over the years have been treated in a disgraceful manner. They have been given no guarantees about their earnings – but have been told to turn up each morning like ‘spailpin fanaigh’ to wait outside the city council for work. This is no way to treat workers in the 21st century.
I call on people to protest against this attack on public services and to take the example of the global Occupy movement and resist.
People Before Profit Councillor Brid Smith is calling on the Minister of Education to guarantee the full reversal of cuts to DEIS Schools outline in this years Budget.
Minister Quinn last week order a review on the impact of cuts to DEIS schools after reports from his own inspectorate and from the Education Research Centre detailed the real positive impact DEIS is having on the attainment levels of pupils in these schools.
The cuts – which involve changes to the pupil-teacher ratio, the withdrawal of extra resources such as Support Teachers and changes to the way in which Learning Support and Language Support services are allocated – could result in all DEIS schools losing at least 1 – 2 frontline teachers, with some losing up to 8 teachers over the next three years.
Minister Quinn must now, having admitted his terrible mistake, ensure there is a full and immediate reversal of all DEIS cuts. However, Minister Quinn has said that if he is to reverse anything he will have to make cuts elsewhere in education. This is not good enough and there are alternatives to cutting vital budgets in areas such as Education. A small increase in tax on the wealth in this country would cover the needs of the Education sector.
Councillor Brid Smith said “Parents, teachers and children have to keep up their campaign and keep the pressure on Minister Quinn and this FG/ Labour government because this backtracking in recent weeks regarding the cuts to disability and cuts on Education has shown people power can force the government’s hand. There should be no question of any other cuts in Education. We have to insist that this government puts our children and our future first and not the dictats of the Troika. Therefore I would urge all parents, teachers and pupils to join this protest and show your support”.
The courageous act by La Senza workers to occupy their workplace must be applauded and supported.
The greed of capitalism for profit creates bubbles, and when those bubbles burst it is the workers who suffer. As retail is the bubble predicted to burst to 2012, staff in La Senza have set the trend for other retail workers to fight back and to win their rights.
La Senza workers were inspired by the sit-inCorkby Vita Cortex. These occupations are the beginning of what may be many worker occupations.
La Senza representative Tara Keane said “We took a moral stand not just for ourselves but for all frontline workers in the retail sector.” The success of these workers will be important for many other workers in retail and other sectors.
Workers united will never be defeated, and this inspiration from La Senza and Vita Cortex show the way for all workers in 2012.
People Before Profits Councillor Brid Smith has voiced her strong support for the decision by the La Senza workers who are occupying the Liffey Valley outlet in protest over their deplorable treatment by La Senza and the administrators KPMG.
Workers at La Senza lingerie shop in Liffey Valley shopping Centre, who were told on Monday evening of the closure of all its operations in Ireland, have occupied this outlet, with La Senza workers from throughout Dublin joining them to assist the sit-in.
La Senza in Liffey Valley alone took in over a quarter of a million euro during the Christmas period, but staff have been left without wages, including overtime payments for working during this period. The People Before Profit Alliance applauds these workers in their stance and calls on the administrators of La Senza, KPMG, to immediately pay the workers all that is owed to them in full, as well full redundancy.
Responding to the occupation by workers of the La Senza lingerie outlet in Liffey Valley Shopping Centre, People Before Profit / United Left Alliance Councillor Brid Smith said: “I strongly support the decision by the staff to occupy the Liffey Valley retail outlet. The treatment of these workers by the company and administrators is inexcusable and shameful. Like Vita Cortex workers in Cork, here is another situation where workers rights are trampled on and they are treated with utter contempt. We need legislation enacted to protect and prioritise the rights of workers and send a clear signal to employers that such behaviour towards workers will not be tolerated.”
People Before Profit/ United Left Alliance TD Richard Boyd Barrett submitted a request to hold an urgent Topical issue debate on the plight of the La Senza workers to the Ceann Comhairle this morning. Given the absolutely disgraceful treatment of the La Senza workers and their desperate current plight, Minister Bruton should also rapidly bring forward legal protections for workers in this kind of situation – to ensure that the rights and entitlements of the workforce are prioritised in the case of sudden closure or liquidation.
Some of the bin workers who have spent the best part of their working lives collecting our rubbish throughout the city.
Dublin City Management are pushing ahead with the privatisation of the service and these workers joined councillors and local people in a protest outside the City Council meeting at the beginning of November.
Cllr Brid Smith spoke at the protest and told the gathering “It was inevitable that the introduction of bin charges back in 2001 would lead to the privatisation of the service. Once an essential service is transformed into a commodity for profit making it is subject to fierce competition from the market and the public provider comes under tremendous pressure in maintaining the service. This is not rocket science. It is plainly obvious and those that really bear the brunt are the workers in the service and the average citizens who depend on the public service. But this issue also highlights how democracy has been stripped from local councillors. After three times voting not to privatise the service, the elected councillors are told by an unelected Manager, that their vote doesnt matter and that the privatisation of the service will happen. That is why I have a motion before the council calling on the Government to repeal Section 4 of the Waste Management Act brought in by Fianna Fail, that gives the manager executive powers and undermines local democracy.”
The protesters agreed to return to the city council meeting that will decide on the next budget and voice their objection there to a budget that does not contain a provision for the bin collection service.
Watch this space and join in the budget protests at City Hall 28 November at 6pm
