Dublin City Council to Privatise Bin Service – PROTEST 6PM CITY HALL MONDAY 7 NOVEMBER

3 11 2011

Refuse collection and waste management was established in Dublin in late 1800′s to stop the spread of diseases like cholera. Since then it has been a publicly run service. But now Dublin City Council are withdrawing from this service on December 5th.

Under Section 4 of the Waste Management Act 2001, the city manager can over-rule elected councillors on matters to do with waste. He has decided to invoke these powers and withdraw a public bin services from the people of Dublin. His aim is to hand it over to private contractors who will eventually bring in even higher charges.

In South Dublin, County Council, two private contractors Thorntons and Greyhound are already charging people €50 and €60 annual fee and also charging by weight on each lift. This increases the overall cost of the service and waivers will be entirely removed from next April.

Once the system is privatised, the waiver system is gone. Waivers only exist in three councils in the country at the moment – and one of them is Dublin City Council.

On three occasions, Dublin City councillors have voted to reject the manager’s decision to privatise the service and three times they have been told

by the manager that his decision stands regardless.

In late September management wrote to the 150 approx bin collection workers and informed them that their jobs in Waste Management would be gone after December 5th. They were given an option to choose to redeploy to other departments but not given an option of redundancy or to do other work in Waste Management. Many of these workers have given a life time of labour in collecting our rubbish and are now treated in this demeaning way. They are furious, are offended and feel powerless.

On Monday Nov 7that the Dublin City Council meeting the People Before Profit Alliance will propose a motion to repeal the anti-democratic legislation brought in by the Fianna Fail Government in 2001.

But we need to show the political establishment that we are opposed to privatization of services and want to keep our bin collection service in public hands.

Support the bin workers and defend our public services – make your voice heard against this undemocratic system and against the disgraceful disregard of the bin collection workers.

DUBLIN_Bins


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Categories : Ballyfermot, Bank Bailout, Banking Crisis, Banks, Bin charges, Bin Tax, BLuebell, Brid Smith, Budget, Cherry Orchard, Crumlin, Cutbacks, Drimnagh, Dublin City, Dublin City Council, Dublin South Central, Environment, Household tax, Irish Government, Irish Politics, Other Members of the United Left Alliance, People before Profit, recession, Refuse collection, Unions, United Left Alliance

PROTEST AT CITY COUNCIL MEETING CITY HALL MONDAY 7 NOVEMBER @ 6PM

1 11 2011

Refuse collection and waste management was established in Dublin in late 1800′s to stop spread of diseases like cholera. Since then it has been a publicly run service. But now Dublin City Council are withdrawing this service from December 5th.

Under Section 4 of the Waste Management Act 2001, the city manager can over rule elected councillors on matters to do with waste.
He has decided to invoke these powers and withdraw a public bin services from the people of Dublin. His aim is to hand it over to private contractors who will eventually being in even higher charges.

In South Dublin Council, one private contractor, Thornton’s, is charging people €60 extra just to enter their service. They are also increasing the cost of each lift. Once the system is privatised, the waiver system for the poorest section of the population will be removed. Waivers only exist in three councils in the country at the moment – and one of them is Dublin City Council.
When the poor cannot afford to pay for waste collection, illegal dumping will increasing, causing a new health hazard.

On three occasions, Dublin City councillors have voted to reject the manager’s decision and three times they have been told by management that he is going ahead regardless.

In late September management wrote to the 150 approx bin collection workers and informed them that they would not be working in this department after 5 Dec. They were given an option to choose which dept to redeploy to. Many of these workers have given a life time of labour in collecting our rubbish and are now treated in this demeaning way. They are furious, are offended and feel powerless

At the Monday meeting on November 7th of Dublin City Council, Cllr Brid Smith of the People Before Profit Alliance will move the following resolution:
‘In light of the clear anti democratic Executive function afforded to management to privatise the bin collection service, despite three majority votes of the elected members to maintain the service in public hands, this Council calls on the current Government to repeal Section 4 of the Waste Management (Amendment) Act 2001 which provides that the making of a waste management plan will become an executive (management) function, a change from the Waste Management Act 1996, where the power was a reserved (elected member) function.’

Come to the protest outside the make your voice heard against a totally undemocratic system of management that is depriving us of a vital public service.

Issued by People Before Profit, Councillor Brid Smith 0879090166


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Categories : Ballyfermot, Bank Bailout, Banking Crisis, Bin charges, Bin Tax, BLuebell, Brid Smith, Budget, Cherry Orchard, Crumlin, Cutbacks, cuts, Drimnagh, Dublin City, Dublin City Council, Dublin South Central, Environment, IMF, Inchicore, Irish Government, Irish Politics, Other Members of the United Left Alliance, People before Profit, Refuse collection, Unions, United Left Alliance

HOUSEHOLD TAX MEETING IN BALLYFERMOT TONIGHT IS CANCELLED DUE TO THE WEATHER

24 10 2011

More info soon.


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HOUSEHOLD CHARGE – A SAVAGE AND UNFAIR TAX ON ORDINARY PEOPLE

19 10 2011

 

The Government want to levy a property tax on your family home and introduce a water tax by 2014.  They plan to introduce a household charge of 100 euro in January as an “interim measure”.

ESRI and government ministers have admitted that the tax will increase to more than 1000 euro very quickly if it gets its foot in the door.

This new tax is not about paying for the existing services we already pay for. It is just the latest attempt to make us pay for the losses of the bankers and speculators.

It is also a completely unfair tax.  The couple living in a modest home are being charged the same amount as the millionaire in his mansion.

Imagine if there was a way to stop these endless attacks. A way to stand up and not just protest helplessly against this tax, but to really beat it, directly by our own hand.

There is a way. Organised mass non-payment can beat this tax, just like it beat the Water Charges in the 1990s. Unlike cuts to social services and public sector wages, new taxes rely on people to voluntarily pay them. If enough people refuse to pay, the tax becomes uncollectable.

But to do this we all need to have confidence that we are all standing together in refusing to pay, which is why we need to organise.

So now the choice is yours. You can take back the initiative and make the decision to be one of the people organising in our area for non-payment and mutual support. This is our chance to change the game.

What you can do:

  • Come to the public meeting at Ballyfermot United Sports Club on the 24th October at 8pm
  • Tell your friends and neighbours from the area that you’re going and invite them to come with you
  • Keep up with campaign news at http://nohouseholdtax.org

Contact Brid 087 9090166, Louise 087 2649266 or Paul 085 1552655


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Categories : Ballyfermot, Banking Crisis, Banks, BLuebell, Brid Smith, Cherry Orchard, Cutbacks, cuts, Dublin City, Dublin City Council, elections, Household tax, Housing, IMF, Irish Government, Irish Politics, People before Profit, recession, United Left Alliance, water charges

Fight the Household Tax- Ballyfermot Meeting. All Welcome

17 10 2011


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Categories : Ballyfermot, Bin Tax, BLuebell, Brid Smith, Cherry Orchard, Crumlin, Cutbacks, cuts, Drimnagh, Dublin City, Dublin City Council, Dublin South Central, Household tax, Housing, IMF, Irish Government, Irish Politics, McCarthy cuts, McCarthy Report, People before Profit, recession, United Left Alliance, water charges

HSE RE OPENS THE HIV/AIDS UNIT IN CHERRY ORCHARD HOSPITAL FOR ADMISSIONS AND BROADENS IT’S REVIEW

6 10 2011

Today family advocates for patients in the Rowan Unit in Cherry Orchard Hospital were informed by management that the unit will remain in full use for the present.

The HSE apologised to all patients and families who have been distressed by the lack of information on the future of the unit. Admissions had been cancelled in the unit for the past two weeks and up to last weekend five beds were empty.

Families of the three long term patients who live in the unit were also reassured today that any decision in the future on the accommodation for their brothers would only be taken after full consultation with the patients and their families.

Admissions to the unit are opened again and the HSE has indicated that a broader review, involving staff members and HIV advocacy groups has been put in place. This review will take at least one month to complete. The HSE management assured all involved that the respite service would not be closed but would be improved and enhanced.

This is very welcome news for the patients, the families and their supporters. Cllr. Brid Smith who had put a  motion before Dublin City Council’s meeting last night calling on the HSE not to close the service, was assured of the support of the vast majority of the Council. In the event the motion did not go ahead but a similar motion was passed unanimously by the South Central Area committee last week.

The proposed closure of the unit was also raised in the Dail by Joan Collins TD. In response Deputy Roisin Shortall indicated that she was shocked by the news and would investigate it further.

The HSE were very conscious that this decision was negatively received by the general public and received dozens of communications from political representatives, HIV advocacy groups, media and family members.

A protest planned for Monday 10th October by the patients and their families has now been postponed and hopefully will not be necessary if the review delivers a positive outcome for all concerned.


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Categories : AIDS, Ballyfermot, BLuebell, Brid Smith, Cherry Orchard, Cherryorchard Hospital, Cutbacks, cuts, Dept of Health, Drimnagh, Dublin City, Dublin City Council, Dublin South Central, family advocates, Health, HIV advocacy, HSE, IMF, Irish Government, Irish Politics, People before Profit, recession, Respite service, United Left Alliance

The Privatisation of Bin Services By Dublin City Council

6 10 2011

Most of Monday night’s council meeting was taken up with arguments around the future of Temple Bar Cultural Trust. But by far the more interesting discussion for the rest of the meeting was around an emergency motion submitted by People Before Profit Councillors Pat Dunne, myself Brid Smith and Independent Councillor Ciaran Perry.

The motion, calling on management not to proceed with the sale of the bin collection service to private companies, was put before the council because on Friday last bin workers received a letter from Dublin City Council informing them they would be re-deployed, giving them one month to chose an option of where to and finally thanking them for their years of hard work.

 

I met an old friend on my way into the council meeting who has given 31 years of service to DCC waste management, most of it driving bin lorries. He was so offended by the one line of thanks and wishing him the best for the future contained in that letter. Perfectly understandable when his life’s labour can be written off so easily and sold to the highest bidder to make vast profits.

 

And this is the core of the issue. Once a public service is commodified, when people have to pay again for its delivery (having already paid their taxes), when the market is open to competition, then inevitably it leads to privatisation of that service.
It’s not rocket science that private operators do not compete with the public service on a level playing field. They drive down the wages and conditions of their workers in order to maximise their profits. They seldom recognise trade unions. They start out charging very low rates to the consumer only to drive them dramatically upwards once they have control over the service. They compete visciously with each other. And they do not deliver on the waiver scheme for poorer families. This is one thing when selling ice cream or cars. But when providing an essential service like waste management it is unacceptable and uncontrollable. All of this we predicated when we first issued leaflets opposing bin taxes ten years ago.
While the debate in the council chambers was taking place I had to pinch myself several times after each Fianna Fail councillor spoke and displayed their outrage and radicalism. It was incredible that a political party who were in power when bin taxes were introduced, who were in power when the waste management act gave control of the service to the City Manager and took it from the hands of those elected to serve the people and who were in power when 24 activists were jailed for opposing the bin taxes and none of the same party politicans or their cronies were before the courts for their dodgy dealings – that they could speak so blatantly out of both sides of their mouths.
Fine Gael  surprise  surprise  - did not support the motion.

 

So it was overwhelming adopted with support from the Labour Party, Sinn Fein, People Before Profit, Independents and the tricky Fianna Failers.

 

But they are not the only tricky party to vote for it. Labour fully endorsed it and added some useful amendments. But the question to them is how they can continue to support a government who are driving the privatisation agenda, the bank bail out terms, the austerity measures, the sale of public assets, despite promising exactly the opposite to those who elected them.

 

We urgently need to mobilise our collective strength both in the workplaces and in the communities to resist this agenda. Councillors can act as a voice for workers and communities they represent but we don’t have the power to prevent the sell off of the bin service. Neither do we have control over water which will also be privatised in this way – the city manager has executive power in this area also.  So as three or four different bin companies race up and down your estate, putting workers under pressure to deliver more producitivity, denying access to a waiver scheme for poorer families and pushing up costs.

 

Remember this – we can fight this system. There are more of us and than there are of all political parties, managers, bankers, IMF/EU executives and the rest put together.  But we have to get organised and hit the streets.

 

Let’s take some Greek lessons and follow the example of those people across the globe who are resisting – in Wall Street, in Egypt, in Spain, in Britain, in Greece and beyond and get out to join the ENOUGH IS ENOUGH protest Saturday 15 October 1pm Parnell Square.

 


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Categories : Ballyfermot, Banks, Bin Tax, BLuebell, Brid Smith, Crumlin, Drimnagh, Dublin City, Dublin City Council, Dublin South Central, Election 2011, elections, Environment, IMF, Irish Government, Irish Politics, People before Profit, union, water charges

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