Stop The Bin Tax
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news report 
Tuesday May 27, 2003 14:54
by pat c
Protest at Leinster House, Kildare Street at 7pm. First reading of Waste Management Bill. Called by: Dublin Campaign Against the Bin Chargess All groups and individuals welcome. Those who are unaware of the issues or require more info should go to: http://www.stopthebintax.com/city/
Bin Tax Battle Enters New Phase
(Article from April Workers Solidarity)
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The campaign against the bin tax is set to enter a new phase before the summer as the government brings forward new legislation to give the Councils the power to refuse to collect the bins of non-payers. The politicians are obviously rocked by the huge level of opposition to their attempts to impose this double tax &endash; in South Dublin, for example, where the bills for the second year of the tax will arrive through people's letterboxes shortly, up to 70% of households are refusing to be bullied into paying.
It is because of the huge levels of opposition that the politicians are now changing the law. Up to this the Councils were obliged to collect everybody's rubbish whether or not they paid the charge. This had come about as a result of a successful Supreme Court challenge taken by a member of the Cork campaign. Regular readers of Workers Solidarity will recall reading about a successful campaign waged by the Cork Householders Against Service Charges when Cork Corporation refused to empty the bins of non-payers a couple of years ago.
Now the campaigns in Dublin and elsewhere are set to enter a similar battle. If we are to be successful in this battle, non-payers must organise themselves into effective local campaign groups, as constituent parts of the existing campaigns. In every single area, meetings will be held by the campaigns to discuss the tactics involved in stopping Council attempts to use this new legislation to leave the bins of non-payers uncollected.
Strength in numbers
The strongest weapon in the campaigns' arsenal is the massive strength in numbers involved, in so many people standing together and refusing to pay. This direct action tactic &endash; i.e. people relying on their own strength and ability not on that of any politician or political party &endash; of non-payment has been successful in putting the frighteners on the Councils and on the government. It will be further direct action tactics which will end the latest attempts to browbeat us into paying.
The meetings held in all the areas will provide everybody with the opportunity to participate in the discussion about what form these tactics will take. A leaflet currently being distributed by the South Dublin Campaign Against Refuse Charges outlines some of the tactics which might be used as follows:-
" &endash; Appeals to workers through their unions not to co-operate with the new legislation.
- Frustration of Council attempts to identify non-payers e.g. if they put stickers on the bins of non-payers we can remove them.
- Interruption of trucks which refuse to collect all rubbish.
- Identification of areas in which uncollected rubbish can be dumped.
- Organisation of teams to place uncollected rubbish in the bin trucks.
- Bringing of uncollected rubbish to Council offices or other such places which will increase the pressure on Councillors and Council officials."
The important thing for everyone to remember is that it IS possible to defeat the government on this issue. It IS possible to force the Councils to collect everybody's rubbish. And it IS possible to defeat the government and force the abolition of this double tax, just as the water tax was defeated over five years ago.
For this to happen, however, it needs the involvement of as many people as possible. That means it needs YOUR involvement. Don't just sit at home and wait for someone else to do it. Instead get involved in the campaign in your local area. Do your bit to help build the opposition. A Campaign of people power WILL win. Get in touch with the campaigns and get involved.
Gregor Kerr (member Co-ordinating Committee, South Dublin Campaign Against Refuse Charges) & Dermot Sreenan (Secretary of the Dublin Anti-Bin Tax Campaign).
Comments (15 of 15)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15Some corrections. The first reading of the Bill took place some time ago and in general, the first stage of a Bill is pretty pointless.
The second reading of the Bill is taking place this week. It might start today, it might start tomorrow, or it might not start until Thursday, though this is unlikely.
The one thing that can be guranteed is that at 7pm tomorrow there is a debate on the Peace Process and the need for All-Ireland representation for 90 minutes. In short, the protest will be taking place outside while inside they are debating something else entirely.
As far as the campaign gos I am but a foot soldier, merely carrying out orders to spread info. I just checked with the exalted secretary of the Dublin City campaign and he assures that it was his information that the bill would be discussed at that time.
The demo is certainly going ahead. Posters have gone up regarding it.
As a fellow foot soldier (Albeit of the unarmed variety) of the Republican Movement I too have suffered for the sins of my leadership. ;)
I think the important thing is the demo take place, TDs see it and get a feeling for the depth of opinion, media interest as well, just a shame about the timing.
no bin tax, no incinerators, consume, consume,consume, doesn't make sense to me. unless we stop people creating the amount of rubbish that they do, all of this is not going to help stop the landfills becoming choka with the wrappings of our consumption, talk about tilting at windmills, its almost as bad as people objecting to windfarms!
Find out a little about how the bin tax works and you will see it has NOTHING to so with reducing waste.
In Dublin a household that fills their bin every week to the brim will pay the same as a household that fills it 10% and recycles everything else.
It is a stealth tax aimed simply at making ordinary workers pay more tax while bussness in particular construction gets to dump on the cheap.
Articles at http://struggle.ws/wsm/bins.html go into the 'pollutor pays' argument in more detail.
I dont suppose we could agree on the slogan:
"Incinerate Stormont, Not Refuse!"
sorry bout that, shooting my load too soon i suppose, tis just that well i've had a long day managing waste, and my circuits are a little over done
We could, whether all my party comrades could sign up to it or not it another matter :)
It occurs to me that a common link binds together all the attacks on hard pressed compliant taxpaying paye workers (bin charges, health cuts, education cuts---the list is endless and expanding as fast as the response is moralistic and ineffectual)have a common link. That link is the lack of any opinion or response from the unions, who are of course in bed with the government and presumably have no difficulty with the current situation. Why is there never any pickets on these corrupt president for life papa docs types? Is it that the leadership of the anti-bin charges campaign are just into moralistic grandstanding or do they think that these people are really unimportant? If so, what then is social partnership about,why do the government and employers groups bother at all with it. Finally, is it so unimportant that workers organisations are under the control of these corrupt sell-outs that our assorted lefties and anarchists cant be bothered focusing on them and demand they stand up for the ordinary working people who are being dragged through the courts as criminals instead of being partners with the bogus offshore account holding defenders of the murderous assault on Iraq.
How about:
"Ulster Says Refuse!"
A response to 'hegemony'.
Your right that taking the rhetoric of trade unionism at face value we might expect that the union bosses would organise opposition to the charges or at least encourage their members not to co-operate with the implementation.
Some effort has gone into passing resolutions at union meetings to demand that they do just that.
The campaign could choose to put energy into lobbying/picketting the union leaders demanding they do more but this would have to mean energy taken away from building local groups etc.
It is not clear that the union bosses would be the slightest bit concerned or influenced by such pickets. They are so tied into social partnership and staying inside the 'Industrial Relations Act' that it seem very unlikely that a few dozen people outside their offices would change their minds.
I think if situations were identified where this could make a difference the campaign could well organise such pickets. But there is no point wasting time with token pickets that would have no influence.
Of course this reality also shows up the weakness of the left in the unions, despite the paper gains of recent years as measured by getting people elected to branch and even national committees. In general the left is without significant influence with the membership - they get positions because they are the only ones willing to do the work in many cases. Impressive sounding resolutions are often passed at meetings where only 1% of the membership are present in my branch of SIPTU for instance.
And even where there is significant support with a local membership the unions at the national level lack the effective democratic mechanisms that could make the union bosses follow the members wishes rather then the dictates of social partnership. These mechanisms exist in theory but it has been a long time since the left was able to activate them in practise.
So in conclusion there is little point in the campaigns spending a lot of time and energy demanding that the union bosses do something we know they do not want to do and which we lack the support and/or mechanism to force them to do. The title comes for a joke description of British trotskyists who seemed to spend half their time picketing the TUC demanding that they do something everyone knew they were not going to do.
Ø Major Dáil Protest Tonight to Oppose Attack on Local Democracy in “Protection of the Environment Bill 2002” - 7 PM Kildare Street
Ø Attempt to Smash Anti Bin Tax Campaign in Dublin - A Prelude to New Local Taxes
The Anti Bin Tax Campaigns in the four Dublin local authority areas are joining together to launch a substantial protest outside Leinster House tonight to oppose the introduction of certain measures contained in the “Protection of the Environment Bill 2003”.
While the Bill contains measures to control pollution and the scandal of illegal dumping that emerged in recent times, it also makes a savage attack on aspects of local democracy and sets out blatantly in an attempt to smash the Anti Bin Tax Campaign in Dublin.
Section 19 of the Bill removes the power to review, vary or replace a waste management plan from elected councillors and gives it exclusively to City or County Managers. Thus for example, the rejection of a toxic waste incinerator voted on by Cork County Council very recently, could not happen if this Bill is passed.
Section 38 of the Bill removes the setting of the level of bin taxes from elected councillors and gives it exclusively to City and County Managers. This will further propel the attempt of councils to ratchet up the amount of refuse charges on householders. This can also be a prelude to an attempt to privatise the household refuse collection services where that has not already happened.
Attempt to smash Dublin Anti Bin Tax Campaigns.
Section 22 of the Bill proposes to give council management the right to leave bins uncollected where a charge has not been paid as demanded by the council. This is a blatant attempt to smash the widespread boycott of the bin tax that is happening in the greater Dublin area at the present time.
However, the Minister for the Environment and the Government are badly miscalculating. There is a very strong opposition to the bin tax because ordinary householders and PAYE workers understand that, if it is accepted, it will rise relentlessly each year. They further understand that if the bin taxes are allowed to be introduced the reintroduction of water charges will follow. They understand that the real agenda is through these guises, or in other ways, the introduction of a parallel tier of local taxation. This could mean demands of up to €1,000 per year on each household or family. This would be simply intolerable for ordinary working people.
If these measures are voted by the Fianna Fáil/ Progressive Democrat Government into law, they will be resisted strongly on the ground through the mobilisation of peaceful, but firm and disciplined people power. We will not accept the attempt by the Government to intimidate the backbone of the taxpaying public, PAYE workers and pensioners. We believe there is and there will be widespread support for a mass movement of civil disobedience to the Government’s plans. This would be all the stronger because of the fact that a huge majority of ordinary people believe that this government has lied to them since the General Election Campaign. They have seen the welter of stealth taxes that have been pushed over onto them in the course of the last six months.
Attempts by the county councils to break the Campaign will be challenged as strongly as their previous attempts to defeat the anti water charges campaign. That campaign ended in the abolition of water charges in 1996.
A real waste management policy – not a new tax in disguise.
Charging for household refuse is not a waste policy, it is an attempt to raise new taxes. The fact is that the most recent epa national survey (1998) found the amount of refuse going to landfills accounted for by householders was only 1.5% while the vast bulk was accounted for by large-scale agriculture, industry and construction.
Nevertheless, further measures can be taken to assist householders to cut down the amount going to landfill. This would require legislation requiring the mandatory reduction of unnecessary packaging which householders are forced to take home with them and which then has to go into refuse bins. In this sense it is nonsense to describe householders as “polluters” - they are in fact waste receivers from others. The four anti bin tax campaigns in Dublin call for the resourcing from central taxation of a radical programme of measures to reduce waste at source and for reuse and recycling.
Contact the Anti Bin Tax Campaigns in Dublin:
Fingal Anti Bin Tax Campaign: (087) 2415576 / (087) 6730187
Dublin City Campaign Against the Bin Tax: (087) 2837989
Dun Laoghaire/ Rathdown Campaign Against Service Charges:
(087) 9405303/ (087) 6329511
Dublin South Campaign Against Service Charges: (087) 6996046
Are anti-bin tax people really anti-tax? This would seem a strange position for left wing people.
Calling the thing an anti-tax measure is false.
Anti-bin tax people, in my opinion are in favour of centralised control of our services paid through the tax system and claim that this method ensures the rich pay all the tax.
However like much in life nothing is that simple. Over 50% of the states tax take does no come from tax on income therefore there is no guarantee that paying for services through the exchequer will mean the rich are paying more - as the government could raise tax on anything.
So in short campaign for a fair tax system, not against tax.
Are you a jesuit? You certainly sound like one.
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