Anti-water charge leafletting

national | worker & community struggles and protests | news report Sunday August 29, 2004 21:31 by Organise! Armagh and Down local organise_armaghdown at yahoo dot ie

Portadown

Members of the Organise! Armagh and Down local distributed ant-water charge leaflets outside Tescos yesterday (August 28 2004) between 1.00 and 3.00 pm. (see below for text of leaflet)

Al

organisearmagh_down@yahoo.ie

http://www.organiseireland.org

The government is planning to introduce water charges on April 1st 2006.

·Why should you pay for water? It falls from the sky!
·We cannot afford to pay for our water twice. We already pay for it under our existing rates!
·Government plans to impose water reform will mean massive job losses, the running down of services and the introduction of charges for water use.
·The government has stated that privatisation is not an option, but ALL the options being looked at are privatisation by different means.
·The Water Service aim to cut 350 jobs initially and to centralise work. The total number of jobs lost could be up to 900. Job losses and centralisation of services will further erode services in outlying and rural districts.
·The charging regime is likely to be based on property value so it will be the less well-off who will be hit hardest.
Meanwhile the new Water Services boss is on a salary of £150 000 plus bonuses to ensure he pushes it through.


Make Implementation Impossible

We have to take matters into our own hands and make charging for water, job cuts and privatisation impossible for the government to implement. We make no bones about calling for non-payment of charges. We do not believe meters are an option: they will only result in the poorest and most needy in our society, those who can least afford to pay, policing their own usage and doing without essential water. We must build a mass campaign, in our local areas, based on direct action, mass non-payment and our common class interests.

The poll tax and more recently attempts to impose water charges in the south were both defeated by mass direct action and non-payment. Only such a campaign will defeat the water charges here.

Get involved

If you are interested in getting involved, contact us at ‘No To The Water Tax’: PO Box 523, Craigavon BT62 1YA, tel: 07732954843 or ‘Communities Against The Water Tax’, 54 Manor St, Belfast BT14 6EA, tel: 028 9074 9147 (email cawt@btconnect.com)