Direct Action is next step for the Anti-Bin Tax campaign

dublin | bin tax / household tax / water tax | opinion/analysis

Tuesday July 29, 2003 13:26

by Dermot - Workers Solidarity

As councils prepare to refuse rubbish collection

It is a testimony to this campaign that the government has changed the law of the land in their latest attempt to defeat it. The authorities, from the bean counters at City Hall to government level, have been twisting and squirming as they look for yet another way to make us pay this double tax.

Initially they tried taking us to court. That hasn't worked and logistically it proved to be a nightmare for them. In Cork they tried not collecting rubbish from non-payers, and even jailed some campaigners for dumping rubbish outside City Hall.

That didn't work either, as the Supreme Court stated that existing laws placed a duty on local authorities to collect household waste. Now they have rushed through a new law to allow them to use non-collection in their latest attempt to force us to pay.

We shouldn't be frightened by this. But we have to ensure that that we are prepared for this next stage of the campaign. We have to let everyone on our streets and in our estates know that the next trick the Council will try is most likely non-collection. We must ensure that campaign membership keeps growing and that our information is good.

We must send out the message that we intend for every truck to pick up all the rubbish on their bin run. The Council must understand this, and the government must understand it. If non-collection is attempted, trucks will be blockaded into our estates until everyone's bin is emptied.

The workers are already aware that what is at stake here is their jobs. Privatisation is on the cards if the government can make this industry another source of profit. That's one of the reasons the trade unions are against the bin tax.
The campaign needs to be strong and the links must be made now so that we can come out of this battle with a major victory for the working class people of this island. In the North they are talking about introducing a water tax. Once again the bosses and bureaucrats are on the offensive and this is our opportunity to put them back in their box. Now that's just too good an opportunity to go a-begging.