Limerick Fight Waper Charges

-A campaign against the new water charges is getting underway in Limerick, led by the Southill Residents’ and Tenants Association. The Association has condemned the City Managers threat to bring in a £50 Water rate as ‘nothing short of double taxation’.

The decision to allow local authorities to levy extra charges was taken by Dick Spring leader of the ‘Labour Party’ ministers in the coalition. Spring claims this is simply ‘more local democracy’. Of course, the cost of this , {Latest figures show that ‘local democracy’ varies from place to place depending on the shortfall in the annual allocation from central funds to the particular local authority.

How Spring can square this talk of local democracy with his decision to give City and Town Managers the power to introduce charges without recourse to locally elected councillors defies reason.

Joe Harrington P.R.O. of the Southill Tenants Association spoie to Socialist Republic: £1 billion. in uncollected taxes remains in the hands of the wealthy, this neec not be the case. To ge along with this proposed charge would be to help perpetuate a grossly unfair tax system. Any money raised by the new levy will not go to improving services but to paying off bank interest. We are convinced that the levy would not remain at £50 fo1 long. Once the principk has been established i would like all other taxes, , be increased each year.

We will be calling a public meeting in Southill at which our Committee will be recommending non-payment of the charges.

The stand taken by the Tenants Association is in stark contrast to the manoeuverings of the Limerick City Councillors. While they all have formally opposed the charge, some have qualified their objections by suggesting that the new charge might be more acceptable if it did The 3 months strike at Clery’s has ended. Workers won 7.5% wage increase but there are to be 40 redundancies. not apply to those on welfare. Most have pro posed other forms of local tax - Disc parking, Motor tax or a charge for the BBC TV signal being deflected from Keeper Hill. None seriously challenge the cut: backs in Local Authority financing For the unions this is also a vital question. After years of campaigning for a fair tax system the PAYE worker is paying an even slightly higher proportion of all taxes paid. Trade unionists must refuse to co-operate with moves to bring in this charge. The LGPSU already has such a policy but it must be put to better effect.

The struggle against an unjust tax system must recommence with an active rejection of this attempted double taxation. If we do not stop things getting worse on the taxation front how can we ever hope to start making thing better? scab labour. walked out in protest.

Trust House Forte, work available.

person put it -we cannot allow ourselves to mined in 1983.’ Gardai Attack Pickets The SPUCERS aren't alone in feeling the force of the Offences Against the State Act in the past few weeks. Striking CIE engineering operativ es were batoned by gardai while on the picket at Alexandra Road depot in Dublin. The pickets were seeking to stop CIE managers from driving oil tankers out of the depot. The pickets sat down on the road and instantly the gardai started to punch and kick them. Four pickets were arrested and have been charged with causing malicious damage or assault on the gardai! The strike committee have protested the arrests and blamed CIE for creating the confrontation by its use of Anne Brady Shelbourne Lock-out!

Over 200 workers at the Shelbourne Hotel have been locked out by management since Friday 2nd Setpember 1983. The dispute began when a barman was dismissed ‘because of his attitude’. The ITGWU workers then the new owners, announced the closure of the hotel and each member was informed that there was no The workers have been locked out by one of the most notorious anti-union multinationals in an attempt to break union organisation. As a union spokes“We have battled hard and long to organise hotel workers in Dublin be under-