textfiles/politics/SPUNK/sp000923.txt

    from Workers Solidarity No 44
    paper of the Irish anarchist
    Workers Solidarity Movement

Part 2

     Democratic left's disposable radicalism

WHO REMEMBERS when Democratic Left was formed?  It 
was only two and a half years ago when they arrived 
on the scene trying to convince us that they were 
like an anti-coalition Labour Party.  Their founding 
policy statement said "we see no role for our party 
as a partner of a right wing government".  And some 
were convinced, like the Labour members who uprooted 
themselves and joined DL, thinking it more left 
wing.

Now they are sitting in government with the former 
blueshirts of Fine Gael (the people who gave us a 
'state of emergency' in the 1970's) and their rivals 
in Labour (who contributed Conor Cruise O'Brien to 
Liam Cosgrave's paranoid administration).  Still, no 
point in raking over old coals.  They will be far 
too busy having a go at workers in the ESB and 
Telecom, presiding over a run down health service, 
keeping social welfare payments at a pitifully low 
level, and all the other 'responsibilities of 
government'.

It was easy to predict that DL would jump into 
bed with almost anyone who would give them a 
ministerial car.  After all they believe in the 
division of society into rulers and ruled.  You 
won't catch Rabbitte or Gilmore calling for the 
workplaces to be turned over to the workers.  And if 
you believe rulers are ok, you won't have a moral 
problem with being one. 

 The excuse will be that if it wasn't DL it 
would have been the PDs.  As if DL are doing us a 
favour by riding around in state cars, getting big 
salaries and implementing laws like the Industrial 
Relations Act and giving tax amnesties to 
millionaires.  It was harder to predict that John 
Bruton would need them so badly that he would have 
to give cabinet jobs to four of their six TD's!  

Trusting a politician to stick by his/her 
policies is as naive as expecting a four year old 
child to guard a box of  chocolates without eating 
half of them.  To win reforms (apart from ones that 
have little financial cost or risk of unpopularity) 
we need the 'muscle' of strikes, demonstrations and 
civil disobedience to win concessions.  That is what 
gets us the bigger changes, not appeals to well 
meaning or 'left' TDs.  

And if we want to change the way society is run we 
can't rely on professional politicians.  Anarchists 
want to end the rule of the rich and see power in 
the hands of all - not a small group of 
industrialists, ranchers or politicians.

************

           Competition or con?

IRELAND IS THE 19th most competitive country in the 
world.  This was the finding released last September 
by the Geneva based World Economic Forum.  Yet 
workers in TEAM, Irish Steel, Packard, the ESB, and 
a lot more jobs are told that they must accept lower 
pay and/or worse conditions in order to "become 
competitive".

The ten most competive countries were listed 
as: 
1.   USA            2.   Singapore
3.   Japan          4.   Hong Kong
5.   Germany        6.   Switzerland
7.   Denmark        8.   Netherlands
9.   New Zealand    10.  Sweden

While it is undeniable that low wages are one factor 
in attracting multinational investment, there are 
other factors.  Why are we always told that we must 
be like Singapore or Hong Kong but not like Germany 
or Sweden?  Why must bosses be given more as an 
"incentive to invest" but workers given less as an 
"incentive to work"?

********

      Anti-Traveller thuggary on increase

OVER THE PAST year, there has been a series of 
physical attacks on Travellers in different parts of 
the country. Travellers were attacked in Glenamaddy, 
in New Ross, Wicklow and Bantry.

In Bantry, a group of hired vigilantes wearing 
balaclavas broke into the caravan of an elderly 
Traveller couple.  They hit the woman in the face 
with a pick axe handle, breaking her nose and giving 
her dozens of stitches. 

In Bray, thugs burnt the caravan of a local 
Traveller family, and their van.  When the Council 
offered them another site in Rathnew, the locals 
chased them out of there too.  No-one has been 
charged with these attacks.

In Enniscorthy Christmas was marked by a 300 
strong march through a Traveller camp.  As with 
Orange marches, this was designed to intimidate and 
humiliate. Armed gardai were present but were more 
intent on searching Travellers' caravans than in 
stopping the bully-boy crowd assembled by the local 
Farmers Committee.  One of the participants claimed 
in the Irish Times that they were "not racist, but 
the Travellers should be sent to Spike Island or 
Timbucktoo"!

The rise in racism against Travellers is 
happening all over Europe.  Gypsies and Travellers 
from Eastern Europe are seen as fair game for racial 
abuse and attacks.  In Ireland anti-racism means 
standing up to the hatemongers and supporting 
Travellers rights. 

Patricia McCarthy 
******

        Lies, damned lies and statistics

NEVER FORGET that we won the last referenda on 
abortion rights! Anti-abortion campaigners such as 
Des Hanafin and SPUC have been trying to rewrite 
history by claiming that they won, and that the 
country had voted against abortion.

These views are filtering into the mainstream. 
A Fianna Fail ex-minister claimed recently that the 
last referendum was a vote against abortion. The 
government has postponed indefinitely legislation on 
legalising abortion, in any circumstances, in 
Ireland.  Also, the anti-abortion lobby has 
pressurised local authorities in 21 counties to 
adopt  resolutions calling on the Government to hold 
a third referendum on abortion.

So let's put the record straight. The 1993 
referenda was a vote for women's rights, not against 
them.

The anti-abortion lobby, which included the 
Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Desmond Connell, campaigned 
for a No, No, No, vote.  This meant; No, on the 
substantive issue on the grounds that it allowed 
limited abortion rights in Ireland, No, on the right 
to travel, and No, on the right to abortion 
information. 

Pro-choice groups campaigned for a No, Yes, 
Yes, vote. We campaigned for a No vote on the 
substantive issue because it was far too 
restrictive.

The pro and anti-women's rights groups were 
directly opposed in the votes on Travel and 
Information. So from these results we can tell which 
side the people supported most. And we slaughtered 
the fundamentalists, with 62% of the Travel vote and 
60% of the Information vote. A definite win. 

Mick Doyle

**********

          Trusting the politicians

WE ARE OFTEN told that the  parliamentary system is 
the best way, the most democratic way, to get 
change.  Politicians are supposed to represent us, 
and if they don't do what we want we can change them 
and get ones who will do what voters desire.  The 
story of water charges gives us one small look into 
the reality behind the illusions.

When Fianna Fail abolished household rates in 1977 
they said the lost revenue would be replaced by 
injecting #30 million into the building industry.  
This was to create 5,000 extra jobs (and PAYE 
contributions) whilst eliminating 5,000 unemployment 
benefit payments.  The following year they added 5% 
to VAT and increased PAYE & PRSI to cover the loss 
of rates.  The Local Government Financial Provisions 
Act No.1 'guarrantied' that local authorities would 
receive enough money from the government for their 
needs.

The first suggestion of imposing local charges 
came in the 1982 Fianna Fail manifesto, 'The Way 
Forward'.  Later that year a general election was 
called.  In newspaper advertisements Fine Gael 
warned that if Fianna Fail won they would impose 
service charges.  In the same newspapers Fianna Fail 
warned that if Fine Gael won they would impose 
service charges.   The Labour Party said they were 
totally opposed to such charges.  So all three of 
them were, at least by implication, against these 
charges.

A coalition of Fine Gael and Labour formed the 
government, and in July 1983 passed the Local 
Government Financial Provisions Act No.2 which 
empowered City and County Managers to charge for 
services.  In 1985, just before local elections, the 
government decreed that Councillors would have the 
final decision on the charges.  Fianna Fail 
contested these elections on an Anti-Service Charges 
ticket.  Immediately after the elections they did a 
U-Turn and voted for them.

Just before the General Election of 1987 Fianna 
Fail gave a written guarantee to the National 
Association of Tenants Associations.  Paddy Lalor, 
MEP and Director of Elections, promised that if they 
formed the next government they would scrap the 
service charges.  He further promised that local 
authorities would be given enough money for their 
needs.

Since 1978 householders have been paying 
domestic rates through  increased VAT & PAYE.  Local 
charges are simply a way of getting us to pay twice, 
it is double taxation.  They are dishonest charges.  
The politicians who voted for them are dishonest.  
They are practiced liars and are not entitled to our 
trust.  That is why the only way to be sure of 
ending these charges is a massive national campaign 
of non-payment.

*******

              No room at the refuge

AN EASTERN Health Board report published in December 
1994, shows a huge increase in the number of 
homeless people put up in Bed and Breakfast 
accommodation by the Health Board. 
Five years ago, the homeless unit run by the 
Board in Dublin's Charles Street spent #25,000 on 
Bed and Breakfast    accommodation. Last year they 
spent just under #300,000. Homeless people who 
cannot get into the hostels because they are full, 
are put up in Bed and Breakfasts by the health 
board. 

Most of them are women and children turned away 
from a Womens' Refuge because of lack of space. In a 
six week period in 1992, 101 women and 300 children 
were turned away from the Dublin Refuges because 
they were full. 

An increasing number of homeless people put up 
in B&Bs are kids, as young as 12 and 13, again 
because there is nowhere else for them. A High Court 
case is being taken by one of the boys in this 
situation at the moment.

B&Bs are private enterprises run for profit. 
Nearly all of them make their unfortunate clients 
leave during the day, no matter how many children 
they have to drag around with them. Recently even 
the B&Bs were full. Traveller women and children 
were put up in Grade A and B hotels by the Health 
Board, much to the disgust of the management!

The homeless crisis is out of   control in 
Dublin, especially for young kids. The lack of house 
building and the absence of any kind of a coherent 
child care policy has created this mess. 

The B&B owners are making a profit out of the 
misery of the homeless, and the Health Boards are 
wasting money on useless "solutions" which should be 
spent on house building. It will take years to make 
up for the lack of a house building programme from 
1986-1991 unless there is an emergency building 
programme and specialist services for homeless kids 
set up.

Fiona O'Toole 
********

    Water Disconnection threats defeated in Dublin

WITH THE re-introduction of service charges in the 
three new Dublin Councils a year ago, the anti-
service charge campaign spread to Dublin.  
Throughout the summer public meetings at which 
people pledged their opposition to these charges 
were held in a large number of areas, culminating in 
a conference in late September attended by 
approximately 130 people representing local 
campaigns and residents' associations.

This Conference established the Federation of Dublin 
Anti-Water Charge Campaigns (FDAWCC).  A co-
ordinating committee was elected and it was agreed 
that all-Dublin activists' meetings would be held 
monthly and would remain the supreme decision-making 
body of the campaign.  Over the ensuing months well-
attended public meetings were held in practically 
every area.

Registers of non-payers were collected, local 
councillors lobbied and picketed and a very 
successful series of public protests were held 
outside council meetings when the 1995 estimates 
were being discussed.  A successful Trade Union 
Forum was held to discuss how trade unionists - and 
especially council workers - could get involved.  
This phase of the campaign culminated in a protest 
rally in the city centre in late November.

By December 1st - the date on which non-payers' 
accounts fell overdue - non-payment rates were 
holding firm despite the councils' mix of bribery 
("free" draws for those who paid) and ntimidation 
(threats of disconnection).  Official figures given 
by the councils showed that the non-payment rates of 
November 1st remained virtually unchanged (South 
Dublin - 65%; Fingal - 67%; Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown - 
41%).

Council Threats

On Sunday November 26th South Dublin County 
Council's campaign of intimidation began in earnest.  
Selected residents received letters threatening 
disconnection of water supply if the charges were 
not paid within seven days.  These letters were 
designed to isolate and intimidate people but in the 
vast  majority of cases had quite the opposite 
effect.  

The campaign responded with the immediate 
distribution of 60,000 leaflets advertising a 24-
hour emergency 'hotline' for those who required 
advice or assistance.  Emergency public meetings 
were held in many areas and lists of volunteers 
taken who would help to monitor their    areas and 
ensure that        disconnections were resisted.

Assurances were received from council manual 
workers in SIPTU and AGEMOU that they would not 
become involved in doing the council's dirty work.  
Unfortunately, the water inspectors - most of whom 
are members of IMPACT - were unable to get similar 
backing from their union leadership.  

Disconnections defeated

At 4 am on Wednesday December 6th the first attempts 
to disconnect were made.  Water inspectors who 
arrived in estates in Clondalkin, Lucan and Tallaght 
found, however, that campaign activists were well-
organised and that mobile patrols were in place to 
prevent disconnections.  Over the following two 
weeks several unsuccessful attempts were made to 
effect disconnections.  Time and again when 
inspectors arrived at non-payers' homes they 
discovered that stopcocks had been blocked up and 
that disconnection was not possible.

And indeed on more that one occasion - with 
residents of the Riversdale estate in Clondalkin 
deserving special mention - council vans were run 
out of areas where cut-offs were attempted.  All 
told, the number of successful disconnections was 
tiny - less than 20 according to the council 
themselves - and in all of these campaigners were 
able to reconnect  supply within hours.

Preventing disconnections was a huge success 
for the campaign and a major bodyblow for the 
council.  The tremendous fight against such tactics 
over many years in areas such as Waterford, Cork, 
Limerick, Galway, Leixlip, Ashbourne and indeed many 
others proved an inspiration for Dublin residents.  

There is no doubt that it is as a result of the 
years of campaigning by committed activists in these 
areas that the new government was forced to make 
some changes in the area of service charges.  
Neither is there any doubt that Dublin councillors 
and council officials now know that the campaign 
must be taken seriously.

Local Action Groups

While all those involved in the campaign deserve 
congratulation, the events of December also 
highlighted an organisational weakness.   The number 
of people directly involved in this activity was 
relatively small and this put huge demands on those 
activists.  In order to counteract this for the next 
phase of the campaign, immediate steps must be taken 
to ensure that in every area where there are a 
number of activists, they are encouraged to form 
themselves into local action groups taking 
responsibility for the maintenance and development 
of the campaign in their areas.

As we look to the next round in the battle, the 
necessity for total decentralisation and for 
cohesive action groups in all areas is of the utmost  
importance.  The campaign must aim to really involve 
its activists - not just as leafletters or as people 
who can be depended upon to show up for a picket - 
but as the people on whom the success of the 
campaign depends.
Gregor Kerr

CONCESSIONS FORCED FROM GOVERNMENT
 
The Programme for Government:-
*acknowledges the crisis in local authority funding
*promises a "professional study" leading to a White 
Paper
*introduces a Tax Allowance for service charges paid 
(see below)
*promises legislation to prevent councils from 
disconnecting water for non-payment of charges

NEW TAX ALLOWANCES

Those who paid the charges on time in 1994 will be 
able to claim a new Tax Allowance of up to #150 at 
the standard rate. 

This will mean:-
South Dublin Charge #70 New T.F.A. #70 Rebate #18.90
Fingal       Charge #85 New T.F.A. #85 Rebate #22.95
Dun Laoghaire Charge #50-#90 New T.F.A.#50-#90 
Rebate #13.50 - #25
Mayo       Charge  #205 New T.F.A #150 Rebate #40.50
(Where the service charge is over #150, the rebate 
is obviously proportionally smaller)

GET INVOLVED

While the measures announced in the Programme for 
Government can be claimed as a victory, the charges 
remain and the councils are likely to be looking at 
new ways to force compliance (court action, etc.).  
The campaign must remain in existence and intensify 
its efforts.  

The local action groups which must be the 
mainstay of the campaign can only become a reality 
with the active involvement of all those opposed to 
the charges.  We urge all our readers to get 
involved.  Contact the FDAWCC by ringing Gregor Kerr 
(4947025) or Joe Higgins (8201753).

***********

           Wexford strike declared illegal

WORKERS AT Nolans Transport in New Ross have been 
told their strike is illegal.  They have been in 
dispute since February 1993 for better pay, better 
conditions and union recognition.  Now they could be 
jailed if they continue to picket.

Last December's High Court judgement ordered 
SIPTU to pay over #1.3 million in damages and 
expenses to Nolan Transport.  This has very serious 
implications for the entire trade union movement.  
If the judgement is allowed to stand, it will have 
two principal consequences.

Firstly, in relation to  balloting procedures.  
Up to now trade union leaders had insisted - despite 
several warnings to the contrary - that under the 
terms of the 1990 Industrial Relations Act only 
trade union members could challenge the validity of 
a ballot.  Now, however, it is made explicitly clear 
that employers are entitled under the law to 
challenge balloting procedures.  

This means that workers can be brought into 
court and asked how they voted in a secret ballot!  
If they are afraid of the sack and deny they voted 
for a strike, their union can sued for damages.

Secondly, there is a clear implication that 
strikes for union recognition are unlawful.  Two 
prerequisites will now have to be met in order for 
unions to take strike action against employers who 
refuse to negotiate.  Firstly the union will have to 
have members within the terms of the rulebook, 
implying that they will have to be paying 
subscriptions over a period of time.  Secondly, the 
strike will have to take place over a specific issue 
such as dismissal for union membership.  It will not 
be possible for a strike to take place simply for 
union recognition.

There are other implications in the judgement 
such as the issuing of leaflets during a dispute 
(Nolans were awarded #25,000 for "defamation") and 
the fact that a company whose profits actually 
increased over the past year was awarded #600,000 
damages for "loss of earnings".  They also got 
#8,000 petrol costs for every month of the strike 
because blacking of their trucks by sympathetic 
trade unionists meant their lorries had to make 
longer journeys.

This situation has come about as a direct 
result of the 1990 Industrial Relations Act.  As 
such, ICTU leaders who were instrumental in drawing 
up this Act and who scoffed at all criticisms of it 
must bear a portion of the responsibility for 
landing the trade union movement in this mess.

We must not allow our movement to be shackled 
in this way.  The demand must be for SIPTU to refuse 
to pay one penny to Nolans, and for all unions to 
amend their rule books, removing the changes brought 
about by the     Industrial Relations Act.  Instead 
of giving in to state intimidation the unions should 
respond with protest stoppages and demonstrations.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Workers Solidarity Movement can be contacted at 
     PO Box 1528, Dublin 8, Ireland

or by anonymous e-mail to an64739@anon.penet.fi

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