BY SUSAN AUSTIN
DUBLIN — Thousands of people are taking a stand against the introduction of a new household refuse-collection tax. After thousands of citizens refused to pay the tax, the government passed laws allowing local councils to stop collecting their rubbish. Rubbish collectors in some areas have been ordered to empty only those bins that have council stickers on them indicating that the tax has been paid.
In response, campaigners are blockading rubbish collection trucks, dumping rubbish in front of council offices, holding mass public meetings and organising large demonstrations. The dispute escalated dramatically on September 19 when Joe Higgins, the Socialist Party's member of the Irish parliament (the Dail), and Clare Daly, a Socialist Party member on the Dublin council, were jailed for participating in the protests. Ten others who faced the High Court on October 8 accused of breaching injunctions preventing the obstruction of rubbish collection. They were jailed for two weeks.
Like other essential services, rubbish collection was previously paid for from general income taxes and other government revenue. However, over the last 20 years, extra taxes for rubbish collection have been introduced at the council level around Ireland.
The taxes have also steadily risen, and now range from 270 to 460 euros per year. Getting people to pay to have their bins collected has paved the way for privatisation. Bin collection services in many council areas are now run by private companies.
The four council areas in the greater Dublin region, containing about one-third of Ireland's population, were the last to introduce the new taxes. However, community non-payment campaigns have made it almost impossible for councils to collect the tax. For example, in the South Dublin area the bin tax was introduced two years ago, but 70% of those eligible to pay are still refusing to do so. In Dublin City, 75% refused to pay in 2002. In the Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown County Council area, the council has issued final demands threatening an end to rubbish collection if the entire bin tax for the last five years (about 800 euros) is not paid in full.
Double taxation
Most people are opposed to the tax because they have already paid for the services through their income tax. If the bin tax can be introduced, taxes on water and sewerage are likely to follow. Some point to the global trend of replacing progressive income tax systems with flat-rate taxes, which shift the taxation burden from the rich to the poor. The World Bank and International Monetary Fund advocate this policy.
The minister for the environment has stated that he would advise councils to bring in "tag by weight" schemes, whereby people pay according to how much rubbish they want collected, supposedly to encourage people to limit waste and recycle more. However, this is seen by campaigners as a crude attempt to attach green credentials to the government's regressive new tax.
The government has not promised to use the revenue for waste reduction or recycling projects, and its poor record on these issues exposes its insincerity. Dublin's "polluter pays" rhetoric ignores the fact that the bulk of waste (more than 90% of 80 million tonnes annually) is produced by big business and the agricultural sector. Instead of penalising the real polluters, the government has given massive tax breaks to big business (amounting to 1.5 billion euros in the last two budgets).
By ordering rubbish-collection workers to leave non-payers' rubbish to pile up in front of their houses, it hopes to force people to either pay the tax or face an environmental and health crisis. However, in the Fingal County Council area, where non-collection is being implemented first, residents have blockaded bin collection trucks — chanting "All bins or no bins" — with the aim of shutting the whole rubbish collection system down until the council gives a commitment to collect all the bins.
Daly and Higgins faced court after participating in a blockade in Fingal. Justice Ianfhlaith O'Neill asked them whether or not they would comply with High Court injunctions forbidding people from obstructing waste collection. Higgins, who represents Dublin West in the Dail, said that he could not abandon the communities he represents. Daly added that she had no alternative but to continue to participate in the protests. They were sentenced to one month in Mountjoy Prison and face court costs of up to 30,000 euros.
More than 4000 people protested the jailings on September 23, marching from Parnell Square to the prison to demand the socialists' release and the scrapping of the bin tax. Another demonstration of about 2000 people took place on September 30.
Union support
As Daly has pointed out, "threatening people with jail will not stop the protests". Campaigners are drawing lessons from the successful campaign against water charges in Dublin between 1994 and 1997. During that period, residents persisted in boycotting the charges, even after thousands of them appeared in court under the legislation that deals with failure to pay debts. The water charges were eventually abolished throughout the country.
Trade unions are also coming under increasing pressure from their members to play an active role in the campaign. The first official union action will take place on October 11, with a combined rally called by the Dublin Council of Trade Unions. A special DCTU delegates meeting on October 7 overwhelmingly passed the motion tabled by the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU) to hold the rally. The DCTU represents 300,000 workers.
The TEEU has warned that if any of its members are jailed due to participation in the campaign, industrial action will be considered.
Many trade unions have made statements opposing the bin tax. They have generally supported the tactic of non-payment and opposed the jailings, however they have not supported all the tactics of the campaign. A large number of unions and union activists from Ireland, Britain and around the world have signed a statement calling for the release of Higgins and Daly.
The Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union, which represents bin workers, has not supported industrial action. In some areas, the SIPTU has urged bin workers to follow council orders. The Fingal council (which, like all councils, suffers from government underfunding) has been threatening bin workers with the privatisation of rubbish collection service.
However, the general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions David Begg on September 24 condemned the campaign. Begg said it could lead to privatisation of refuse collection services and a loss of jobs. He urged Higgins and Daly to withdraw their "contempt of the High Court" and "cool things down". "They are wrong to be leading ordinary working people into a cul de sac of imprisonment in pursuit of a political objective", Begg told the September 25 Irish Times.
The Socialist Party has played a leading role in the campaign, while other groups like the Workers Solidarity Movement, the Workers Party and the Socialist Workers Party have also been actively involved. While parliamentarians from Sinn Fein and the Labour Party have condemned the jailings, they have held back from openly advocating non-payment of the bin tax or involving themselves in the blockades. Both parties have been accused of helping to introduce the tax in some areas. The Green Party has voted for the tax and opposes the campaign.
Michael Murphy, from the Fingal Anti-Bin Tax Campaign and a Socialist Party member, told Green Left Weekly that the campaign is the most significant battle against the establishment in Ireland for many years, and could "signify a reawakening of working-class struggle" in Ireland. "The jailings of Higgins and Daly have mobilised enormous anger at the government's hypocrisy. People see politicians from the major parties getting away with all sorts of things and yet Joe and Clare are jailed for standing up for ordinary people."
Messages of solidarity can be emailed to Higgins and Daly at <FreeThemNow@NoBinTax.info>. Visit <http://www.stopthebintax.com>.
NOTE: There are some fairly good photos available at: www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=61397&topic_id=9 under the article titled Anti Bin Tax Protest — Photos 1 which was posted Oct 1 2003
From Green Left Weekly, October 15, 2003.
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