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UNITE ROI News Digest - Household charges, the power to effect change and a weather warning
Friday 16 December 2011, 12am
Average household property charge likely to be €250 per year
The criteria on which the full blown property tax is likely to be based are beginning to emerge as legislation winds its way through the Dáil. Average households are likely to pay €250 with the top rate likely to be around €600.
Independent -
Details emerge for full property tax
TD’s vow to oppose charge
A group of 11 TD’s have vowed to oppose the introduction of the charge all the way to going to jail. This will likely provide a focal point for the numerous local opposition groups including one in Waterford we have highlighted in the digest in the past.
Times -
TD's pledge opposition to household charge
The boy who turned a government on disability
Cynics will say it was only a chance for a photo but the visit of Enda Kenny to the home of a young disabled boy in Co Meath also showed the power of protest, It was the case of Thomas Winters that brought home the reality of the savage budget cut to young disabled people, and ultimately led to the government U Turn. Lobby groups and unions can be effective in highlighting the reality of cuts but the most effective agent of change is you as an individual. If you are willing to come forward to highlight a reality in your life of one or more austerity measures, we will help to bring your case to the wider public, and maybe start a change for the better like Thomas.
Examiner -
Home visit teaches reality of budget cuts
Join UNITE members at EBS in delivering an ‘anti’ Christmas message to Finance
A group of workers from EBS Building Society will don Black Santa Hats to deliver a black Christmas message to the Department of Finance today. Told on a Wednesday their 13th month payment would be made as ever this December, they were advised four days later that it had been stopped. This is not a bonus. It is part of their pay. It was paid to managers. It means their December wages have been halved. They will be at the Department of Finance on Merrion Row at 1.30pm today.
Cork workers pledge to fight
35 workers at Vita Cortex in Cork have pledged to stand and fight for their redundancy payment of 2.9 weeks per year of service. The company is to close, as featured here yesterday, but its assets are controlled by NAMA who say they cannot pay. Between them the workers have 847 years of service and the total redundancy bill is €1.2 million.
Examiner -
Workers want justice
Elderly face choice to ‘heat or eat’
More than half the elderly people in Ireland are forgoing food or clothing essentials in order to heat their homes this winter. The figures are contained in a report published yesterday by the Institute of Public Health.
Irish Times -
Heat or eat for elderly
A List stars lift anti bullying campaign
A campaign by the ISPCC to raise awareness of bullying among children has been joined by more celebrities including Colin Farrell and rugby star Jamie Heaslip. It is based on images of the stars made up as if they had been victims of assault with simple straplines. Farrell’s ad reads ‘Imagine if every child knew what it was like to be loved and protected.’
Irish Independent -
Stars lend faces to anti bullying campaign
Justice for Columbia Ireland
Trade union members are urged to support a Christmas Card appeal for a Liliany Patricia Obando, a worker in Columbia who has been the victim of four years of terrible abuse just because she stood up for her rights and those of others.
Be careful out there
… and finally, those like you who work for the benefit of others often travel a lot around workplaces through the country. Take care this weekend as wintry weather conditions threaten to sweep across the country.
Times -
Weather warning