AIA condemn the recent attempts to privitise refuse collection in Armagh. As well meaning as these attempts have been to resolve the issue involving binmen in Armagh, Craigavon and Banbridge Council the collecting of bins by private individuals will merely perpetuate the issue and will ultimately lead to the call for a privitised service such as exists in the Free State where a household will be forced to pay rates and on top of that will be made to pay extra for refuse collection. A local socialist republican spokesperson has stated “Those collecting bins in the middle of a strike are nothing but scabs who are breaking a strike of workers who want a modest improvement at a time of considerable financial hardship”.
The leadership of the unions including the union Unite have shown where their allegiance lay in suspending the strike as a sign of respect after the death of the English Queen. Not only have the union leadership and council shown more compassion for an archaic monarch who lives thousands of miles away than the ordinary residents of Armagh but they have decided to only collect refuse from the high streets to benefit the profit hungry local business than to collect ordinary residents househols refuse.
The demand for workers rights cannot be postponed in the middle of a cost of living crisis for a foreign monarch that is getting millions of pounds worth of tax payers money.
VICTORY TO THE WORKERS!