South Dublin County Council Yesterday Organised A Protest Outside SDCC headquarters in Tallaght in protest to Privatisation and the Introduction of the Gateway Scheme.

Some workers contacted Cllr Gino Kenny in relation to a motion from FG Cllr William Lavelle to privatise sections of their work. People Before Profit Alliance met with workers, and the issues raised was not only the outsourcing of their work to private companies, but the introduction of Gateway. SDCC workers are planning to organise a Dublin wide meeting with all of Dublin’s local authorities, to create a campaign against Gateway, and the privatisation of council work. Since the economical crisis  begun over 3000 jobs have been lost in local authorities.”

Cllr Gino Kenny says “I fully support this action taken yesterday by the workers of SDCC. Not only are they fighting to protect their own jobs, but they have highlighted how unjust it is to expect people on the dole to work for €1 an hour. The council is advertising these jobs as ‘landscaping’ and ‘village enhancement’ but in practice it is picking up litter”.

“The unions have told the workers that core jobs are protected and that Gateway conscripts will be doing complimentary work. It is obvious to the workers that this so called complimentary work, will undermine their jobs and result in less work for them. At present SDCC has announced to take on 220 conscripts from Gateway, but from discussions with workers they believe this number is to rise. I think the workers are correct in connecting Gateway and the outsourcing to private firms, as both these measures will directly result in job losses for them. This should be not about demonising the unemployed or worker versus the out of work. People want to work but they want to work for a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work”

“I think a clear message has been sent today to Cllr William Lavelle from the workers.  Any plans from his party to privatise more local authority work will be met with resistance. Fine Gael along with the Labour party and the management of SDCC have an option to protect jobs and stop this madness.”