The details of the coming attack by Tony Blair and ‘new Labour’ on our pockets and on our public services would take your breath away:

Pay twice:  Over £400 charge per household for a water service that we already pay for through the rates.

Less for more:  The charge will pay for a service that is currently 100% under public ownership for one that will only be 51% under public ownership - before it is sold off completely.

Job cuts:  600 to 700 jobs will go to allow private owners to make the biggest profits possible.

Employment rights: Workers in the water service will lose their current conditions of service and pension rights.  This will be an example that the government will want extended throughout the public and private sectors.

Daylight robbery and lies:  The true intensions of the government were disclosed in a leaked memo which revealed that they intend to privatise the water service.  In Britain this has led to fat cat salaries for the bosses of utilities and asset stripping of services.

Tip of the iceberg:  The central plank of ‘new Labour’s’ plans following the next election is 100,000 redundancies in public services and yet further privatisation of the health service and education.  Underway is a massive transfer of wealth from the public sector to private sector bosses.

Can anything be done about it?

The leaked government memo also revealed that the government is very worried about popular opposition to the water charge and its hidden plans for privatisation.  The overwhelming majority of people oppose both.  The government fears this opposition being mobilised and organised.

This is exactly what we must do!

There is no point hoping for our local political parties to stop it if the Assembly and Executive are returned.  Charging for water had already been discussed by these politicians when they were at Stormont.  They said they opposed privatisation before they got elected and then were quite happy to privatise schools and health service facilities when they got into the Executive.

Only a powerful mass campaign can stop the water charge and privatisation.  This is what helped stop the poll tax in Britain and this is what the government fears.  You can help build such a campaign now.
 

What you can do

Sign the Petition: Register your opposition to water charging and privatisation. 

Join the Campaign: Come to the public meeting.  A lot of work needs to be done to publicise the issue and get people’s opposition organised.

Get Organised:  We need to build a campaign in the local communities and in the trade unions.  We need workers in the water service and all workers in the public sector to join a campaign that will defeat privatisation.

How we can win:  A mass campaign can make possible the industrial action that can defeat this attack on our services.  Such action will be illegal because it will break Thatcher’s anti-union laws so we can forget about the trade union leaders supporting it.  This is a fight that we must win by ourselves.

Only industrial action and a mass campaign by ordinary workers can defeat the daylight robbery that will be inflicted on 1 April 2006 when the charges are introduced and the foundations of privatisation laid.

The government is right about one thing – they can be defeated – Join the campaign!

For further details contact us at: cawp@lycos.co.uk