Protecting water as a public good
Since 2012, SIPTU members have been the fight to halt the creeping privatisation of public water services and maintain this essential utility under democratic control.
Our campaign began when we joined forces with our colleagues in the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) in the ‘Water is a Human Right’ campaign.
Through this campaign we have been successful in getting the EU to recognise that water services should not be treated as a commodity but a public good that must be safeguarded, not opened up for competition.
In Ireland, SIPTU members have campaigned and secured agreements to halt the creeping privatisation of water services.
We have also called for the holding of a referendum which would ask citizens to back a constitutional protection for the public control, ownership, management and supply of water.
That is why the Public Administration and Community Division has given a guarded welcome to the announcement by the Government last year that it is considering a referendum on this issue and has referred the proposal to the Attorney General.
Although the wording of such a constitutional amendment will be key to ensuring it provides the maximum possible protection to public water services, the referendum campaign will provide us with an opportunity to fully outline to the public the dangers inherent in the commodification of our water supply.
It will also allow us to highlight that internationally the trend is to bring water supply, where there is private sector involvement, back under public control.
This is because of the higher cost and poorer service from privatised water services.
Already, there are moves across European cities to re- municipalise water services including in Paris, Berlin, and Barcelona as well as in Scotland. The Labour Party in the UK has also committed itself to the re-municipalisation of water services in England and Wales.
Having a constitutional guarantee that Ireland could not make the mistake of increasing private involvement in water supply would be a progressive development.
However, as our members in the local authority sector have known from the beginning the real battle to protect public water services has to be fought at the industrial level and secured through tough negotiations.
The latest development in this process took place with the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government writing last month to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions inviting local authority unions to enter discussions with it and Irish Water under the auspices of the Workplace Relations Commission.
The need for these discussions has been prompted by public announcements by the management of Irish Water that it wishes to re- move the delivery of the public water system from the local authorities and bring it fully under its control. This would entail ending the Service Level Agreement (SLA) with unions representing local authority water workers in 2021.
That is four years before it is due to expire, in 2025.
In July 2018, the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Eoghan Murphy, confirmed these plans and that Irish Water would become a standalone utility, separate from its current parent organisation Ervia.
The Minister has since then accepted that there can be no changes to the SLA without the acceptance of all parties. He has also stated that he would prefer the upcoming talks to conclude in February 2019.
SIPTU members providing local authority water services, and the wider membership of this union, can be assured that we are entering these talks without accepting any pre-determined outcome.
Our priorities remain the same — the maintenance of water services within the public service and ensuring that there is no change to any agreement without it being the democratic will of our members.
As well as defending public water services, we are also focused on the wider push for the rebuilding of the country’s local municipal services. This must be done in a manner which maximises the benefits for our society.
It is essential that the maintenance of our parks, roads, streets and many other services and amenities continue to be provided in a manner which places the public good before profit generation.
That is why last year the Local Authority sector of the union launched the ‘Your County, Your Youth, Your Future’ recruitment campaign, an initiative which aims to unite the need to recruit more local authority workers with the needs of young people seeking employment in their home counties.
It is also why we always fight to defend the public provision of water and other vital services.
