Ireland : Union report helps convince Dublin councillors to oppose waste privatisation

(November 2011) At the beginning of October Dublin City councillors overwhelmingly passed a motion opposing the city manager’s plans to outsource the waste collection service. The motion noted a briefing paper by the IMPACT public services trade union that had been sent to all Dublin City councillors.

IMPACT has said it is willing to find savings to ensure that the Dublin city council retains its waste collection service. The union says the outsourcing proposal will inevitably lead to higher charges for waste collection and the end of waivers. This will lead to substantial hardship for residents, including over 37,000 of the city’s poorest families who currently qualify for waivers.

In the briefing paper, the union also expressed concerns over future service quality and the potential impact of this decision on public health and the city's environment. Increased charges and would “likely result in more illegal ‘fly tipping’ with increased public health risks, a poorer social and business environment, and increased financial costs to the Council,” it says.

Reorganisations

The document points out that: “Over more than a decade, cleansing staff have agreed to a series of service reorganisations and productivity-improvement changes that have massively reduced costs while improving the waste collection service.”

The IMPACT report also challenges an independent examination of the waste collection service used by the Council to justify the outsourcing on the basis of it being a loss-making operation. IMPACT argues that: “Private providers currently enjoy a market advantage because they operate on a temporary below-cost basis and give no waivers to low-income households, including pensioners. And Dublin City Council could provide the service on an economically sustainable basis if it were playing on a level playing field.”

Quality

The union emphasises the fact that the independent report focuses narrowly on the current market situation and has nothing to say about the issue of quality.

The paper argues that no decision should be finalised at least until the Government brings forward its anticipated proposals to regulate the waste collection and disposal market and criticises the council for failing to take account of a number of important questions, including:

• Acceptable customer service standards;

• Acceptable public health standards, including in the event of increased illegal fly tipping in residential and other areas;

• Environmental impact;

• Emergency provision for unplanned service breakdowns;

• Customer and public health protection should one or more private provider exit the market or go out of business; and

• Penalties or sanctions for non-performing providers.

IMPACT says it is unclear how the Council intends to enforce contract compliance and maintain high standards of service quality, tidiness and public health after outsourcing takes place.

The union argues that the Council will irrevocably forego its capacity to provide waste collection services if it outsources. “Against the background of an extremely light regulatory regime for waste collection, the loss of Dublin City Council’s capacity to provide this service will place it in a permanently weakened position in its dealings with private providers, with massive implications for charges, waivers, service quality and, potentially, public health,” it says.

National agreement

The Croke Park agreement was the result of the national negotiations between unions, employers and the government on pay and conditions and public sector savings. Under the agreement, local authority employers are obliged to use “direct labour to the greatest extent possible,” to consult “before decisions are made,” and to produce a service plan, including a proper comparison and evaluation of options and all relevant costs, before any outsourcing occurs. IMPACT says that Dublin City Council has failed to meet this obligation.

IMPACT press release

IMPACT paper on waste services

Fingal County Council

IMPACT has also been campaigning with the SIPTU general trade union in protest at plans by Fingal County Council, to the north of Dublin, to outsource its waste collection service. Read more at > SIPTU