MANDATE ASKS YOU TO ACT NOW!
Friday 3 December 2010The Budget will be announced on Tuesday next, 7 December and we still have a few days in which we can put pressure on politicians in relation to their votes on cuts to the minimum wage and welfare as well as tax increases aimed at the lower paid.
The most effective way to apply such pressure is for their constituents – you and your family members – to contact them directly by telephone or email. To make it easier for you to do this we have set out below a list * which has the contact details of all the politicians – so just look up your area on the list and use the relevant contact details.
We have also included a draft letter in this ezine that you can cut and paste and email to your local TDs demanding that they make their position clear in relation to the proposed cuts to the minimum wage and welfare as well as the proposed tax rises.
The window of opportunity is still open so it is vital that you act now by contacting your TDs and letting them know what you think. In a week’s time it could be too late.
Dear Deputy,
The Government’s Four-Year Plan has targeted the most vulnerable in our society.
The proposed reduction in the minimum wage of one euro an hour and the inclusion of lower paid workers in the tax net will have a profound impact on the poorest in our society. It will hit women and children particularly hard as the majority of minimum wage workers are women. With the collapse of sectors of traditional male employment such as construction, many of these women are the household’s sole bread winner.
The planned social welfare cutbacks in the December Budget will once again disproportionately impact on such households. How much more do you think these families can take?
There are better, fairer ways to correct our economic problems than targeting those who benefitted the least and contributed the least to the vandalism of our economy. The legacy of these decisions will never be forgotten – however, it’s not too late! There is still time to take a different course and I am asking you as one of my local Dáil members not to support this unfair attack on the working poor.
Mandate Trade Union’s 45,000 members and their families all across Ireland await your response. Their future is for the moment in your hands but your future is also in theirs. Mandate Trade Union will proactively inform our members of the decisions you make so they can make informed choices in the near future.
As one of my Dáil representatives, I ask that you commit to reversing/not supporting the cut in the minimum wage. I also ask you not to support a December Budget that proposes to include low paid workers in the tax net and cuts basic social welfare rates.
I await your response with interest.
If a response is not forthcoming, I and my Mandate colleagues will interpret it as a clear failure to make a commitment to the poorest in society.
Yours sincerely,
