A number of leading trade unions have expressed their opposition to the €100 household charge and encouraged their members not to pay it.
Unite have urged its 60,000 members to ignore the deadline of March 31 and not to register for the household charge.
“We have been urging and encouraging members to organise within their workplaces and local communities to stand in support of the campaign and push the Government towards a fairer and more equitable solution,” union spokesman Rob Hartnett said at a press conference yesterday.
The union is not opposed to a property tax but to the idea of a flat rate charge, he said.
The Civil and Public Service Union (CPSU) has also passed a motion calling for the tax to be scrapped but has not called on members to boycott the charge.
A motion calling for a ballot for industrial action if members have to deduct the charge from wages will be discussed at the union’s national conference next month.
Dublin Council of Trade Unions spokesman Des Derwin said the umbrella body supported the efforts of the Campaign Against Household and Water Taxes organisers “to support the efforts of organisers to encourage people not to register and not to pay”.
The meeting of unions was organised by the campaign, which will hold a protest rally in Dublin on Saturday.
To date 286,000 homeowners have paid the charge.
