CATU News - Week 14

A chairde,

CATU’s National Committee are developing a 5 year strategy for our union. We're coming up on the CATU's 5th birthday and we've come a long way in the last five years - our goal for producing this strategy doc is to start thinking about some long term goals for the union. In January we held a strategy day with all members of staff, the national committee and representatives from various different bodies within the union from which a draft strategy was developed.

We are asking all branches to review and discuss the document at their next branch meeting and to leave feedback on the document (accessible below) which is open for comments. Deadline for feedback is April 29th.

We will then begin a redraft and host a series of consultations over the summer, after which it will be presented for approval at the Ard Fheis in September.

CATU Tallaght are organising in the Exchange Hall apartment complex locally to resist a series of evictions. Tenants involved include a wide variety of people from different backgrounds, including nurses in Tallaght hospital who work with children and in the ICU unit.

The landlords, represented by Chartered Assets in Donnybrook are refusing to engage. The branch have prepared a statement which can be found below.

If you’re living in or around Tallaght and would like to get involved in organising against these evictions, please contact [email protected] 

CATU Cork are celebrating another win, this time in Fermoy. Fellow member Leticia was served an invalid Notice of Termination and, following a local campaign and picket, the eviction has now been withdrawn.

Meanwhile, the branch’s ongoing campaign in the Mayfield area had a public meeting in Mayfield Sports Complex over the weekend to discuss how we can build collective power to force the council into fixing homes and listening to tenants. This work ties into wider organising locally since October last year and is geared towards establishing a residents’ committee in Mayfield. To that end, great progress has been made.

The branch ran a successful occupation workshop yesterday and tomorrow (Thursday) will be participating in a lecture on land struggles - venue on that TBC but the branch Instagram will have further details.

CATU Belfast visited the Housing Executive offices on Adelaide Street at noon today.

Members locally have been struggling in all types of NIHE accommodation with excessive mould and damp. They will not be ignored.

Families deserve safe, warm, adequate housing - which is the message that was loudly taken to the Housing Executive today!

In Solidarity,

Naoise Faogáin
National Administrator
Community Action Tenants Union - CATU Ireland
www.catuireland.org