Thanks for making CVS lobby of Parliament a success

From: Macfarlane, Simon
Sent: 19 March 2009 12:20
Subject: CVS Lobby of Scottish Parliament and presentation to Petitions Committee - 17th March 2009

Hello

Thanks to all who took part in our activities on Tuesday at the Scottish Parliament and to all who signed the petition and helped with our campaign. The day was a huge success with us getting our message over to many MSPs, we were given the longest slot in front of the Petitions Committee under the current Convenor and we attracted widespread publicity for the issues around fair funding for the voluntary sector and the attacks on our members jobs and conditions.

I attach a number of links below, a couple of which have video clips of our mock funeral, including a link to watch the whole presentation to the Committee should you so wish.

The Convenor said 10 years in to devolution "the next big project, one of them, has to be what we do about this constant anomaly of the voluntary sector". The Committee has agreed to write to a number of bodies including the Scottish Government and will decide in May how to progress it further.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/7947039.stm

http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/other/display.var.2496164.0.Care_workers_stage_mock_funeral_in_protest_at_wage_cuts.php video clip

http://deadlinescotland.wordpress.com/2009/03/17/trade-unions-stage-dramatic-mock-funeral-outside-scottish-parliament-738/ video clip

http://news.scotsman.com/uk/Protest-mourns-loss-of-jobs.5081361.jp

http://news.stv.tv/home/82806-unions-stage-mock-funeral-outside-scottish-parliament/

http://www.teletext.co.uk/regionalnews/centscotborders/730fdd4429ebad701b6d4d582b324745/Workers+stage+mock+funeral.aspx

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/britain/activists_mourn_job_losses_in_mock_funeral_procession

Finally you can watch the whole presentation to the Committee via this website:
http://www.holyrood.tv/library.asp?iPid=3&section=43&title=Public+Petitions

Many thanks again and I look forward to working with you to continue to take forward our campaign.

Simon

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The Herald: Care workers stage mock funeral in protest at wage cuts

Care workers stage mock funeral in protest at wage cuts
STEWART PATERSON
The Herald March 18 2009

Care workers in the voluntary sector staged a protest outside the Scottish Parliament against cuts in wages yesterday.




Around 50 demonstrators staged a mock funeral for the "death of the voluntary sector", calling for equality of wages and conditions with council and health board staff.

The protesters from unions Unite and Unison paraded a coffin in a glass carriage, pulled by horses, before handing over a petition to Frank McAveety, petitions committee convener.
advertisementThe unions claim staff are receiving pay cuts as local authorities seek to drive down the cost of contracts for care services to achieve budget savings.

A union survey of staff in the voluntary, or third, sector found almost nine out of 10 said their organisation was under increased financial pressure compared to previous years, and almost three-quarters said they had suffered negative effects on wages and conditions as a result of funding cuts.

Roz Foyer, senior regional organiser with Unite said: "This is clearly unacceptable. We want the Scottish Parliament to deliver a framework for public procurement of voluntary sector services. We also need them to scrap competitive tendering.There is now a massive gulf between the voluntary sector and those delivering the same services in the public sector."

Mr McAveety said: "We will take up the issue directly with the Scottish Government and local authorities."

The group was also met by Labour leader Iain Gray, finance spokesman Andy Kerr and other Labour MSPs.

The SNP said the Scottish Government had made more money available to the voluntary sector and urged the campaigners to lobby Westminster as well.

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BBC Scotland: 'Mock funeral' is held over cuts - 12:50pm update

Two trade unions have staged a mock funeral at the Scottish Parliament to protest against the loss of voluntary sector jobs and services.

Members of Unite and Unison gathered outside Holyrood dressed in black and accompanied by a horse-drawn hearse.

The groups will later be joined by care charities in urging MSPs on the petitions committee to intervene.

They want the Scottish Government to give support to a "fair funding agreement".

BBC Scotland News: Page last updated at 12:50 GMT, Tuesday, 17 March 2009
More on BBC Scotland News website

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‘Funeral’ for lost jobs and services in Scotland’s voluntary sector

Date 16 March 2009
Embargo: Not for Release before 00.01am 17 Mar 2009

Members of UNISON who work in Scotland’s voluntary sector will gather outside the Scottish Parliament at 11.00 am today (Tuesday 17th March) to mourn the loss of jobs and services, and to warn that if funding is not improved more will follow. UNISON members will be wearing mourning black and will have a horse drawn hearse and coffin to drive home the message to MSPs. This action will be held jointly with Unite the other leading union in Scotland’s voluntary sector.

UNISON’s lobby comes before a delegation comprising UNISON along with the STUC, Unite, the SCVO, and Community Care Providers Scotland, will appear before the Scottish Parliament’s Petitions Committee in support of Petition PE1231. The 4,000 signature petition calls on the Government to ensure that frontline voluntary sector members receive the same pay and conditions as public sector workers through adequate public funding.

Simon Macfarlane, UNISON Scotland’s Regional Organiser for the Community & Voluntary Sector said: “This lobby is to highlight to politicians what is happening on the ground. Vital projects providing lifeline services are being shut and increasing numbers of jobs are being lost. We are mourning what we have already lost and say to the government now’s the time to act. We need fair funding for the voluntary sector and pay and conditions equity for our members.”

Simon Macfarlane continued: “In the current economic crisis Scotland needs a vibrant voluntary sector but that can’t be funded on the cheap. Members currently work in a climate of fear. Funding is more and more precarious and employers are cutting pay and conditions in response to this. This is not only bad news for our members but for those who the voluntary sector supports. In the care sector staff are stressed through threats to their jobs and demoralised by low pay and poor conditions while looking after some of the most vulnerable people in our communities. Our members deliver first rate services but they really feel at breaking point. Increasing responsibilities are loaded onto frontline carers with no increased resources. If things don’t change, even in this tough economic climate, dedicated staff will vote with their feet and leave.”

Ends

Note for Editors:
Petition PE1231 calls on the Parliament and Government to implement the principles of the Fair Funding Statement the petitioning bodies signed up to in November 2007. This calls for voluntary sector workers to receive the same pay and conditions as public sector workers, an improved contracting environment and for contracts to be for a minimum of five years.

For Further Information Please Contact:
Simon Macfarlane (Regional Organiser) 07703 194 132 (m)
Chris Bartter (Communications Officer) 0771 558 3729(m)

G20 demo London Saturday 28 March

Jobs, Justice, Climate - Put People First!

UNISON is supporting the March for Jobs, Justice, Climate on Saturday 28 March in London, and is urging every member who can attend to do so.

Details of times etc:

11am Assemble Victoria Embankment London

12 noon March off to Rally at Hyde Park

2pm Carnival, speakers and entertainment at Hyde Park

4pm expected end of Rally

Check out more details on the G20 demo website:

http://www.putpeoplefirst.org.uk/

The aim of the demonstration is to put pressure on the leaders of the G20 group of rich nations meeting in London at the beginning of April, so that in their discussion and decisions they will Put People First!

The Google map below shows the assembly point at Victoria Embankment and where the rally will take place Hyde Park.



View Larger Map

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Economic crisis is no time to cut local services

Sunday 8 March 2009


The SNP's concordat with councils has now become a straitjacket which is causing cuts in local services to those who need them most, UNISON's Scottish Secretary Matt Smith told the Labour Conference in Dundee.

The UNISON motion on local government cuts states that the financial settlement for Scotland's local councils will lead to real cuts in public services this year with even more damaging threats for next year.

Speaking in support of the motion, Matt said:
"Today in the midst of this financial crisis many are looking to local government to make a difference: to be an economic generator; to look after those who are suffering; and to be the voice of local communities. Yet at this time we find that local authorities are themselves facing crisis. At a time when its services are more than ever required, it is starved of funds and opportunities to increase its income because of the council tax freeze and cuts in business rates."

Matt said:
"Of course we welcome the SNP's abandonment of the absurd local income tax, which was never going to be local anyway. But in seeking to pave the way for that policy the Scottish Government set unwelcome and unworkable financial parameters.

"The concordat has become a straitjacket. Every day we see the pressure piling up in local government, with jobs cut, redundancies proposed, hours of work reduced and services threatened. Year on year we experience not only underfunding but backtracking on policies from classroom sizes to town centre regeneration. We experience the uncertainty it provides to those employed in the services. And we see the impact on the most vulnerable."

Matt called on the Scottish Labour Party to restate the value of local government and campaign to improve local services, to recognise and fairly reward local government workers, and to recognise that "a financial crisis is no time to reduce services to those who need them most."



ENDS



Notes for editors:
UNISON Scotland's resolutions to Scottish Labour Party Conference 2009 can be found at the UNISON Scottish Labour Link pages on our website
www.unison-scotland.org.uk/labourlink/


Details of the UNISON Scotland campaign Public Works: a programme to beat the recession is also available on the UNISON Scotland website
www.unison-scotland.org.uk/

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PFI car parking contractors in line for £170,000 windfall - UNISON

Date: 6 March 2009

The parking contractors that run the car parking at Edinburgh’s Royal Infirmary, are set to make around an extra £170,000 profit because of government actions to tackle the credit crunch, according to Scotland’s healthcare union, UNISON today.



Speaking at the Scottish Labour Party Conference in Dundee this morning, UNISON delegate, Morag Houston said:

“Our Lothian Health Branch has just found out that the private contractors who run the car parking at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary are cashing it in on the back of the government’s decision to reduce VAT by 2.5% this year. Because this has not been included in the contractual details – either with the parking sub-contractors Meteor, or with the main contractor, Consort – they are charging £70,000 to recalibrate their parking machines to take off that 2.5%, and will charge a further £70K to change them back when the VAT reverts to 17.5%! And that is after they have already made an extra £29,000 because they haven’t already changed the machines to reduce the extra 2.5%.”

UNISON, was backing a motion giving support to the private member’s bill proposed by Paul Martin MSP, which, if successful, would make charging for car parking illegal throughout Scotland’s NHS, including in PFI funded facilities.

Tam Waterson, Chair of UNISON’s Lothian Health Branch said:

“It is exactly this kind of contractual inflexibility and profiteering at the expense of our NHS, which UNISON has campaigned against from the first days of PFI. We need to get behind Paul Martin’s bill to deal with the scandal of car parking charges imposed on those who are sick, their families and friends and the staff who care for them, but more than that – we need to continue to fight to get rid of this expensive, inflexible and inefficient way of funding our vital public works – whether it is called, PFI, PPP or SFT.”

The motion was passed.

ENDS

Note for editors:
You can see video footage of Paul Martin MSP launching his bill in January with the support of UNISON members at http://www.youtube.com/user/UNISONScotland.


For Further Information Please Contact:
Malcolm Burns (Information Dev Officer) 07876 566 978(m)
Chris Bartter (Communications Officer) 0771 558 3729(m)
Morag Houston (UNISON Delegate – LP Conference)- please contact Chris Bartter
Tom Waterston (UNISON Lothian Health Branch Chair) 07753 627 575(m)

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