We've got the argument. We've got the alternatives. We've got the vision - get out there and organise for it

There is an alternative to savage cuts in public services is the message from a strategy meeting of unions and community groups hosted by UNISON Scotland.  The 270 delegates united behind a call from Dave Prentis, UNISON General Secretary, to build "Our vision of a good society. A society based on fairness, solidarity, and democracy. A society in which public services are there to enable everyone to participate.

"This vision, and these values, have always been fundamental to our ethos as a union. Because it's what our members try to turn into reality every day when they go to work.

"So let's not be fooled by the scaremongering about the debt", said Dave. "And let's not fall for the lie that that this society can't afford decent public services. The money is there in our economy, if we want to raise it and put it to good use. But this government doesn't want you to realise that.

"Not because half of the cabinet are millionaires who don't want to pay their share…although half of the cabinet are millionaires who don't want to pay their share.

"It's because of an ideology. An ideology that hates public services. An ideology that loves privatisation. An ideology that sees public service employment - millions of people caring and helping and educating - not as an achievement to be celebrated - but as a problem to be tackled."

Underlining the point, the STUC's Stephen Boyd exploded the myths about the crisis, blow by blow. The STUC's new 'There is a Better Way' campaign (http://www.thereisabetterway.org/) is a crucial resource for showing not only that the cuts are ideologically rather than financial driven - but also how they will hinder a recovery and possibly throw us into a further recession.

But this meeting was not just a talking shop. It was there as the first step in a series of events as participants moved into workshops to develop practical plans to take the campaign forward.

Nobody underestimated the task. As Dave Prentis told UNISON's National Conference in June, "the next four years will test us all. Test our resolve. Test our nerve. But we will pass the test. The world has changed - new worries, new fears. And our members look to us to lead. This is no time to hang our heads. It is time to stand tall."

He returned to that theme in Glasgow "We've got the argument. We've got the alternatives. We've got the vision. What we need to do is get out there and organise for it".

Prentis warns Scotland’s political leaders against slashing public services based on ‘ice cream van economics’

Date: 3 Sept 10

UPDATE: Dave Prentis speaking at
'There is an alternative' conference Saturday 4 September

UNISON General Secretary Dave Prentis will tomorrow (Saturday) warn Scottish politicians to ignore the ‘ice cream van economics’ of the recent Independent Budget Review report.

He will tell a major conference in Glasgow that the country’s political leaders will be judged on how far they distance themselves from the July report and fight to protect the services that people rely on.

He said today that the report by the so-called three wise men painted a vision of a future “where services are privatised or charged for, if they are there at all” and where 35-60,000 jobs are cut.


Dave added: “I don’t want to be too harsh on these three not very wise men. They were asked to deliver a package of cuts. That’s what they have done.


“A proper review of the budget would have started by looking at the services we need, then working out how you raise the money to pay for them.


“You don’t look at a Government’s finances and say ‘we’ve got this much, what can we get for it?’


“That’s what kids do at an ice cream van. We should be able to expect better from experts looking at a country’s finances.”


UNISON Scotland’s ‘There is an alternative’ conference tomorrow will see more than 200 union and community activists from around the country share experiences about threats to local services and discuss how to develop the union’s Public Works campaign.


Keynote speaker Stephen Boyd, STUC assistant secretary, will deliver an economic analysis that demonstrates that there is an alternative to the cuts and privatisation agenda.


Dave added: “I have a message for the Scottish Government. The Independent Budget Review is just a tartan version of the Tory plan for the rest of the UK. It’s a plan that the Scottish people rejected, overwhelmingly, at the ballot box only a few months ago.


“We’ll be able to judge the truth of how well Alex Salmond, or the other party leaders, stand up for Scotland by how much distance they put between themselves and this plan to devastate the country’s public services.”


ENDS


Details of the conference are on UNISON Scotland’s website at www.unison-scotland.org.uk/publicworks/04sep/index.html  
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COSLA imposing 3 year pay deal is kick in teeth to local government workers

COSLA today imposed a revised three year pay deal on Scottish local government workers. The employers withdrew their earlier offer and imposed one made up of 0.65% this year and a pay freeze for the next two years. See BBC report www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-11113306  



UNISON today reacted angrily to COSLA’s decision to impose a three year pay deal, calling it a kick in the teeth to local government workers.

Stephanie Herd, Chair of UNISON’s Scottish Local Government Committee, said: “COSLA has misrepresented the unions’ negotiating position and has said they value employees, while kicking them in the teeth today.


“Imposing a deal is not the way to do pay bargaining and is totally unfair to hard working local government workers across Scotland.

“UNISON has made the case that there is an alternative to the cuts agenda, an alternative that delivers the quality services Scotland needs, with decent pay and conditions for staff.”

Dougie Black, UNISON trade union side secretary and lead negotiator, said: “All three trade unions jointly sought talks with COSLA and these took place yesterday.

“Our position was that we wanted to look at re-shaping the offer and we were not asking for more money. We simply wanted to talk about re-shaping their offer.

“COSLA had budgeted for 1% this year but have chosen to impose a lower figure than the Tory/Liberal Democrat coalition are prepared to pay public sector workers south of the border.


“It is contemptible that they say they value public service workers. They can’t possibly when they are reducing wages, taking an offer off the table and imposing something worth less.”


ENDS


Notes to Editors:
Three unions make up the trade union side of the Scottish Joint Council: UNISON, Unite and GMB.

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UNISON – Police staff cuts 'great news for criminals'

Date: Fri 27 August 2010

UNISON has called for a halt to the proposed job cuts among police staff. The union said that the proposals made by various police forces were "great news for criminals" and that if implemented the sackings would make Scotland less safe.

UNISON has already sought a joint approach to the Scottish government with Strathclyde Police to address the threat to jobs and service levels. The union is widening the approach as the scale of job and service cuts now being proposed across other Scottish police forces becomes clearer.

UNISON organises police staff in forces across Scotland and was reacting to announcements by three forces to cut both police staff and police officers.

A UNISON spokesperson said:
"This is great news for criminals across Scotland as police are taken off the beat to do jobs more usefully, and cost effectively, done by police staff.  

"These proposals are turning the clock back thirty years and will wipe out all of the efficiencies and advances we’ve made since then. We now have specialised, trained and dedicated staff whose employment means police officers can be released for frontline duties.

"This is not even a saving - it will actually cost more and take officers away from the frontline where the public rightly expect them to be. 

"No one can pretend that Scotland will be a safer place if these cuts are implemented. As they stand these proposals are little more than a charter for criminals." 


ends


Note for Editors:
Police staff are a vital part of modern effective policing. Scotland has made progress in "police civilianisation" in recent years but still has some way to go to catch up with the situation in England and Wales. UNISON Scotland's Briefing 209 on Police Civilianisation in Scotland (May 2009) states: "Police staffs comprise 28% of all police personnel in Scotland. In comparison, the figure for England & Wales is 32% (excluding Police Community Support Officers)". The Briefing also reports on studies showing the benefits of civilianisation: "Workforce modernisation studies in England & Wales demonstrate that further civilianisation allied to a reconfiguration of police personnel is associated with a wide range of performance, economic, stakeholder and community benefits for police forces."

UNISON Scotland's Briefing 209 on Police Civilianisation in Scotland (May 2009) is available on the UNISON Scotland website at http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/briefings/209policecivilianisation.pdf


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Strathclyde Police staff under threat: UNISON's Gerry Crawley on BBC Scotland website

In response to Strathclyde Police proposals to cut jobs UNISON Scotland Regional Organiser Gerry Crawley commented to BBC Scotland as follows:

Unison branch officer Gerry Crawley said that if Strathclyde Police did not achieve its savings targets up to 800 civilian posts could go in addition to 400 police posts.

"Our big fear is that there is going to be compulsory redundancies," he said.

"The only decision that the police authority took today was to effectively cut the voluntary redundancy package on offer to staff.

"Although the cash offer is still unaffected the pension terms have been reduced. How do they expect to achieve 600 voluntary redundancies this way?"
 
Strike threat

Mr Crawley said Unison had agreed to make a joint approach, with Strathclyde Chief Constable Stephen House, to the Scottish government over the cash crisis facing the force.

He said the scale of the cuts being implemented meant that industrial action "could not be ruled out" and pledged to "fight for every job" under threat.

The scale of the projected budget shortfall facing Strathclyde Police is likely to become clearer after the Scottish government's spending review in October.

The voluntary redundancy package on offer to staff will run until the end of October.

Once the uptake is known, with the likely projected budget shortfall, the force will have to decide whether to pursue voluntary redundancy of support staff.

If any industrial action is called in response to such a decision it is likely to be next year.



(see Strathclyde Police to cut 600 civilian staff  26 August 2010 Last updated at 17:01  on BBC Scotland News website for full story)


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IFS Budget Report - UNISON steps up campaign against cuts

25 August 2010


UNISON, the UK’s leading public sector trade union, today vowed to step up its campaign to protect vital public services against Government cuts, in the wake of the latest research* highlighting the deeply regressive nature of the Government’s budget that is hitting the poorest hardest.

Following the budget, the union accused the Government of declaring war on public services and public service workers calling it “the most draconian budget in decades”, and called for fairer taxation, a transaction tax on banks and action against tax havens and dodgers.

Dave Prentis, UNISON General Secretary, said:
“There is no compassion in this coalition. The Chancellor’s claims that his budget was fair and progressive have been blown out of the water. Well he didn’t fool us then and he’s not fooling anyone now. That is why UNISON is stepping up its campaign to protect the vital public services that the vulnerable and needy rely on most, ahead of the Comprehensive Spending Review.

“The Tories always revert to type. They are still the party that clobbers those on the lowest incomes, whilst helping the rich to get richer. It is a disgrace that children from low-income families are the ones paying the price for this bankers’ recession.

“UNISON has long been warning that the Tories plans would hit the poor hardest. Many families are already struggling to cope with the fall out from the recession, and things will only get worse.

“The Comprehensive Spending Review will pile more misery onto families, with more local communities set to lose vital services. The cost of everyday essentials such as fuel and food are already rising, with inflation and VAT hikes in the pipeline. This spells danger for low-income families, who spend the lion’s share of their money on everyday essentials.”


http://www.unison.org.uk/asppresspack/pressrelease_view.asp?id=1960




*IFS Research – Distributional effect of tax and benefits reforms.




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BBC News - Budget hits the poorest hardest, says IFS

BBC News - 25 August 2010 Last updated at 04:58

The coalition government's first Budget has hit the poorest families hardest, a leading economic think tank has said.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said the measures announced in the Budget in June were "regressive".

Its analysis suggests that low income families with children are set to lose the most as a percentage of net income due to benefit cuts announced in the Budget.

The Treasury said it did not accept the "selective" findings of the IFS.

The IFS had already challenged the government's claim that the Budget was "progressive".

Its report concluded: "Once all of the benefit cuts are considered, the tax and benefit changes announced in the emergency Budget are clearly regressive as, on average, they hit the poorest households more than those in the upper middle of the income distribution in cash, let alone percentage, terms."


Read more on BBC News site...

But there is an alternative: See www.unison-scotland.org.uk


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