| PRIVATISATION
of Edinburgh City Council Services
PUBLIC CONSULTATION
Augustine Church, George IV Bridge,
Edinburgh Monday 27th June 6-8pm
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SIGN OUR ONLINE PETITION
Pressure
mounts as council drives to privatisation
The campaign against privatisation is
stepping up as the Council faces critical
decisions in the coming weeks.
6 June 2011: >>more
15 December 2010: UNISON
TO CHALLENGE EDINBURGH COUNCIL ON CUTS
AND NEW DAMNING EVIDENCE ON PRIVATISATION
PLANS UNISON will call for an
immediate halt to privatisation at Edinburgh
City Council at a lobby of the Council
on 16th December after it was revealed
that two of the private bidders had
not revealed criminal convictions arising
from fatal workplace accidents. more>>
| See also the full UNISON submission (pdf)
THE DANGERS OF PRIVATISING SERVICES:
As Connaught's administrators try to get services
brought back in house, questions are
asked about the firms accountancy methods.
This firm had passed Edinburgh's finance
checks!
see more on the unofficial UNISONActive
blog
Selling Edinburgh off will come at
great cost to us all
Letter in Evening News 29/7/10
In an otherwise enlightening article
on council funding and privatisation
(Counting the cost of public sector
cuts, News, July 27), Rory Reynolds
spoils it when he says "the status quo
is unsustainable".
Thank goodness the government after
the Second World War was not so defeatist.
At that time the national debt (as a
percentage of Gross Domestic Product)
was three times the current debt.
Yet the country managed to create the
NHS, create proper pensions and instigate
the biggest social housing programme
ever seen.
By all means report on the current
financial crisis facing the council,
but don't fall for the Con-Lib spin
that there is no alternative.
Let's have a real debate about the
so-called 'crisis'. Let's learn from
the rebuilding in the USA after the
depression.
If Edinburgh is sold off, it will not
just be the essential public services
that are cut, but the thousands of businesses
that rely on them.
Sold off to multinationals with no
base in the city, not for efficiency
but for profit - and to allow councillors
to pass the buck and say, "it was the
big company that didn't deliver, not
us".
The cuts we face are ideological, not
financial. We need to wake up to that.
John Stevenson,
President,
UNISON, City of Edinburgh Branch
Click here for the original Evening News
feature
top
"You cannot hide from the responsibility
for the disaster privatisation will
bring"
 Branch Officers told councillors
on 24 June that they 'cannot hide from
the responsibility for the disaster
privatisation will bring', as they outlined
UNISON's concerns about plans to move
to the next stage of the process to
outsource up to 3,500 jobs.
UNISON condemned the risk posed to
local services and jobs created by the
plans to privatise key sections of the
council. The scale of the threat is
significant - catering, cleaning, security,
property, refuse, cleansing, finance,
benefits and many other services are
at risk.
We believe the private sector will
increase service costs including service
charges to you, while offering a poorer
quality service - not to mention the
real risks to jobs, pay and conditions.
In addition, three out of five
of the companies known to be shortlisted
for the facilities contract, and the
parent company of one shortlisted for
the environment contract, were fined
by the Office of Fair Trading in 2009
for ‘illegal bid-rigging’ . They
were fined a total of around £40million
(see http://www.oft.gov.uk/news-and-updates/press/2009/114-09)
This goes alongside concerns about health
and safety breaches by some.
While 1.5 million is being spent
on trying to privatise services, only
one tenth of that is being offered to
delivering an 'in-house' option.
At this morning's rally, UNISON's Kevin
Duguid told members, "The councillors
are burying their heads in the sand
hoping that when it all goes wrong,
they can blame the officials. We are
going to be telling them that you cannot
hide from the responsibility for the
disaster privatisation will bring".
"These services will run to over £100
million for 7-12 year contracts. That
would put the trams shamble into the
shade", warned Kevin.
"The public is not getting to know
about this shambles, about the companies
that will bid for our services and about
the costs - but if the Council won't
tell them, UNISON will make sure they
know".
We have excellent services in Edinburgh
and we need another Tram fiasco like
a hole in the head. So join our campaign,
distribute the petition, display a poster
and come to our meetings to help us
develop an alternative vision for local
jobs and services.
The Labour Group has put forward an
amendment which would have made for
a meaningful in-house bid and demanded
real figures from the council rather
than the current guesses on possible
savings.
See 10
REASONS WHY WE MUST KEEP EDINBURGH PUBLIC
UNISON
damning analysis of the Council's plans
for more details.
top
Campaign against sell-off starts in
Edinburgh
 UNISON has launched a campaign against
'reckless' council plans to sell-off
services and over 3,000 jobs.
The "Our City's Not For Sale" campaign
will work with other unions, community
groups and the public to expose the
dangers of the council's 'alternative
business models'.
"Services like front line customer
contact, revenue and benefits, catering,
cleaning, security, cleansing and vehicle
and grounds maintenance, along with
HR are all up for grabs with cultural
services, transport and legal services
also being primed for outsourcing through
multi-million pound 'strategic partnerships'
or 'joint ventures' - privatisation,
to you and me", said Agnes Petkevicius,
UNISON Edinburgh Branch Secretary.
"UNISON's own studies have revealed
that, at best, council claims about
savings are wishful thinking. No credible
evidence exists to support them. Worse
still, the evidence that does exist
points to failures, worse services,
increased costs and huge bills to bring
failed services back in-house.
"To go ahead with this, in an exercise
likely to top £1million wasted on consultants,
without learning the lessons of the
social care tendering fiasco is nothing
short of reckless".
"If services are delivered in-house
with no need to make a profit, how can
they be delivered more cheaply while
making a profit on top? Something has
to give and that is usually the quality
of the service or indeed the whole service
- along with any decency in the pay
and conditions of those delivering the
service", added Branch President John
Stevenson.
"You still pay your taxes but instead
of the money going on the service and
those who deliver it, it goes to company
profits. Like the banks, or even perhaps
the trams contract, these companies
will become 'too big to fail' and will
have the council over a barrel. It is
time for the council to abandon these
plans and concentrate on efficient and
quality services in-house".
UNISON lead negotiator Kevin Duguid
said, "The union has stressed that it
is always ready to fully engage with
the council on better and more efficient
ways of delivering quality services.
"However, the refusal to seriously look
at in-house options means there is no
real attempt to look at improving services,
just a headlong drive to privatise".
"Nowhere is this more evident than
the council leaving key issues out of
the tendering advert like bidders having
to comply with legal requirements such
as the equalities duty, Climate Change
Act etc, in case it deters them from
applying".
"Staff are demoralised at how they
are being treated with their jobs being
sold from under them to the lowest bidder
who will cut their terms and conditions
to deliver profits for their shareholders
first, with service delivery coming
second."
More details and 10 points from UNISON's
damning analysis of the council plans
is at http://www.unison-edinburgh.org.uk/citynotforsale/10points.html
|
Why
the in-house option is
'best value'
Ten
reasons why City of Edinburgh
Councillors should oppose privatisation
facebook group City Not For Sale
