 |
UNISON
General Secretary calls on Scottish Parliament
to scrap PFI |
Rodney Bickerstaffe, General
Secretary of UNISON, Scotland's largest union,
has called for the phasing out of the Government's
controversial Private Finance Initiative (PFI).
Speaking to the union's City
of Edinburgh Branch AGM , Mr Bickerstaffe
announced the prospective publication of UNISONScotland's
Manifesto Briefing Serving Scotland's Taxpayers.
This is the next step in the union's Serving
Scotland campaign, which argues for priority
for public services in the Scottish Parliament
"Scotland's public services
should be democratically accountable, best
quality and delivered by a public service
team," said Mr Bickerstaffe. "PFI
cannot deliver on these criteria and should
be scrapped. We are calling on the new Scottish
Parliament to draw a line under this system
and to develop new ways of funding essential
service facilities."
"Serving Scotland's
Taxpayers makes clear arguments for changes
to this costly and secretive method of funding
our public services and we will be campaigning
for these changes with all the prospective
MSP's, political parties and other Scottish
organisations."
Edinburgh has two 'flagship'
PFI schemes, a private consortium has been
awarded the new Edinburgh Royal Infirmary,
and the city's schools are proposed for private
takeover. UNISON has already pointed out that
the extra cost - 6million - of the Royal Infirmary
contract is the equivalent of nearly 16,000
day case operations.
The union's Serving Scotland
campaign is planned to run up to the Scottish
Parliament elections an May 6. It argues for
services that give people a say in their running,
are the best quality possible, and are delivered
by a public service team. Mr Bickerstaffe
congratulated the Edinburgh Branch for taking
this message to heart.
"It is good to see that
this branch has taken the lead amongst Scottish
Branches", he said "and produced
its own definition of 'best value' in local
services, which embody the principles set
out by our campaign. This is the sort of positive
lead we want and I wish them success in negotiating
agreement with the employer."
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