8 March 2000 Edinburgh Budget:
UNISON calls for partnership
Cautious welcome for the council's 2000/2001
budget is marred by closure of Craigmillar
Childrens Project.
Below is the text of the submission
City of Edinburgh Vice Chair John Stevenson
made to the Council at 10am on Thursday
9 March 2000.
Social Work steward Lyn Williams will
also condemn the closure of Craigmillar
Childrens Project which was announced for
closure yesterday without consultation with
users, the public or staff.
"Lord Provost, normally UNISON comes
before the council on budget day looking
for partnership, but forced into conflict
when we have to defend our members jobs
and - just as importantly - the services
they provide for the people of Edinburgh.
And in that we do recognise the difficult
choices that face you each year.
In previous years, we have had to fight
for our members very livelihoods, against
redundancies or against your employees'
jobs being sold to the highest bidder.
You know, when astronaut Buzz Aldrin was
asked how he felt just before blast-off,
he said "How would you feel sitting
on1000 lowest tenders?". That is how
it has felt to us over the last few years.
But this year, we congratulate the Labour
Administration on the growth it has been
able to achieve and on avoiding, as far
as we can see, the threat of redundancies
in the council. Whether or not you will
give a 'no-redundancy' guarantee, so long
as there are no redundancies, we can do
business.
But redundancies are still a risk in the
voluntary sector. Some projects are likely
to close and many others will not be able
to manage with no provision for inflation
in their grants. The large organisations
may be able to absorb cuts in grants in
the way the council has had to with its
allocation, but smalller projects will see
staff conditions cut and jobs lost. Many
of our members have now gone several years
without receiving the agreed pay settlements.
But at risk of some members here thinking
I may be heading for senility, there is
a great deal to welcome in this budget.
Social Work in particular could not go on
the way it was, and perhaps it took the
tragedy of the Edinburgh Inquiry to highlight
just what is needed in the way of resources
to provide essential services.
Things will not be better tomorrow, staff
are still working under intolerable stress
with the buck too often stopping at their
level, for problems that are created at
a political or managerial level. But we
do welcome the improvements.
Well, that would have been the end of it
and we could have been very positive, had
it not been for developments yesterday at
Craigmillar Youth Project and my colleague
Lyn Williams will outline the effects of
that. Cuts and closures are still very much
with us.
You wouldn't of course expect me to paint
too glossy a picture. Huge, and mainly Tory
budget cuts of 20's and 30's of millions
of pounds since the new council was formed
have been a bit like being hit over the
head with a hammer. The headache gets a
wee bit better when it stops. You could
be forgiven for getting a bit light headed,
but unfortunately, the nagging headache
is still there.
If extra resources are going into Social
Work and Education, where do the cuts to
make up the £8.5million come from?
UNISON is deeply concerned at the pressures
faced by the council's central support functions
- many of those serve councillors directly,
others keep the rest of the council infrastructure
together. They have faced cuts, reorganisations
and the label of surplus bureaucrats.
In reality the problem is that there is
not enough administrative support, with
higher paid staff in this technological
age writing envelope upon envelope by hand,
photocopying and so on instead of the jobs
they are being paid to do - sometimes called
'efficiency savings', these are false economies.
And last, but certainly not least, UNISON
is concerned about the position of manual
workers in the council. They have borne
the brunt of outsourcing, trusts and privatisation.
They, often on the lowest wages and poorest
conditions, have found even these conditions
under threat and agreements broken due to
Compulsory Tendering in the past, and in
the present, voluntary tendering and, in
our view, a misapplication of Best Value.
We are asking the Council to make a new
commitment to its manual workers, to Grounds
Maintenance, to the Leisure Trust, to cleaners
and catering staff, to school ancillaries,
to crossing patrol guides, to home helps
and many others whose jobs are no less important
to the running of the council and its services
than anyone else's.
In conclusion, UNISON genuinely welcomes
attempts to protect and build on Edinburgh's
services and to make them more efficient
and accountable. We welcome the fact that
we are not in conflict on as many issues
this year and our offer to build a real
and lasting partnership between the council
and its workers remains on the table as
strongly as it did three years ago.
Perhaps now is the time for the council
to take a lead from some developments in
the NHS, pick up our partnership document
and enter serious talks about it. Perhaps
that way, we can avoid some of the crises
that my colleague will outline to you today.
Susan Deacon MSP, speaking to a UNISON
meeting the other week identified herself
with our Serving Scotland Campaign themes
of:
services that are responsive to the needs
and wishes of the Scottish people - giving
people a say in their services.
services that are the best that can be
delivered - choosing quality services
services that are provided by a public
services team, a workforce trained and qualified,
treated fairly and equally, with the resources
to deliver
If we and the council could go forward
on those principles it would best serve
the aims we know the Labour Administration
aspires to, it would best serve our members'
hopes and most of all it would best serve
the interests of the people of Edinburgh."
ENDS
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