| UNISON City of Edinburgh Branch |
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CONFERENCE 2007 UNISON says no to EU privatisation threat Edinburgh had a major input to the debate as the union agreed a campaign amongst members against any attempts to revive the EU constitution and pledged to fight attempts to privatise health and social services. It backed a call to monitor the impact of the Service Directive as it is incorporated into UK law to ensure it does not further undermine public services. Edinburgh's John Stevenson, rejected any charge that being against privatisation was being anti-European. "We are pro European and take a global perspective, which means that our solidarity extends beyond these shores. "That solidarity is based on protecting workers and defending publicly provided and publicly accountable health and other public services." The people of Europe want security, a level playing field for the workers of all countries which pushes standards and expectations up, not down, he told conference. "We will not get that from a system based at its roots on corporate interests." He warned that public services face a possible threat from forced privatisation of health, education and social services. "Peoples' basic needs in danger of being dictated by the needs of business, hived off for profit", he warned. He called on this message to be taken out to members with a focus on the real issue of putting the brakes on unfettered privatisation. Proposing the motion, Jane Carolan, Scottish NEC member, highlighted the dangers of adopting policies which cannot be changed by the democratic process. "I would love to think that a new form of treaty will represent a shift in power toward the democratic rights of nations to pursue economic and social policies that defend the rights of working people. Then again, pigs might fly to the moon," she said. "This introduced free market competition to all services within the EU, including health and education. National governments would no longer have been able to take decisions on the way services are regulated in their own country. Free trade is the only game in town." The trade union response was decisive and won concessions. Labour law and collective bargaining were excluded from the directive. So was health and social services just now. However, the threat continues, and the threat is real. |
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