Do the Tories really have it in for council staff? (rhetorical).

Edinburgh’s Evening News runs a story today that Tory councillor Susan Webber backed the public sector pay freeze (as did her party) but took an even more punitive lunge by saying of public service workers on WhatsApp: “I was thinking of a vote-winning policy called salary sacrifice where they only get 80 per cent and have to struggle like the others on furlough. Then they might want this sorry state to get resolved faster.” https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/politics/edinburgh-tory-candidates-whatsapp-messages-spark-concerns-over-suitability-to-become-msp-3161957

I’m not sure many Edinburgh council workers will actually see that as a vote-winner.

Is local government ready to fight back?

We have just seen another huge cut in funding for councils on top of massive cut after cut in the last 10 years. (UNISON Edinburgh Annual Report)

We now know that 87% of all the job losses in services under the control of Holyrood have come in local government.

The Scottish Government has unashamedly piled the worst pain of austerity onto local services while increasing its own share of the overall financial pot.

Job lost is service lost to Edinburgh's citizens

First published in the Evening News 21/9/15: It would be a shame to be in conflict with the Edinburgh councillors who spoke out passionately last week against the government’s vindictive attack on individual freedoms and trade union rights.

But conflict looks inevitable as thousands of staff face losing their livelihoods with all that means for their families. As a union we have one key power to defend them – the strength of people standing together. If it comes to compulsory redundancies, we will urge our members to use that strength.

The council’s Labour/SNP coalition has to decide whether it stands by its pledges against compulsory redundancies and privatisation. We are not sure all their officials get those pledges otherwise redundancy and privatisation might not be on the agenda. We detect a culture that all too often imposes failed private sector solutions on public sector functions, making service delivery worse. Ask anyone who has had to phone some council services recently.

Union organised trams roll out in Edinburgh

The first trams for 60 years rolled out in Edinburgh this morning with 95 per cent of their workers members of a union.

The success was recognised by the STUC in April when it awarded Unite reps at Lothian Buses the first STUC organising award. The reps were praised for helping tram colleagues set up union structures long before the first passenger was carried.

Equal Pay Victory: Behind the Headlines

Equal pay hit the headlines big style last week culminating in Friday’s announcement that UNISON had won a settlement for 3,000 workers in Edinburgh. http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/
news/content/view/full/125431

As UNISON Scotland mounts an autumn recruitment campaign, what better advert is there for being a member of a union? But amidst the celebrations, it is worth taking a look at the years of work behind the headlines that brought a deal for these mainly low-paid women.

Our City's Note For Sale hustings

Intro for Central Ward by election hustings Edinburgh City Chambers 15 August 2011: A very warm welcome to these hustings organised by council unions as part of our campaign that says ‘Our City’s Not for Sale’.

It is also part of the ground-breaking Mobilise anti-cuts festival being held at Belford Road this week. Tickets for all Mobilise events are in big demand so log on to mobilisefestival.co.uk  or pick up a leaflet tonight so you don’t miss out.

Tourist tax would help combat the looming cuts

It is hard to comprehend just how savage the cuts are. Such is the scale, that they are destroying the very fabric of services, not just for the next few years but forever.

The cuts are ideologically, not financially driven. The debt was much higher in the 1940s but we could still build our treasured NHS. The few economists who actually predicted the crash say that cuts of this speed and size will make things worse.

We don’t believe your lies – and we won’t accept your cuts

Expectations were high for the Edinburgh demo. All the signs were that people were building for it. But even then, the turnout exceeded expectations, such is the widespread anger against the unfairness and savagery of the cuts. The anger at a government that “blames the excesses of the privileged on the poor”. Colourful and lively, over 20,000 people marched along iconic Princes Street with one clear message. There is a better way. http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/

We said 11 years ago PFI was a bad deal - at last they’ve got it

 An Edinburgh Evening News ‘exclusive’ on 21 July 2010 says its investigation has found that the NHS will have to pay a total of £1.26 billion for the privately built Edinburgh Royal Infirmary - and still not own it. Clearly this investigation has taken a whole seven years because in August 2003, a UNISON Scotland briefing said the Consort PFI consortium was “earmarked to receive a cumulative £1.26 billion.... Consort will also benefit by inheriting the whole hospital building when the contract eventually expires.”

Our City's Not For Sale

May Day 2010 Edinburgh, being the speaker after the comedian! Many years ago I was a semi-pro magician, believe it or not, and one of the key showbiz maxims was ‘never follow a comedian’. All those years and I’ve never learned. Mind you, there’s a lot of not-learning around as we run up to this election.

Edinburgh fights cuts and redundancies

Almost 8,000 UNISON members delivering services for the City of Edinburgh Council walked out on strike on Thursday 23 August against cuts and redundancies. Selective action and boycotts were set to follow. http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/siu/sept07/1.html

As SiU went to print, last minute talks were being held to avert further action, with the branch demanding assurances that there would be no compulsory redundancies and no extra pressures on staff due to budget cuts of over £10 million.

Make Poverty History: Biggest demonstration Scotland has ever seen

Organisers and police said there were 225,000 there. Old demonstration hands put it at nearer 300,000. There were certainly lots of us with the trade union contingent marching off five hours after the first of the continuous line set off to circle the city centre. http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/siu/septoct05/6.html 

UNISON General Secretary Dave Prentis was even called away to make his speech before the march set off.

UNISON banners were there from Aberdeen to Hounslow via Edinburgh, Nottinghamshire and Bristol. UNISON members from across the country were dotted around the march.