Denis Goldberg: Making life better for people. Is that not what the revolution was about?

Tributes poured in across the world last month on the news of the death of veteran anti-apartheid campaigner and honorary UNISON member Denis Goldberg.

UNISON Scotland had a long friendship with Denis and we were continually inspired by him.

A new resource to keep Rodney Bickerstaffe’s legacy alive for current and future generations

First published (edited) in the Morning Star April 2020: Legendary Scottish miner’s leader Michael McGahey famously and often reminded us that, "We are a movement not a monument".

It was a quote that the late Rodney Bickerstaffe, ex UNISON general secretary and president of the National Pensioners Convention, kept returning to in his wonderfully crafted speech at the unveiling of a memorial to McGahey in Bonnyrigg at the 2006 Midlothian TUC Workers’ Memorial Day.

The colours of edinburgh

A few years ago I published a booklet of my photos of Edinburgh to support the UNISON Edinburgh Welfare Fund and Community HEART. There are some left at only £3 a shot. Contact me for details via twitter .

Reviewed in Scotland in UNISON (by Kate Ramsden) "In its pages John's passion for the city of his birth and his life shines through, from the beautifully crafted photographs, to the quirky "interesting facts" to go with them, set out with John's usual humour and lightness of touch."

Socialist ideals must be nurtured, not allowed to dissipate

First published in the Morning Star on 24 December 2019: 
Labour has a job on its hands to claw back from the toxic image it seems to have with many voters in Scotland.

That’s not all Labour’s fault. For the Scottish National Party to deliver on its raison d’etre of independence it had to destroy what had been the dominant force in Scottish politics. Any other issue was secondary.

If you are being asked to ditch Labour for Tories and Lib-Dems, you should surely be asking questions of the people asking.

It is an indictment of the depths today’s politics have sunk to that people can bizarrely display banners and t-shirts claiming Jeremy Corbyn is a racist despite 40 years of hard evidence - publicly available - that he is not.

It is even more bizarre that the same people appear to be telling us that the positive alternative is Johnson - someone who has amassed a host of publicly available evidence over the years of racially charged sound-bites drooling off his tongue at will.

What to think about the ‘named person’ scheme?

(First published in the Morning Star on 3 Sept 2019)
In a 40 year social work career, I don’t think I’ve come across legislation more controversial than the Named Person scheme in the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act. 

 You know it’s controversial when it is attacked jointly by a Christian group that’s anti-abortion, the Manifesto Club, and a left wing social work writer, all under same NO2NP banner.

To be fair, part of the controversy is the complexity of sharing information about a child, a key criticism in most inquiries into the deaths of children.

Inequality is the most pressing issue of our time

First published in the Morning Star on 21 May 2019. I am of an age when younger comrades (and indeed offspring) feel free to berate me about the mess my generation is leaving them in. While it makes for lively conversation, I have to quietly, and often silently, admit they might be right.

They have a case when it comes to “levels of inequality that disfigure our society” cited by the Institute of Employment Rights at the launch of a consultation on a Charter of Workers’ Rights for Scotland at the Scottish Trades Union Congress in April.

On the occasion of retiring from social work

Beautifully written by my daughter Seonaid Stevenson on her train journey through to my social work leaving party on 15 March 2019 - and much appreciated.

When I was wee
My Dad asked me what I wanted to be
When I grew up.

I said I wanted to work in a cafe,
And if I couldn’t do that… then I’d just be a Social Worker.

Like Dad.

Retirement speech UNISON Edinburgh AGM 2019

Can I just say thank you to a few people who have been important to me since I first became a branch officer in NALGO in 1982.

I need to mention figures like John Wilson, NUPE branch secretary that went on to be Depute Lord Provost.

And Rab Amos who became active in UNISON but who I first met working to support him and his comrades in the NUM during the miners' strike of 1984/85.

From huge figures like Michael McGahey who I never managed to persuade I wasn't called Tom.

Leave or remain, our goal must be a socialist government

(First appeared in the Morning Star 22 Jan 2019) In the topsy-turvy world that is Scottish politics we have a left that wants to leave the EU and stay in the UK, one that wants to leave the UK and stay in the EU, one that wants Brexit and independence, and another that wants to stay in both Europe and the UK.

Strangely, elements of the right have many of these positions too, albeit for different reasons.

Celebrate the legacy of Nelson Mandela

(Morning Star 28 Aug 2018) The new confidence of the racist right, emboldened and legitimised by mainstream political demagogues, has added energy to a Scottish campaign to celebrate Nelson Mandela and ensure the lessons of the anti-apartheid struggle are not forgotten.

The campaign stepped up a gear on Saturday with a fundraising dinner graced by a virtuoso performance from Marah Louw, the South African singer and actor who famously sang and danced on stage with Mandela at the 1993 rally in Glasgow’s George Square. She even wore the same dress that she wore that day.

The Great May Day Cabaret - A night for Chris Bartter

My contribution at tonight's event. Thanks to Stephen Wright, Dave Anderson, Rab Noakes, Fraser Speirs, Maeve Mackinnon, Susan Morrison, Jim Monaghan and Richard Leonard for making it a great night.

It’s a great honour for UNISON to be part of this fantastic event as a celebration of our comrade Chris Bartter.

This tribute in many ways is no surprise given the massive contribution Chris made to the arts and the labour and trade union movement.

A £1 tourist tax could help mitigate the cuts

First published in the Morning Star 9/1/18. Despite all the campaigning, it can still be hard to convince people of just how savage local government cuts have been in Scotland.

You can try giving them the figures. Nine out of ten austerity job losses have been in councils. Despite Holyrood getting a £180 million budget increase from Westminster, councils in Scotland will get nothing this year.

Even a 3% increase in the council tax is a £135 million real terms cut even with the lowest inflation projection. Councils estimate they need an extra £545 million to stand still without even starting to repair the damage done by the years of silent slaughter of local services.

Yet many people remain unconvinced. That is, unless they have had a personal experience of the cuts.

Chris Bartter

For comrades who were unable to attend, here is my contribution delivered at Chris's funeral on 13 November.

This is the speech I didn’t want to have to make.

Mind you, Chris and Doreen and I had a history of speeches. Many years ago, when I used to get up to speak at NALGO’s Scottish District in front of 300 people, Chris would be behind me on the platform and Doreen would be sitting in the front row with the Glasgow District delegation – a row of faces with all the welcoming look of a Friday night audience at the Glasgow Empire.

Doreen would nod supportively throughout the speech but at a random moment she’d suddenly shake her head – totally throwing me and leaving me wondering where the hec I’d got the line wrong.

Not today, Doreen, please.

We must strive to reach beyond our fellow activists

First published in the Morning Star on 15/8/17: The value of many public service workers’ pay has plummeted by £4,000 since 2010. Tens of thousands of jobs have gone from public services in Scotland. The need for services hasn’t gone away but the jobs that provide them have.

Those left behind struggle to carry on with fewer resources. It is sad to see workers who used to pride themselves in their service looking increasingly demoralised. No wonder there is a queue when it comes to voluntary redundancies.

So why aren’t public service workers furious? Why did not enough members even vote in Unison’s Scottish local government pay ballot to reach the Tories’ cynical 50% threshold?

End of an era as Jane steps down after 30 years at the top

Scotland’s Jane Carolan, chair of UNISON’s key National Policy Committee, is standing down at the end of Conference after 30 years in the leadership of the union.

The journey to UNISON NEC member and member of the TUC General Council and its ruling Executive Committee, started in the 1980s in the Glasgow District branch of Nalgo.

As an Equalities Housing Adviser and young activist, her qualities were soon spotted by the political giants of the union at the time.

'Don't judge - We're no different from you' - powerful message from care experienced young people

Nothing beats getting the story direct from those who have lived it. And that’s what we got in a moving and revealing presentation from a group of care experienced young people at the Scottish Parliament today as they launched their “Don't Judge - We're no different from you” campaign.

The campaign booklet and DVD was produced by Aberdeenshire’s Young People’s Organising and Campaigning (YPOC) Group of young people working alongside the council’s children’s rights staff. It follows a previous campaign on corporate parenting.

Managing cuts or fighting for local services?

First published in the Morning Star on 21/2/17:
It’s budget season for Scotland’s local authorities, the time when councils tell us how good they are at managing cuts — or not as the case may be.

In the real world, jobs have gone in their thousands with remaining workers facing overwhelming workloads.

They are insulted by the government and media spin that cuts are “transformation,” closures are “estate rationalisation” and redundancies are “workforce planning.”

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.

People's Assembly Scotland: Unite to defend local services

Speech seconding Tom Morrison's motion at the People's Assembly Scotland conference 17 September 2016. Motion below...

With the last of the Edinburgh Labour councillors who won power in 1984 about to stand down, I’m reminded of their slogan at the time proudly painted on the side of council vehicles: “Improving Services, Creating Jobs”. That seems like a hundred years ago now.

Tens of thousands of jobs have been cut in Scottish local government. We have not lost a vast army of bureaucrats, we have lost people.