Date:
Saturday 4 February 2012
You can’t cut your way to better public services, UNISON has
warned Scotland’s councils. Launching the union’s manifesto for May’s local
elections today (Saturday 4 February), UNISON Convener Lilian Macer outlined the
union’s alternative – a radical reform of local government around five key
democratic principles and direct involvement of users and staff in the design of
local public services.
Lilian Macer, UNISON Scotland Convener ,said:
“The cuts are hurting – as we warned they would. But they’re
not working. You can’t cut your way to better services. And you can’t privatise
or outsource your way to better services. Local government has to make a
radical, democratic change - by involving users and staff directly in service
design.
“What we want is real improvement - not the failed dogma of
privatisation and outsourcing. When they’ve been subjected to democratic
scrutiny, experience shows they’ve fallen apart – like Edinburgh’s costly
privatisation project.
“Centrally driven initiatives cannot provide the answers to
the complex needs of our diverse communities. People need to have a real say in
how services are delivered in their communities. Only full involvement of users
and staff in service design and delivery will guarantee that.”
Mike Kirby, UNISON Scottish Secretary, said:
“We welcome the fact that elections to local government are
no longer overshadowed by the Scottish Parliament election. We campaigned
successfully for that and we now hope this election will bring a much-needed
focus on the importance of local government and the essential services our
members work to provide for their communities.
“Tackling poverty and inequality to make Scotland fairer is
the key to overcoming the serious challenges we face. A growing body of evidence
tells us that fairer, more equal societies perform better on indicators such as
crime, health and education. Local government has a crucial role in reducing
inequality to help create the fairer and better Scotland we want to live
in.”
“Through the principles of Democracy, Fairness, Excellence,
Partnership and Investment, local government can support our communities through
this crisis - and lead the way out of the crisis through investment in those
communities.”
Mike Kirby added:
“We’ll be challenging all the candidates in the forthcoming
elections on their commitment to public services - and asking them to support
these principles and our manifesto for a better way.“
ENDS
1. UNISON is Scotland’s largest trade union representing over
160,000 members working in the public sector in Scotland, including staff in
local government areas.
2. UNISON Scotland is launching its Manifesto for the
Scottish Local Government election at its Scottish Council meeting in Glasgow
from 10am-1pm on Saturday 4 February 2012. The manifesto document will be
available on our website www.unison-scotland.org.uk shortly
after the meeting.
3. Five Principles for Public Service – from the
UNISON Scotland Manifesto for Scottish Local Government Elections
2012
• DEMOCRACY: Accountability and the meaningful involvement of
users and staff - rather than the market - will provide the services the public
want
• FAIRNESS: Essential to build a fairer society both in
delivering services and as a model employer
• EXCELLENCE: Should be the aim of all Scotland’s public
services.We should be the country others look to, to see what can be
achieved
• PARTNERSHIP: Creating the joined up working essential to
meet the complex challenges Scotland faces without costly and disruptive
reorganisation
• INVESTMENT: Essential to support communities in this
economic crisis and lead the way out through growth and
employment
.
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