Unions, churches and charities urge Scot Gov to deliver on free school meals

UNISON today joined the STUC, churches and charities in urging the Scottish Government to deliver on its free school meals policy.

The call follows Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg's announcement last week of free school meals for children in P1-P3 in England from September 2014.

UNISON Scotland has long campaigned for universal free school meals and is disappointed that the Scottish Government has not delivered on its commitment to provide a free healthy lunch to all pupils in P1-P3.

At a time when child poverty is predicted to increase significantly, food bank use is soaring and family budgets are hit by falling incomes and rising food and energy bills, free school meals are more important than ever.

Bin the Bedroom Tax and ScrapTrident Demos at Lib Dem Conference in Glasgow

#BedroomTax #ScrapTrident
Two important rallies are taking place in Glasgow on Saturday 14 Sept to protest to Liberal Democrats, in the city for their annual conference.

The STUC-supported rally against the bedroom tax has had arrangements changed after the Bin the Bedroom Tax Coalition were denied permission for the planned march from Glasgow Green.

The main event will now be a rally and lobby, with banners and placards, outside the conference at the SECC at 1pm on Saturday. Full details of this will be on the STUC website asap.

There will also be a brief rally at Glasgow Green at 11.30am on Saturday, for those who turn up there, as well as a range of other activities, including lobbying in the protest area at the SECC on Sunday and Monday during the conference week.

CND and Scottish CND are holding a rally on Saturday at the SECC from 11.30 - 12.30pm. Assemble outside the Clyde Auditorium from 11.15am.

Full details about their Time to Scrap Trident Rally are here.

The latest information about the range of Bin the Bedroom Tax Coalition protests will be updated asap on their website and on the STUC website .

Scottish implications of UK Spending Review

The UK Spending Review confirms a real terms cut in the Scottish Government’s budget of £333m between 2014/15 and 2015/16. The capital budget will have been cut by 26% in real terms since 2010.

 

The ‘new’ money claim by the Secretary of State, is actually largely borrowing powers that have to be repaid from a reducing revenue budget. Instead of the promised growth, £3.2bn is being taken from the Scottish economy.

Specific proposals directly impacting on public service workers include:

Public services paying the price of austerity job cuts

Date: Thu 23 May 2013

UNISON Scotland response to Audit Scotland report on ‘early leavers’

UNISON Scotland has called for an end to the ongoing massive public service job cuts which cost hundreds of millions of pounds and devastate local economies.

In response to a report by Audit Scotland on the price of early retirement and severance the union argues that its alternative to austerity would boost the economy and protect vital public services.

Mike Kirby, UNISON’s Scottish Secretary, said:
“While the Audit Scotland report makes some positive noises about the way public bodies manage workforce change, the reality is that our precious public services are paying the price of austerity economics.

“Audit Scotland reveal that the cost of removing 14,000 jobs from the public sector in just two years was £561 million. And that’s the tip of an iceberg.

“We know that over 50,000 jobs have gone from the public sector in Scotland since greedy bankers caused the crash in 2008.

“Why should jobs and services go when the need still exists?”

UNISON has consistently argued for an alternative to austerity economics. Growing our way out of trouble: UNISON's alternative budget for jobs and public services published in March says:

• on average every redundancy creates £29,400 in additional costs to the public sector as well as undermining morale and productivity
• most of the cost of employing a public service worker is recouped by the state through increased tax revenues and reduced benefit payments
• economic research shows that for every pound spent on local public services, 64 pence is re-spent in local economies, supporting jobs and businesses

Lilian Macer, Convener of UNISON Scotland added:

“Every job lost costs the local economy dear – and piles stress on vital public services as a decreasing workforce faces mounting pressure to meet increasing need.

“Every new piece of evidence supports our call for an alternative to austerity. We need to grow our way out of trouble – and not carry on cutting jobs and vital public services at massive cost to our communities and the public purse.”

ends

Notes for editors

1. UNISON is Scotland’s largest trade union representing 160,000 members working to deliver vital public services.

2. UNISON Scotland’s e-Briefing - Public Sector Workforce in Scotlandpublished in Dec 2012 gives details on the cuts to public sector jobs since the crash in 2008
http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/briefings/e-briefing_PublicSectorWorkforce_Dec2012.pdf

3. Growing our way out of trouble: UNISON’s alternative budget for jobs and public services was published in March 2013 – see news release here:
http://www.unison.org.uk/asppresspack/
pressrelease_view.asp?id=3002

and the full alternative budget document here:
http://www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/18887.pdf

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Benefits cap punishes people for being poor, jobless and having families #JoinUNISON

15 April 2013

UNISON General Secretary Dave Prentis today hit out at the
latest phase in the government’s war on people who have to rely on benefits.

People in four London boroughs will have their benefits capped, ahead of the policy being rolled-out across England, Scotland and Wales between July and September.

Dave said: "Our benefits system is there to give a helping hand to those who need our help, yet this government is using it to score political points and deepen divisions in our society.

"This policy punishes people for being poor, for being jobless, for having families. It will increase homelessness and force councils to uproot families and move them miles away from home. The amount saved will be about £110m a year and, but unless there are jobs for those people to move into to help support themselves, it could be even less.

"That sounds a lot, but the total benefit bill is £201bn. And in all the talk of "fairness" that this government comes out with, remember tax avoidance costs us £30bn.

.

#sldconf STUC - Lib Dems claim to be fairer than Tories, so end Bedroom Tax

15 March 2013

Saturday 16 March 11.30am – 1.00pm West Park Conference Centre, Dundee

Amidst protests across the UK, Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) will lobby Scottish Liberal Democrats for a change of policy on the Bedroom Tax.

STUC General Secretary Grahame Smith said:

“I have today written an open letter to Scottish Liberal Democrats calling for action to reverse the Bedroom Tax. 

The concessions announced this week go nowhere near far enough to mitigate this impending crisis. 

The Liberal Democrats consistently claim to have a much greater of social justice and fairness than the Conservatives. It is time for them to show it.”

ENDS

STUC website

Notes - Open letter to Scottish Liberal Democrats can be downloaded here

Open Letter to Scottish Liberal Democrats

We are four days away from the fourth Coalition Government budget and by common consent the Liberal Democrats face a crisis, a drop in popular support matched only by the equal woes of the Conservative Party.

In Scotland for generations, the Liberal Democrats have held a particular place in the political landscape, electing a relatively large number of MPs to Westminster and sharing in Government for more than half of the years of existence of the Scottish Parliament, the creation of which your party played a proud role in.  To the extent that a progressive consensus has existed in Scotland, the Liberal Democrats have been seen by electors as one, amongst a number of parties representing that tradition.

That position is now at enormous risk.

As the economic policies of the Chancellor unwind with no growth and the general failure of austerity economics, changes in welfare policy are hitting some of the most vulnerable in Scottish society. 

The proposed cap on benefits is a cruel measure which will punish the less well-off whilst further reducing demand in the economy where it is needed most.  

Meanwhile disabled people around the country are desperately worried about the impact of various reforms on their way of life and TUC figures published earlier this week show that despite changes to tax thresholds an increasing number of children are expected to fall below the Minimum Income Standard.

STUC is lobbying your conference on Saturday 16th March to highlight the enormous injustice of the Bedroom Tax.  This measure - affecting those in and out of work and disproportionately impacting the lives of disabled people – is understood by most Scots to be wrong.  The Oxfam Humankind index shows that no factor is more important in people’s welfare and happiness than their home and environment.  We believe and trust that the Scottish people will not stand by while this injustice is delivered on their fellow citizens and that the very least that they will expect is that the Scottish Liberal Democrats will join them.

It is not too late to insist that the Bedroom Tax and other welfare reforms are reversed.