Championing Public Works!

by Chris Bartter and Malcolm Burns

Branches queued up at December’s Scottish Council to sign-up for the Million Voices campaign and provide ‘Public Works’ champions.

In other zones delegates volunteered to provide their own ‘Day in the Life’ stories - highlighting how key public services are to all our lives and add their names to issue based work groups who will discuss and formulate UNISON’s policy manifesto for 2011’s Scottish Election.

Dave Watson, Scottish Organiser (Policy & Information) said “This was the first time we have attempted an activity like this and it worked well. The Public Works campaign - part of ‘A Million Voices’ - is vital for UNISON’s challenge to the false orthodoxy - put forward by big business - that we need to cut public services to get us out of the financial mess that they created. "

The campaign - launched at National Delegate Conference this year - is scheduled to run up to the next General Election and beyond, lasting at least until the 2011 Scottish Election. Branches and delegates who missed out on signing up can do it online at www.unison.org.uk/million.

Manifesto 2011 - Policy networks

It is vital for UNISON’s voices to be heard by the political parties ahead of the UK election in the next few months, and in the run up to the Scottish elections in May 2011.

The Scottish Committee’s manifesto process for 2011 has identified a dozen core positions and policy ideas. The core positions include:

Integrated services:- cost-effective universal public services, instead of the waste and inefficiency of private finance

Investment and equality:- more resources for quality public services from fair taxation

Fair treatment:- fair and equal pay, fair pensions, quality training, tackle discrimination at work

Democracy:- greater devolution, local government stronger, quangos democratised, users and staff engaged in planning & delivering services

Short summaries on these are available on the website.

There are also short briefings on: Environment; Health; Care services: Social work; Police staffs; Education; Housing; Utilities Policy networks have been set up for each of these so that the real experts - the people who actually provide the services - can get involved in developing more detailed policies which we can push to be included in party manifestos for 2011.

About 60 delegates signed up for these on Saturday. And you can add your name to them by going to www.unison-scotland.org.uk/publicworks

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