Campaign for public services, environment and anti-racism

UNISON gears up for council and parliament elections

by Chris Bartter

The forthcoming Scottish Parliamentary and Local Government elections will see a UNISON campaign which will concentrate on the work our members do in delivering public services.

The campaign that will be funded through the General Political Fund will use the Revitalise our Public Services manifesto and principles already launched to produce materials that will ensure UNISON, its activists and members can challenge candidates in both levels of elections.

Mike Kirby, UNISON's Scottish Convenor, said "The Scottish Council wants to highlight the value of the jobs that our members do in the run up to the elections. We also want to make sure that candidates are very well aware of the key concerns that members have and find out their policies on these."

The Revitalise section of the campaign will concentrate on: l promoting the value of in-house service provision l the need for democratic accountability, and l the value of public services to the economy. A4 poster leaflets are being developed that reflect these themes and give some arguments and questions for members (and others) to use with candidates and in the press. A further manifesto for the local government elections and a health hustings are also planned.

Dave Watson, UNISON's Scottish Organiser, said "We will be letting branches know the details of Election law and guidance on election expenditure, shortly.

"We are moving away from big billboard adverts, and are planning to utilise internal publicity, direct mail and the use of press releases and supplements to get the message across at Scottish levels. We want members and activists locally to ensure that local candidates are clear what UNISON policy is."

In addition to the public services theme, UNISON will also be opposing the far-right in the elections. We are aware that the BNP are planning to stand in all of the regional Parliamentary seats in Scotland, and will no doubt stand in the local elections.

UNISON is producing material for branches to use with their own members where these candidates of hate are standing, and public leaflets where we need to get the message out to a wider audience. A new development in this campaign is to focus on the environment.

UNISON members play a major role in protecting the environment across a wide range of services, from waste management and environmental health in local government, through water and sewerage workers in Scottish Water to rangers in Scotland's National park and the staff of Scotland's environmental protection agency - SEPA.

Fiona Montgomery (UNISON Information Development Officer) is looking for examples of these members to be part of an 'environment manifesto'.

Keep an eye out for UNISON's election material and ensure that candidates in your area are left in no doubt about the views of staff delivering our public services!

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