Glasgow outsourcing tax scam removes democratic
control, and attacks fair pay
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Mike Kirby
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By Chris Bartter
UNISON has condemned that council’s
increasing reliance on outsourced trusts and Limited
Liability Partnerships (LLPs) to deliver public
services. Currently around 15,000 staff are employed
by nine LLPs, trusts and partnerships in Glasgow.
In a speech to the Scottish TUC in
Perth today (Tuesday 21), Mike Kirby, Scottish Convenor
of UNISON and Chair of Glasgow City Branch denounced
the rush to outsource services as a tax scam that
abandons democratic control, and allows the council
to avoid its legal duty to pay men and women equally.
Mike said, “A recent Glasgow Council
report into these ‘arms length external organisations’
admits that these ALEOs are a tax scam, that they
lead to loss of democratic control by councillors,
and that they can avoid more equal pay claims because
they have fewer comparators. So much for the Labour
Government’s public sector equality duty.”
Mike also pointed to the farce created
by an earlier outsourced organisation when the Glasgow
Housing Association Ltd awarded one of their repairs
and maintenance contracts to a private building
company – Connaught, only to find they couldn’t
meet the contract specifications on covering the
workforce pensions.
Mike said, “Connaught had to be sacked
and that workforce returned to their previous employer
– City Building, after they spent 2 days travelling
around the city – from Hampden Park, to Connaught,
to GHA, to Glasgow City Council.”
Moving the composite motion on Public
Services, Mike also pointed to the huge waste of
taxpayers money being paid to management and IT
consultants to recommend efficiencies and shared
services. Billions of pounds that should have been
spent on the services themselves.
The composite will set out a charter
to defend and build on the public service consensus
in Scotland.
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