{"id":3133,"date":"2015-02-25T16:58:07","date_gmt":"2015-02-25T16:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=3133"},"modified":"2015-02-25T16:58:07","modified_gmt":"2015-02-25T16:58:07","slug":"dramatic-workforce-slash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=3133","title":{"rendered":"Dramatic workforce slash"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p>A Tory-controlled council in London has planned to slash its directly employed workforce from 3,000 workers to just 300 in a relentless march towards privatisation of its services.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\nThe move has provoked Unite to ballot its members for strike action.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\nThe union has 400 members working for the council \u00e2\u20ac\u201c from library assistants to youth and care workers \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but will only ballot 100 of these members who are directly employed by the local authority, and not those employed by private contractors on the council\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s behalf.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\nUnite regional officer Onay Kasab argued that the council\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s privatisation drive harms residents as much as it harms the council workforce.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe have been out every Saturday meeting residents to discuss the cuts,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he explained. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bOur library consultation has seen hundreds of residents returning responses making clear that they do not want a private company running libraries, nor do they want a volunteer-run service as proposed by councillors.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe council has declared war on public services, public service workers and the trade unions,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Kasab. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is not acting on behalf of residents.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\nKasab said that the slashing of thousands of directly employed staff would mean that private outsourcing companies would move to employ staff on reduced pay and terms and conditions.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe believe this cost-cutting exercise won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t benefit the people of Bromley, as this is a race to the bottom in terms of quality service-deliver,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe have offered to discuss a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098procurement strategy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 to safeguard service quality, but the council has refused.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\nKasab went on to say that the council\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s proposals would hit the most vulnerable members of the community the hardest.<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s strategy would place an emphasis on quality rather than cost-cutting,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\nThe ballot, which will open on March 11 and close on March 27, comes in the wake of important public services in the council being ruthless cut.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.newsshopper.co.uk\/news\/bromley\/11798731.Bromley_Council_chiefs_agree___11_6m_cuts\/?ref=rss\">Last week<\/a>, Bromley council chiefs agreed to proposals to close public toilets and scrap an elderly care home, while the future of Orpington Priory, home to the borough\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s museum, hangs in the balance.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\nThe Tory-controlled council also recently <a href=\"http:\/\/www.housingworkers.org.uk\/readnews.html?con_id=158\">moved to scrap trade union facility time<\/a>, which will leave many council workers without access to a union rep.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\n&#8220;There is no time left to lose &#8211; the council is arrogantly pushing ahead and destroying services,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 warned Kasab. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThat is why we are now balloting our members for strike action.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Tory-controlled council in London has planned to slash its directly employed workforce from 3,000 workers to just 300 in a relentless march towards privatisation of its services. &nbsp; The move has provoked Unite to ballot its members for strike action. &nbsp; The union has 400 members working for the council \u00e2\u20ac\u201c from library assistants [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1838,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[126,128,252],"wps_subtitle":"Unite in strike ballot as Bromley plans massive job cuts","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3133"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3133"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3134,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3133\/revisions\/3134"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}