{"id":8672,"date":"2016-05-09T16:51:04","date_gmt":"2016-05-09T15:51:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=8672"},"modified":"2016-05-09T16:51:04","modified_gmt":"2016-05-09T15:51:04","slug":"keep-ferries-public","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=8672","title":{"rendered":"Keep ferries public"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p>One of the first actions of the new Scottish government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s transport minister should be to ensure that the Clyde and Hebrides ferry routes remain in public hands Unite today (May 9).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>With a decision on the tendering process expected at the end of May, Unite urged the new SNP government to stop the handover of the Cal Mac ferry service to Serco and to pledge to put people and communities before profit, by keeping it public.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Highlighting Serco\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s track record on the North Link ferries contract, Unite went on to warn of cuts to services and job losses should the controversial firm be awarded the Clyde and Hebrides ferry routes.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe would urge the new Scottish government to start its new parliamentary term by pledging to keep the Cal Mac ferry service in public hands,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Unite Scottish secretary Pat Rafferty.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe ferries serving the islands of Scotland are an economic and social lifeline. Handing it over to Serco will result in commercial decisions trumping public interest,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAs we saw when Serco was awarded North Link ferries contract, services will suffer and jobs will be cut in order to satisfy shareholders\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 pockets.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bRather than starting a new term in office by privatising more of Scotland\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s transport system, the new Scottish government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s transport minister should take a stand and pledge to put the long-term future of a vital service ahead of short term profit, by keeping Cal Mac public.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the first actions of the new Scottish government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s transport minister should be to ensure that the Clyde and Hebrides ferry routes remain in public hands Unite today (May 9). &nbsp; With a decision on the tendering process expected at the end of May, Unite urged the new SNP government to stop the handover [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8673,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[90],"wps_subtitle":"Scottish gov\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t urged to put people before profit","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8672"}],"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=8672"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8674,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8672\/revisions\/8674"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}