{"id":9360,"date":"2016-07-25T14:04:17","date_gmt":"2016-07-25T13:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=9360"},"modified":"2016-07-26T16:11:33","modified_gmt":"2016-07-26T15:11:33","slug":"privatisation-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=9360","title":{"rendered":"Privatisation fight"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Unite and the local Bromley community stood firm in solidarity against cuts to council services and privatisation at a packed demo on Saturday (July 23), which was also attended by Unite general secretary Len McCluskey.<\/p>\n

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Hundreds attended in an effort to save cherished services such as libraries from the juggernaut of privatisation \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Unite even persuaded police to allow demonstrators to march on the streets.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bA large number of residents came out on the day, and we had tons of support from passers-by as well \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it was a huge success,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 explained Unite regional officer Onay Kasab.<\/p>\n

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Unite is now ramping up its campaign against the Tory-controlled council, which, Kasab explained, endeavours to become a \u00e2\u20ac\u015bcommissioning council.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe council plans to dramatically reduce the council workforce from 3,000 to only 300 and aims to contract out virtually everything \u00e2\u20ac\u201c this will turn the council from a provider of services to a mere manager of contracts.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Libraries, Kasab noted, are under the most immediate threat.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe council plans to run some libraries on a completely voluntary basis, while contracting the rest to private companies,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he explained.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bLet\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s be clear that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not talking about simply having a few volunteers here and there \u00e2\u20ac\u201c entire libraries will be staffed with only untrained and unqualified staff. This will be disastrous for the service.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Another parallel issue is alleged victimisation and bullying of Unite rep and library worker Kath Smith after all her trade union facility had been removed by the council, among other punitive measures.<\/p>\n

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Coordinated effort<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Kasab explained that Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Bromley campaign is a coordinated effort that will include both industrial action as well as Unite working together with community organisations such as Backing Bromley to maintain public pressure.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe local authority is now discussing which private companies will be taking over some of the services, but they aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t making that information public\u00e2\u20ac\u0165, he noted.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAs soon as we do find out which companies will be running the service, we also plan to put pressure on those companies,too.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Bromley council claims that their privatisation plans are to provide \u00e2\u20ac\u015bthe best value for money\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 but Kasab challenged this notion.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAnybody who thinks a service that was once professionally staffed is improved after it has been replaced by unqualified volunteers is living in cloud cuckoo land,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bYou cannot dictate the hours of volunteers and they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re accountable to no one.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bLet us also be clear that there is plenty of money available to continue running these services properly,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Kasab added.<\/p>\n

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Bromley council has \u00c2\u0141300m in reserves and has a surplus of \u00c2\u014112m each year.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut instead of serving the people they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re supposed to represent, they spend money on buying property \u00e2\u20ac\u201c on property speculation essentially,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Kasab explained.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Len McCluskey argued that the council was \u00e2\u20ac\u015bfailing the people of Bromley.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

‘Whatever it takes’<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI am proud that Unite is opposing the cuts,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIn Bromley alone, we have members who have taken over 30 days of strike action in defence of the services they provide. Just this week Unite members working in the libraries of Bromley stood up and fought back because they oppose plans to sack staff and cut library services.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Len McCluskey has put the council leader Stephen Carr on notice that the union will continue in its support of Kath Smith.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBullying and victimising a grandmother, whose only crime has been to expose the threat to public services in her own community, is nothing short of a disgrace,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite will stand with Kath \u00e2\u20ac\u201c whatever it takes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite is proud to be supporting \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Backing Bromley\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 a new community group that has grown to fight Bromley council,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165McCluskey added. “Over 1,200 residents have raised placards in their gardens to show their support”.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He highlighted that hundreds of calls have been made to the \u00e2\u20ac\u0098hotline\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 as residents clamour to report the failings of their own council.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBacking Bromley and Unite are finalising a dossier of these failings which will be released in October,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 McCluskey noted.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOur message is clear – Unite will not be silenced, the people of Bromley will not be silenced.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unite and the local Bromley community stood firm in solidarity against cuts to council services and privatisation at a packed demo on Saturday (July 23), which was also attended by Unite general secretary Len McCluskey.   Hundreds attended in an effort to save cherished services such as libraries from the juggernaut of privatisation \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Unite […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9361,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[277,148,349,252],"wps_subtitle":"Unite joins forces with Bromley community to oppose cuts","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9360"}],"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=9360"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9362,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9360\/revisions\/9362"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}