THINGS can only get better, we were told on election night. May ! 1997, as Labour gained a huge majority in parliament. In the following months, trade unionist eager to make demands on the new government, looking for material changes after 18 years of Tory attacks on trade union rights and cuts in public spending, were told by their leaders not to rock проtient. Social partnership and (class?) collaboration were the key to change, we were to In local government, a key pledge in Labour's election manilesto was to abolish compulsory competitive tendering (CCT) and replace it with "a duty to obtain best value".
Activists in the Campaign for a Fighting Democratic UNISON (CFDU) and others saw the dangers in this policy quite quickly. it was clear to many working in local government that while Best Value removed some requirements on management about how competitive tenders were sought, competition and market testing were still expected Moreover, the duty to obtain best value would cover all areas of work in local government, rather than specified ones as under CCT. Many services previously less exposed to privatisation are to come under scrutiny, such as libraries, social services and education. Councils now have to justify. continuing to provide any service A Teacher IN RUSSIA, former Stalinists and criminals use their position in the state apparatus to get hold of public assets. In Britain the same process is called the Private Finance Initiative. It means that public assets such as school playgrounds and playing fields are handed over as sweeteners to priWe need to view this porcy in the context of continuing cuts in public spending, and the fact that Labour policy statements on Best Value have consistently maintained an emphasis on reducing costs. While the legislation is yet to become law, 37 pilot authorities and 17 second-tier authorities are testing Best Value projects, with a view to informing future legislation and guidance. These are half-way through the second year of carrying out Best Value service reviews and planning to implement changes. Trade unionists and activists campaigning against local government cuts and privatisations cannot wait and see - we need to start organising now!
In Camden, these changes include closing libraries and selling off the buildings used, and consid. ering market testing and externalisation for a number of services. Best Value has become the latest buzzword in the town hall to jus tify cuts, and the aim is to find cost savings of 2 per cent a year, every year and indefinitely. These savings are in addition to any other funding Cut.
Ideas on alternative methods service provision include transfers to housing associations, library books being issued from supermarket kiosks issuing library books and private law, accountancy and consulcancy firms doing legal, financial and management work and processing benefit claims. vate developers.
In September, Pimlico School Governors by one vote gave the go ahead for a PFI Scheme to demolish and rebuild the school.
This is despite the overwhelming opposition of parents and local residents The tendering process was a farce: in true Mafiosi style, the ------1 Get your copy! Non-pilot authorities are already using this new jargon, too, and making plans to attack the workforce and cut services under the cloak of Best Value. Islington has privatised its housing benefit service under voluntary competitive tendering. is transferring several large estates to housing associations and is seeking private tenders to run the Education service, doubtless at a profic. Despite the evidence to the contrary, UNISON's bureaucracy argues that Best Value should be seen as a positive challenge and an opportunity for the union's members in local government, "2 chance to continuously improve services and effectively involve users and local communities in setting and monitoring standards*. requiring a "committed and enthusiastic response from elected members, managers and frontline staff". Members should take advantage of their role as "key stakeholders".
UNISON does call for a Best Employment Code to underpin Best Value, focusing on good pay and conditions, job security, training and skill development. It also calls for the repeal of a key part of the CCT legislation, the Local Government Act 1988, preventing councils from taking as non-commercial considerations, such as workers' conditions and rights. Into account when contracting services out.
The union puts its faith in the final two bidders were owned by the same parent company. Staff at the School voted narrowly in favour of the deal after a speech in which the Head claimed there was no alternative.
Years of neglect by Westminster City Council, competing to have the lowest Council tax in the country, meant that the building has serious problems but these are not structural and do not require rebuilding. However the DIEE and the Council won't listen to alternatives and are deterBLIC SAVICES consultation process which is supposed to be part of Best Value. The White Paper on Modern Local Goverment, published last year, states that local authorities will be accountable to local people, and contains a lot of rhetoric about consultation. The bureaucracy has not outlined what ution representatives should do when they find themselves excluded or marginalised in the consultation process, or when their views and those of staff generally are ignored. In a period of declining membership levels, casualisation, low levels of militancy and a feeling among staff that whatever they say, man agement will press ahead regardless, the optimism expressed by official UNISON publications about the implications of Best Value is rather naive and quite frightening.
The leadership does not offer a strategy to defend the interests of union members in published guid. ance. In the UNISON conference debate on Best Value, the bureaucracy showed little understanding that Best Value is worse for workers in local government and for service users than CCT.
Furthermore, recent attacks on is being handed over to a developer in return for the demolition and rebuilding. The Council is also committed to paying annual fee for 35 years in return for the "service" i.e. the school.
The developer will control almost every aspect of running the school other than teaching staff. Support and caretaking staff will be switched immediately to the developer and their terms and conditions will only be HONE LES EATER- CLOSING branches and activists fighting against privatisations, letters Instructing branches that they should not support a lobby of Labour Party Conference or they would be severely punished, and caving in to attacks on the right to strike or to protest, do not inspire confidence that branches will be supported in defending their members' interests.
Several UNISON branches, including Bromley, Greenwich, Haringey, Islington, Kirklees, Knowsley and Southampton, have called a conference on The Fight against Privatisation on Saturday 6 November. Come and discuss how to start the fight!
The Fight Against Privatisation Saturday November 6 10am-5pm NATHE headquarters Britannia St London WC1X 9JP [10 per delegate.
Details/registration Greenwich UNISON, Rm 110, MacBean Centre, MacBean St London son the staff voted for it was that a layer of NUT members at Pimlico have gone over to Blair - not just on the question of PFI but also on mixed ability teaching.
Secondly, there was very little attempt to link up with other anti PFI campaigns in the NHS and elsewhere. The Some argued that this would make it Council is "political" and pushing ahead lose some potenpolicies which it tial support. Of COUTSC this