Vote Yes for Decent Pay

In response to the trade unions’ pay claim of 6% or a flat rate increase of £1,750 (whichever is the largest), the employers issued a measly ‘final’ offer of 3%. In consultation meetings across the country, UNISON members working in local government overwhelmingly rejected the offer.

Now the real battle has begun. Members will be balloted between June 10th and July 5th on whether to take industrial action, and we need to mobilise a massive ‘yes’ vote to get the pay talks back on track.

Only once the employers and the Government see the strength of feeling from UNISON’s 850,000 local government workers will realistic pay negotiations restart.

Mo Baines, UNISON Manchester Branch Secretary said,

“there’s still a chance for the employers to improve their offer and prevent national industrial action. But they must understand that local government workers have been offered less than any other group within the public sector this year, yet they are the ones that provide the services that hold local communities together.

And adding insult to injury, on the same day UNISON members were offered 3%, it was announced that MPs were to receive their second pay increase in a year, bringing their rise to 8%.”

Although UNISON is by far the biggest trade union in local government, the GMB and TGWU trade unions have joined this pay campaign for decent wages for all. They too are balloting their members and should the result be a resounding yes for industrial action, all Council staff across the country will have voted for a day of strike action on or around the 16th of July, plus selective action.

However, our first battle is to ensure the ballot represents the views of as many members as possible, and that we get a massive ‘yes’ vote. And if we fail this year, you can bet your salary that next year’s pay increase will be even less than 3% - we’ve got an opportunity now to catch up with earnings in the wider economy. It’s up to us to take it.

UNISON has not asked for confrontation. We all want to see improved and responsive public services – but that won’t happen without a sustained investment in resources for local government. Throughout the pay negotiations, we sought through dialogue and reasoned argument to make it clear that these issues are best resolved by negotiations. So far our message has failed to get through - which is why we now need a powerful ‘Yes’ vote to impress on them that we mean business.

You Are invited to An Audience with Denis Goldberg

UNISON Manchester and Community HEART are pleased to invite you to An Audience with Denis Goldberg in Manchester s Library Theatre on July 6th from 2.30 to 5.30 to commemorate the life and ongoing work of the legendary ANC campaigner, Denis Goldberg.

Sentenced alongside Nelson Mandela by an apartheid court in 1963, Denis served 22 years in prison for organising a campaign of resistance against the racist South Africa state. Released before the election of the ANC to government, he was exiled to the UK where amongst other things, he became the ANC’s ambassador to the UN, and set up Community HEART which works with local agencies in South Africa to overcome apartheids awful legacy.

Audience members will be free to ask Denis questions on the political struggle against apartheid in South Africa, on the new South Africa, and on political issues in general. In particular, given the results in the recent local elections, Denis may well have some valuable insights into how best to fight the battle against political racists.

Denis is going back home now, so this is your last chance to hear a truly great raconteur with amazing and important stories. An Audience with Denis Goldberg promises to be a fascinating, unmissable event.

Tickets are on sale now priced £10 from the Library Theatre box office, telephone 236 7110. All monies raised will go to projects supported by Community HEART. The ticket also gives free entry to an evening social at the Copacobana club in central Manchester.

UNISON Welfare

UNISON is aware of the pressures that members face on a daily basis, which is why UNISON Welfare was established.

This service has helped many members over the years, and can provide support at times of unforeseen financial hardship or personal difficulty such as redundancy, bereavement, illness or relationship breakdown.

Your first contact at the Branch Office for UNISON Welfare is Gwen Colgan, Welfare Officer, who recently attended the launch of a new service for members who are having money problems.

UNISON Welfare’s new debt advice service offers members and their dependants quick access to a way out from the downward spiral of debt. Members needing help are referred to Federated Credit Limited, a national debt advice organisation, who will offer support and expert advice for free. If you want further information about this or any other service, contact Gwen at the Branch.

Mental health services in Manchester face a £2 million cut in funding this financial year.

In all 26 posts are to be axed, including the homeless mental health team, the Asian mental health services, all the acupuncture services, a psychology assistant post and a welfare rights post. Other services are going to be reduced, including the eating disorder team and the horticultural project.

In contrast a PFI (private finance initiative) hospital in Wythenshawe has resulted in our local health economy going millions into the red.

Speaking at UNISON's annual health conference, General Secretary Dave Prentis reiterated the case against PFI.

"When the Labour government was re-elected last June, it was given a mandate to invest in our public services, to improve public services. It was given no mandate to privatise them, for taxpayers’ money to be siphoned off for private profit.

"Where is the evidence that hospitals acting like private businesses will improve health care? Where is the evidence that the private finance initiative is the best way of funding our crumbling hospital infrastructure? It is not value for money. It does not deliver one iota of better health care.

“PFI is an accounting fix, nothing more, nothing less. And future generations will pay the price."

Adding its voice to the increasing number of PFI critics, an article in the British Medical Journal echoes UNISON’s position, concluding that, “PFI brings no new capital investment into public services” and that, “the Government’s case for using PFI rests on a value for money assessment skewed in favour of private finance.”

News in brief

• According to shadow health minister Liam Fox, “we must persuade the public that the NHS is not working... has never worked and it will never work.” The Tory alternative appears to be; the rich can choose extortionate health care, and the rest can expect to get ill, receive poor healthcare to aid more tax cuts for the rich.

• On average school meal prices have soared by three times the rate of inflation as private firms have taken over since 1995. yet more evidence that private profit equals public loss.

• Recent HM Treasury figures estimate that the UK’s foreign born population generates nearly 10% of UK GDP, eight times as much as North Sea oil. In other words, immigrants create wealth.

• George Bush insists he won’t lift the USA’s illegal blockade of Cuba, which prevents trade as well as vital medical aid reaching the Cuban people. Instead, he’s demanding ‘free and fair elections’ Perhaps his brother should remind him of that corrupt result in Florida.

• The chairman of Corus (formerly British Steel) received a 103% pay rise despite sacking 6,000 workers as the company made a £385m loss. Daft fat cat or what...