Transcript document

The Coalition
agenda – and
UNISON’s response
May / June 2011
The Coalition agenda
The Coalition agenda
The Coalition agenda
The Coalition agenda
Services cut to 1990s levels
Local government
• 100,000 to 250,000 job losses
• non-statutory services - eg
culture, recreation, youth
services, cvs funding - highly
vulnerable to closures
• intense pressure for ‘back
office’ savings: outsourcing
and shared services
• social services will be
stretched and restricted to
most critical needs
• council tax increases will be
penalised by DCLG
Police
• thousands of job losses
expected
• PCSOs and other police staff
especially vulnerable
• police services also funded
from council resources – but
this is even harder hit
• pressure for ‘back office’
savings may mean
reorganisations, mergers and
outsourcing (cf Cleveland)
Housing
• housebuilding target cut to
150,000 over 4 years – less
than a third of those needed
• housing association rents
hiked to 80% of local private
market – costing some
tenants £9,000 more a year
• ‘flexible tenancy’ for new
social tenants which could
result in forced eviction if
circumstances change
Further Education
• 16-19 participation budget
also cut
• more fees for adult learners
• some institutions may no
longer be financially viable
PLUS:
• Educational Maintenance
Allowance to be abolished
• Train To Gain programme to
be abolished
• free level 2 training for over25s to be abolished
Higher Education
• increase in tuition fees and
loans
• Non-‘STEM’ subjects (arts,
humanities, social sciences)
highly vulnerable
• some Universities may cease
to become viable
Sure Start
Cash freeze?
= 9% real cut
+ rising demand
= restricted service
Schools
• most schools and pupils will
lose more than this to fund
‘Pupil Premium’
• schools will also have to cope
with cuts to special needs
support, free school
transport, youth clubs and
after school activities
• attempt to save on pay-bill
through Academy programme
and end of School Support
Staff Negotiating Body
NHS
• withdrawal of patient
entitlements eg. wait times
• closure of major services like
A&E and maternity – and
rationing or cancellation of
‘non-urgent’ treatments
• recruitment freezes and
redundancy programmes
• privatisation – FM, pathology,
‘business services’
• PLUS NHS White Paper
chaos: coming soon…
Effects of spending cuts by income
group: as % of net income, all services
change in living standards (annual)
1
2
3
4
decile
5 6
7
8
9
10
0%
-5%
flat-rate
other service-related
-10%
transport
-15%
housing
social care
-20%
education (HE/FE/skills)
-25%
education (schools)
-30%
-35%
Privatisation
Attack on public provision
• NHS bill – full health service market created
• Education – schools, colleges commercialised
• Localism Bill – private sector “right to challenge”
• White Paper – universal compulsory tendering
Plus staff protections removed
• “Two-Tier” codes withdrawn
• “Fair pensions” regime threatened
Attack on public sector workers
Nationally
• at least 330,000 job losses – some say 750,000
• 2 year pay-freeze 2011-13 – on top of 2010-11
• pensions – pay more, work longer, get less
Plus
• local attacks on terms and conditions
• increasing opt-out from national bargaining
• accelerated privatisation and outsourcing
A false economy
500,000 job losses =
• £4.6 billion in lost tax revenue
• £6.1 billion in additional benefit payments
PLUS
• reduction in service provision
• reduction in spending power
• further negative impact on employment and growth
• further negative impact on public finances
There is an alternative
• maintain public spending and
investment to support jobs and
growth
• develop and engage staff to
deliver real efficiency and
improvement
• cut wasteful consultancy,
privatisation and military spending
• raise tax on banks, big business
and super-rich, and stop evasion
and avoidance
The challenge
• build membership and organisation
• engage service users and local communities
• challenge employers and politicians
• protect members, save jobs and services
Local organising and campaigning
Saving jobs and services
Nottingham: 25% cut to school staff pay blocked (Nov 2010)
Wiltshire: police pay deal honoured after campaign (Dec 2010)
Brighton: Nursery saved after campaign with parents (Dec 2010)
Birmingham: redundancies delayed after strike vote (Jan 2011)
Wales: agreement to protect local jobs and services (Jan 2011)
Islington: benefits advice service saved from closure (Jan 2011)
York: homecare privatisation suspended after lobby (Jan 2011)
Bolton: childrens’ mini-zoo saved with mass petition (Feb 2011)
Stoke: seven children’s centres saved after protests (Feb 2011)
Aberdeen: industrial action vote stops redundancies (Feb 2011)
Denting the coalition agenda
• Academies – Michael Gove’s “fiasco”
• NHS Direct – Lansley forced to back off
• U-turns – school sports, Book Trust, forests
• local government cuts – councils in revolt
• NHS privatisation – amendments forced
Winning the argument
• share of voters who think cuts will affect them up
from 48% in June to 72% today
• share of voters who think cuts are bad for the
economy up from 28% in June to 50% today
• share of voters who think cuts are unfair up from
33% in June to 60% today
Next steps
• extend organisation and build capacity to deal with
changing public service environment
• deepen and strengthen community links to build
durable strategic alliances
• step-up political strategy so we can win power to
implement our alternative – starting in May