UNISON, Scotland’s largest union in public services, has joined together with communities across Glasgow to fight against service cuts.
Trade unionists and members of the public packed out a meeting last week to share concerns over personalisation and fears that Glasgow City Council is using this process simply as a means to save money.
Glasgow City Council started its personalisation agenda last summer. While UNISON supports the principles of personalisation, which are about providing people with more independence, control and dignity, this is not what is happening in Glasgow. The council has always been explicit in its ambition to realise 20 per cent savings as a result of the process.
Mandy McDowall, regional organiser for UNISON, said: “We’re not against the concept of personalisation, but direct payments should be used to complement a range of public services and should not be used as a disguise for cutting services.
“We held this meeting to bring together those who are being directly affected by these cuts. The meeting was packed with staff, users and members of the community who all wanted to share their experiences. We heard from carers who are having their packages cut by 50 per cent; staff who are having their terms and conditions slashed and communities who are suffering facility closures.
“Each person had a different story to tell and the true human cost of each and every cut was laid bare.”
Parents, carers, service users, campaign groups, academics and disability groups were all in attendance at Thursday’s meeting. UNISON says the meeting will be the first of many and is calling on Glasgow City Council to put a halt to service cuts.
Simon Macfarlane, regional organiser for UNISON, added: “Glasgow City Council has not properly assessed the impact of these cuts and is rolling ahead with scant regard to the devastating consequences.
“We’re calling on the council to call a halt to this process and to reinstate the packages that service users had before the new personalisation agenda was agreed, until a thorough review of the process and the impact on people with learning disabilities is assessed. This assessment must involve service users, their families and front line workers and their unions.”
Showing posts with label Community and voluntary sector. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Community and voluntary sector. Show all posts
Friday, 15 July 2011
Thursday, 28 April 2011
No if's, no but's, no disability cuts!
A very succesful protest was held today under the umbrella of the Defend Glasgow's Services campaign.
The protest which brought together trade unions, campaign groups, service users, families of service users and workers providing services heard a range of speeches from the broad range of people in attendance on how Glasgow city council's shameful cuts under the guise of personalisation are impacting upon service users, their families and cuts hours and wages for staff.
We hope it's the start of a unified campaign to fight these cuts, disguised as personalisation!
You can contact Defend Glasgow's Services on 0141 552 7069 or follow them on Facebook.
The protest which brought together trade unions, campaign groups, service users, families of service users and workers providing services heard a range of speeches from the broad range of people in attendance on how Glasgow city council's shameful cuts under the guise of personalisation are impacting upon service users, their families and cuts hours and wages for staff.
We hope it's the start of a unified campaign to fight these cuts, disguised as personalisation!
You can contact Defend Glasgow's Services on 0141 552 7069 or follow them on Facebook.
Scotland’s most vulnerable young people under attack as services face the axe
SCOTLAND’s most vulnerable young people are under attack by government cuts as thousands of staff in the community and voluntary sector face redundancy.
UNISON, Scotland’s largest union in the community and voluntary sector, said urgent action must be taken to halt these drastic cuts and urged the country’s politicians not to throw our young people on the scrapheap.
Councils across the country are being hit with the biggest spending cuts in living memory. No service is safe – but one of the hardest hit is services for young people.
This week alone, more than 2,000 workers from the voluntary and community sector have been threatened with redundancy, while others face attacks on their pay and conditions.
One Scottish charity, Quarriers – which was originally set up to look after orphaned and destitute children – yesterday issued 90 days’ notice to all of its 2,000 staff. The move comes as the charity announced plans to cut its staffing budget by £2.5m – almost twice as much as their own figures (£1.3m) claim are required.
Elsewhere, services to vulnerable young people are also under threat as the Cora Foundation – a voluntary organisation that runs three secure units for young people – issued letters to hundreds of workers threatening them with redundancy. This leaves staff at three of the country’s five secure units (St Phillip’s in Plains; St Mary’s Kenmure in Bishopbriggs; and the Good Shepherd in Bishopton) facing the axe. If secure units run by Cora close, then the courts will be left with no option but to send young offenders to institutions like Polmont, at a much greater cost to the taxpayer.
UNISON has also condemned moves by youth justice charity, Includem, which has refused to negotiate with the union and has instead unilaterally imposed a 9.5 per cent pay cut on its staff.
Simon Macfarlane, regional organiser with UNISON, said: “We’re calling on Scotland’s political parties to focus on the real issues in the week ahead and to prioritise putting a stop to these outrageous cuts. We also need voluntary organisations to act in a responsible manner, to engage constructively with UNISON and not to capitalise on the situation to make unwarranted attacks on low-paid workers.
“Our members work hard to provide services that make a huge difference to the lives of young people and cutting them will only store up problems for generations to come. Services for our vulnerable young people are vanishing and, once these services are destroyed, they will take a long time to recover. Surely every young person deserves a fair chance?”
UNISON, Scotland’s largest union in the community and voluntary sector, said urgent action must be taken to halt these drastic cuts and urged the country’s politicians not to throw our young people on the scrapheap.
Councils across the country are being hit with the biggest spending cuts in living memory. No service is safe – but one of the hardest hit is services for young people.
This week alone, more than 2,000 workers from the voluntary and community sector have been threatened with redundancy, while others face attacks on their pay and conditions.
One Scottish charity, Quarriers – which was originally set up to look after orphaned and destitute children – yesterday issued 90 days’ notice to all of its 2,000 staff. The move comes as the charity announced plans to cut its staffing budget by £2.5m – almost twice as much as their own figures (£1.3m) claim are required.
Elsewhere, services to vulnerable young people are also under threat as the Cora Foundation – a voluntary organisation that runs three secure units for young people – issued letters to hundreds of workers threatening them with redundancy. This leaves staff at three of the country’s five secure units (St Phillip’s in Plains; St Mary’s Kenmure in Bishopbriggs; and the Good Shepherd in Bishopton) facing the axe. If secure units run by Cora close, then the courts will be left with no option but to send young offenders to institutions like Polmont, at a much greater cost to the taxpayer.
UNISON has also condemned moves by youth justice charity, Includem, which has refused to negotiate with the union and has instead unilaterally imposed a 9.5 per cent pay cut on its staff.
Simon Macfarlane, regional organiser with UNISON, said: “We’re calling on Scotland’s political parties to focus on the real issues in the week ahead and to prioritise putting a stop to these outrageous cuts. We also need voluntary organisations to act in a responsible manner, to engage constructively with UNISON and not to capitalise on the situation to make unwarranted attacks on low-paid workers.
“Our members work hard to provide services that make a huge difference to the lives of young people and cutting them will only store up problems for generations to come. Services for our vulnerable young people are vanishing and, once these services are destroyed, they will take a long time to recover. Surely every young person deserves a fair chance?”
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The above press release was picked up by a number of media outlets including The Herald
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