UNISON Submission to Policing Sub Cttee capital resourcing inquiry (Post Budget)

After police stations began to literally fall apart last year, Holyrood’s Justice Committee began an inquiry into capital spending in Police Scotland. This was part of their pre budget scrutiny of the Scottish Government.  They published their conclusions in November,  the Scottish Government promised to respond soon after the budget. The response came in the form of a four page letter from the Cabinet Secretary that really didn’t add much to what was known – or offer any significant improvement to the current woefully inadequate situation.  The Sub Cttee asked for our comments on the response. We’ve given them…

https://unison-scotland.org/wp-content/uploads/UNISON-Scotland-policing-capital-budget-response-feb-2020-1.pdf

Practical help for lower-paid members

Summer is coming and many UNISON members will be facing the cost of new school uniforms after the holidays.

But UNISON is here to help – our welfare charity There for You has a limited fund to help members on low incomes deal with the cost of buying school uniforms, by providing a grant of up to £40.

Families living on low income with children struggle constantly to make ends meet – and this can be particularly acute before the new school year begins when the extra costs hit hard.

And that daily struggle is a reality for too many public-service workers having to get by on low or even minimum wages. So make sure your members know about the help which is available. You can download an application – and members have until 20 July to get it back.

Download the application form for members

MANIFESTO FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN SCOTLAND 2017

Launched at UNISON Scottish council on Saturday 1 April 2017 this is the UNISON Scotland manifesto for the local government elections on 4 May 2017.

Our manifesto calls for sustainable funding for local government, so it can take meaningful accountable decisions which can make a real difference to local needs. Rather than just protecting local services.

Local government have borne the brunt of austerity and this must stop. The next round of cuts will be even worse for local government with more jobs and service cuts planned. A staggering 91% of public sector jobs losses in Scotland since the crash have been in local government. That’s 30,000 jobs cut in Scottish local government since 2009.

UNISON welcomes the end of the council tax freeze and calls on councils to actively explore a comprehensive programme of refinancing which could save billions across Scotland.

UNISON manifesto also calls for:  planned expansion in early years to be delivered by the public sector as it is the most cost effective way forward; investment in social care with direct monitoring of care services and sufficient weighting to fair work in contracts and adoption with UNISON Ethical Care Charter; protection of social work budgets; a massive social housing programme; creating jobs to refurbish housing stock and do something about the 940,000 homes in Scotland; investment in library services and facilities.

See and download the full manifesto here:
http://www.unison-scotland.org/library/Local-Government-Manifesto-2017-interactive.pdf