UNITE: Union members to lobby their MPs to save vital public bodies

UNITE: Union members to lobby their MPs to save vital public bodies

UNITE: Union members to lobby their MPs to save vital public bodies

Hundreds of union members along with community groups, service users and agricultural workers representing thousands of public servants, set to lose their jobs when the government pushes through its reforms, will come to Westminster tomorrow (Wednesday, 9 February).

They will be urging their MPs to stand up against the coalition government’s so-called ‘public service reform’ in the form of the Public Bodies Bill.

Unite says that bodies as diverse as the Agricultural Wages Board, UK Arts Council, the Forestry Commission and advice services have a vital role in underpinning public life. The union believes that sweeping these bodies away, in this manner, is an act of political vandalism which will shut ordinary people out of the decision-making process.

Unite assistant general secretary, Diana Holland, who will address the rally, said: “With next to nothing in the way of prior consultation, we are extremely concerned at the rush to dismantle these essential public bodies. We suspect this has more to do with silencing critics than improving the operation of government.

“There are over 400 organisations affected by the government’s proposals, including the UK Film Council, instrumental in funding the multi-Oscar nominated film, ‘The King’s Speech’, and the Forestry Commission, where plans to sell-off land have been opposed by 460,000 people in an online petition so far.

“Scratching the surface of this bill reveals a multitude of highly effective, highly valuable services, all of which are under threat. The joint trade unions, together with members of the public, who believe that the Public Bodies Bill will damage the UK, are calling on the government to stop, listen and think again.”

These public bodies provide essential services to citizens from funding community arts projects, to helping people get reconnected to their utilities; from wages boards to looking after forests; from promoting equality and human rights to regulating professionals. Unite is calling for the coalition to press ‘pause’, after criticism from the cross-party Commons Public Administration Committee, which said that the coalition had ‘poorly managed’ its cull of these public bodies.

A photo-call of workers will take place at 12.30pm on Old Palace Yard/College Green, opposite the House of Lords. There will be a marquee where members of Unite, PCS and Prospect will look to press their cases to MPs.

ENDS

For further information please contact Ashraf Choudhury in the Unite Press Office on 020 7420 8914 or 07980 224761.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Public Bodies Bill rally and lobby
Wednesday, 9 February 2011
Demo from 12.30: Old Palace Yard, Westminster, SW1P 3JY
Lobby 14.00 – 16.00: Committee Room 6, House of Commons

Speakers include:

Diana Holland, Unite Assistant General Secretary
Mark Serwotka, PCS General Secretary
Steve Leniec, agricultural worker
Karon Monaghan, QC, Matrix Chambers
Lord Knight, former Labour Minister

The Public Bodies Bill is currently wending its way through the House of Lords. It has proposed to reform 481 bodies, of which, 192 will cease to be public bodies and their functions will either be brought back into government, devolved, or abolished altogether. Vital organisations from every sector are being abolished ranging from the UK Film Council to the Forestry Commission, British Waterways to the Agricultural Wages Board.