Moray UNISON events against ‘Valentine’s Day massacre of services’

Moray UNISON Press release: The councillors of Moray Council will meet on 14th February 2018 to consider proposals to cuts services and jobs across the Authority with scant regard to the submissions made by trade unions, interest groups and the general public as part of the recent consultation exercise. What Council employees and the Moray public are facing is a St Valentine’s Day Massacre on their doorstep as local services are butchered as part of a failed austerity agenda.

The response of the Council to requests from UNISON to clarify figures, jobs and the rationale for service reductions has been met with ever increasingly woolly answers with comments of “no decision made yet”, “work underway”, “being developed” being sample responses to questions on how services will be managed going forward.

Suzanne Wright, Moray UNISON Branch Secretary commented “It is increasingly clear that Moray Council is a ship that is heading for the rocks and without a captain. Early in the process members of the ruling administration declared their opposition to the proposals so even the crew are jumping ship. The losers in this debacle however are our members and the general public”

“The Council do not have any coherent plan of how the cuts they are proposing will be implemented therefore they cannot know the full extent of the devastation they are causing to public services in the area. Additionally, the Equality Impact Assessments, which have only just been made available to the trade unions give no solace that the most vulnerable in our community will be protected – it is UNISON’s firm belief that these assessments should have been conducted prior to any proposals being issued for public consultation. ”

“It is UNISON’s firm belief that our members are being sacrificed to justify the political agenda of decision makers who do not value public services and as a result of years of inaction by councillors who have failed to put in place any plans to ensure the future viability of the Council. UNISON will simply not stand by and watch our members livelihoods be taken away.”

UNISON will be holding two events in the coming week :
• Saturday 10th February: Stand on Plainstones, Elgin (probably 12 – 2pm) to raise awareness of Council plans, sign up to our Valentines Day Card
• Wednesday 14th February: 8.00 – 9.10am Show Your Love of for Public Services: Lobby of Council HQ prior to meeting of Full Council.