Women are fed up being dictated to by local government surveys
UNITE trade union official Margaret Wood says the electorate are fed up being ruled by council survey. Picture by Bill Heaney
By Democrat reporter
Another day another survey. Local people are becoming totally fed up with Council surveys.
And some have even expressed the opinion that local government in West Dunbartonshire is making its most important decisions on the back of them.
Danielle Donnachie said: “I really hope people stop taking part in these surveys, they are only being used as a tool to make cuts to jobs and services.
“Then afterwards the council blame the public by saying they voted for it on a survey.”
The most recent one she pointed to was the West Dunbartonshire Health and Social Care Partnership (WDHSCP) which says it is committed to improving lives of its residents by ensuring they have access to the right care”
Lorraine Brolly told friends on social media that she filled that one in the other day.
She added concerns about the way the questions for it were drafted.
Lorraine said: “There’s no way a lot of people would know what they were asking. Bearing in mind these cuts are going to have a massive impact on the most vulnerable client group in WDC, but once again they don’t care.
“I think that the wording is deliberate, so that the can go with a minority response the way they did last year, as not many people will fill them in.”
Trade unionist Margaret Wood, of UNITE, agreed this was a deliberate strategy by the SNP-run council.
Danielle Donnachie said that she had taken a greater interest in what was happening in the Council following “the grass cutting fiasco”.
She added an appeal to the public to boycott the surveys – “I would urge no one to take part in them.”
Lorraine Brolly agreed – “I’m sure everyone rejected all these cuts last year, but they still went ahead regardless, then that backfired and they had to cut the grass.”
She added: “People might not think that the cuts to the HSPC affect them, or maybe they won’t see them directly, but this is the most vulnerable group in WDC and these [cuts] will have a dramatic effect on that group and the people involved in these groups.
“It’s the minority of responses that they will go with. These cuts are not going to affect the managers on their [large] salaries; they won’t care if their elderly neighbour loses their day-care place, or breakfast club for their kids.
“Rather than fill in the surveys to which the results don’t matter, the community of WDC should stand together and fight these cuts, with the first thing being for as many as possible to attend the meetings against the cuts.”
Margaret Wood said: “What we all need to bear in mind is the fact there is money. These elitists have just decided we are not having it.
“Well it’s not their money and we should be demanding what we have paid the tax to be put back into the services we are paying it for.
“Just look at the £33 million wasted today on the [Brexit ferry] procurement fiasco.”
Council workers are of the view that the Council “can find the money when suits them!”
Examples given include:
- Exxon site
- Shared services position although we don’t have shared services
- Top heavy overpaid senior management and the packages they receive
Margaret Wood called for local communities to join up together and demand the local authority to invest the money “that is rightfully theirs”.
Anti-democratic West Dunbartonshire Council does not comment on reports that appear in The Democrat.
The SNP administration appears not to agree with the freedom of the press and public to express opinions.