ENOUGH IS ENOUGH: UNIONS WILL FIGHT TO SAVE JOBS AND SERVICES

UNISON West Dunbartonshire Branch has recently been made aware of potential cuts to service provision that are proposed for the full council meeting, due to take place on 1st March 2023.

West Dunbartonshire, if we take a look at the Scottish Index of Multiple forms of Deprivation has continuously ranked within the bottom 15% of communities since these statistics have been collected, with some of our communities ranking within the bottom 5% of communities Scotland wide. We have higher child poverty levels than the Scottish average.

West Dunbartonshire require to save 21 MILLION if they want to balance their books, this will further slaughter our social care, education, cleansing, parks, leisure and other vital services, which our citizens heavily depend on. Cuts of this level affect local government existentially, communities have been struggling to recover for years from austerity, if these CUTS go through there will be no recovery for local government.

This is on top of THE MILLIONS in cuts to jobs and services we have experienced since 2010. This tory austerity, cannot go on. The people of West Dunbartonshire, the services which they heavily rely on and the workers who provide them are not to blame for the austerity politics of successive national governments.

This UNISON branch recognises the importance of sustained local action, the bringing together of community-based campaign organisations, trades union branches and trades union councils when campaigning against all forms of austerity.

We call on councils to refuse to implement the cuts in services and to publish NO CUTS budgets!

This branch believes any action to remove councils who publish no cuts budgets and replace them with Scottish Government administrators, should be met with campaigning for “people’s budgets” in forthcoming elections with trade union support.

Should West Dunbartonshire and in fact Scotland as a nation, face these dramatic cuts to service provision we envisage a political crisis developing due to successive years of austerity. Where local councillors have previously and meekly managed the decline of the communities over decades.

Finally we believe that at a time of greatly increased industrial militancy, workers and their families are saying enough is enough and will support radical campaigning against austerity led by organised labour.

UNISON West Dunbartonshire Branch demand that you STAND UP FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT SERVICES in our Scottish Parliament and motion for increased funding for local government.