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Campaigns

Positively Public Briefings
Monthly briefings providing the latest campaigning, privatisation and good practice news. Link to another page on this siteAvailable here
National news

Private markets expose public services

(09/07/08) Union calls for independent review of influence of marketisation on services

Look at PFI's impact on pay, says UNISON

(08/07/08) Union welcomes response to call to examine PFI pay impact

'We'll fight tooth and nail for services'

(15/06/08) Local government: Union will 'keep campaigning against privatisation'

Minding the health gap

(12/06/08) Cutting poverty is key to tackling health inequalities, says UNISON
News list >

Marketisation

The introduction of market forces into the public sector has put profit above quality and is undermining the public service ethos which is based on equity, fairness and redistribution of wealth. Privatisation and marketisation have transformed the provision of services, creating a shift from collaborative working to a commercial competitive working environment, where private contractors compete for public sector work. This transformation has had an impact on the quality of services and on the pay and conditions of public service workers, many of whom have been transferred from the public sector to the private, voluntary or independent sectors, on worse terms and conditions.

The Private Finance Initiative (PFI) is a government initiative which allows the private sector to design, finance, build, own and operate public buildings.

The Two Tier workforce and Fair Wages - UNISON is campaigning to stop private contractors competing on the basis of lower pay and conditions

The National Health Service is shifting from an integrated system to a much more mixed one, in which the private sector plays an increasingly major part.

Social Care is increasingly being outsourced to the private sector to cut costs, leading to fragmentation of services and impacting on the quality of care

Library services - UNISON is concerned that policy changes in library services will lead to privatisation, impacting on jobs, pay and quality of service.

Social housing - currently, the only investment options to improve housing stock involve privatisation or part privatisation of stock or the service

Probation - current plans threaten services which will be subject to market testing and ultimately lead to the privatisation of probation services.

The Community and Voluntary sector is being encouraged by the government to compete with other organisations for public service work.

CONTACT DETAILS
• The UNISON contact for the Positively Public campaign is Margie Jaffe.
Positively Public
1 Mabledon Place
London WC1H 9AJ
Email: positivelypublic@unison.co.uk
Recent documents
Co-production: the modernisation of public services by staff and users
This report defines co-production, demonstrates the benefits of co-production to users, staff, management and policy makers, and examines how co-production can be put into practice.
Link to a PDF document on this siteAcrobat PDF (2017048 bytes)
PFI: Against the Public Interest
The report analyses the failings of the government's private finance initiative and public private partnerships, highlighting high profile contracts which have failed and PFI companies, such as Ballast which went into receivership.
Link to a PDF document on this siteAcrobat PDF version
Fair Wages: How to end the two tier workforce in public services and achieve fair wages
UNISON's fair wages campaign calls for a fair wages regulation in public contracting to safeguard the employment conditions and pensions of staff, regardless of who employs them. This briefing explains the campaign, why we need it, what successes have been achieved and what remains to be done.
Link to a PDF document on this siteAcrobat PDF version
Public risk for private gain?
The public audit implications of risk transfer and private finance

A new UNISON report shows that the government has failed to evaluate its own claim that extra costs of PFI are justified, because risks are transferred to the private sector. There are now more than 500 PFI deals worth £36bn, but the the true cost of these deals to the taxpayer is still unknown and private companies are reaping the benefits of this oversight, at the expense of the public purse. (NB: This is a 1.2MB download)
Link to a PDF document on this siteAcrobat PDF version
Our values, our NHS
Results of UNISON's NHS survey, which we will use as evidence to show the government what members value most in the NHS, and argue for a constitution that ensures these principles are protected and built on in future
Link to a PDF document on this siteAcrobat PDF version