Fighting the cuts in local government‏

Quite rightly the most of the afternoon session at today's UNISON local government conference was taken up debating motions about how we fight cuts. Speaker after speaker got up to tell about attacks on council services.

Some delegates emphasised the need to build workplace organisation before we move to more militant and public demonstrations. Other ultra left delegates predictably thought we should move to a General Strike and mass demonstrations straight away. But what every speaker agreed on was that we face the toughest challenge since the formation of UNISON and all parts of the union to work together in a coordinated manner otherwise we face the death of public services as we know them.

Following the debates there was a panel discussion that gave concrete examples of some successful campaigns had been fought. Several delegates contributed from the floor with their own experiences.

The common theme was that we need to ensure we understand council finances so we can properly challenge any proposals; we need to engage with our communities; and we need to build our relationships with the local media to maximise the potential to get our message out there.