• Because our inadequate pay levels have been subject to a freeze, meaning a pay cut of 20% since the coalition came to power.
• Because our employers seem happy to leave millions below the living wage level, rather than pay wages that would take them off benefits
• Because low wages and salaries leave local government workers facing food or fuel bills they cannot afford. Eat or Heat should not be a dilemma we face.
• Because local authorities are sitting on reserves of £18 BILLION
• Because local government cuts mean that as redundancies bite, the remaining workers face an uphill struggle to keep services running.
• Because further cuts to services are just around the corner with consequent increased workload for the remaining staff
• Because privatisation, outsourcing and restructuring are disrupting delivery of services
• Because the democratic accountability and character of public services is being undermined by current government policies, such as the Council Tax cap and the provisions of the Care Act;
• Because the services that our communities rely on, from care for the elderly, to family services, from education to food hygiene, from bin collection to museums and libraries are being decimated.
• Because politicians, both local and national, have washed their hands of local democracy
• Because if no one else will stand up for well paid, well resourced, locally accountable democratic services, local government workers must.
STAND UP FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT – TAKE ACTION TOMORROW
Jane Carolan