UNISON General Secretary Dave Prentis has warned politicians against making ‘selfless’ public service workers pay the price for the economic slump.
In his New Year message, Prentis said the recession was brought on by the greed of city bankers, who should have known better.
He said: ‘I pay tribute to the hundreds of thousands of selfless public service workers who have worked so hard through the festive period to clear our roads in horrendous weather, to keep our hospitals running, to provide our gas, electricity and water, to care for our elderly, the homeless, vulnerable children and the sick.
‘Public service workers deserve the unequivocal support of all politicians.
‘Instead, their reward is uncertainty about their future – with their pay, their pensions and their jobs all under threat.
‘In the difficult times that lie ahead, Unison is committed to ensuring that their contribution to our society is recognised, respected and valued.
‘Any attempt to make public service workers pay for the reckless greed, arrogance and risk-taking by City bankers, who should have known better, will be challenged.
‘And to people who are jumping on the attack-the-public-sector bandwagon, remember, every redundancy is a personal tragedy and a blot on our society, whether in the private or public sector.
‘Creating employment, so that people are not living on the dole, is the right thing to do.
‘The public sector is the lifeline to our communities to help them out of the recession and it should be supported, not attacked.
‘I urge the government to inject some fairness into society.
‘Unison will stand up for our 1.4 million members and the essential jobs they do in our communities.
‘It will ensure that their voice is heard at every level in our society as we approach a general election.’
l Teaching union Education Institute of Scotland (EIS) yesterday announced the launch of a major campaign for 2010 to promote the cause of Scottish education and protect the funding of schools and colleges.
The focus of the campaign is ‘Why must our children pay?’ and will argue that Scotland’s pupils and students should not be forced to pay for the mistakes of others by having their education damaged due to budget cutting.
A key event in the campaign is a major demonstration to be held in Glasgow in March 2010.
Outlining the campaign, EIS General Secretary Ronnie Smith warned: ‘The threat to education funding is very real.
‘Already, over the past year, we have seen very significant cuts in education budgets and classroom resources right across the country.
‘We now have almost 2,500 fewer teachers in our classrooms than was the case just two years ago.
‘This is forcing schools to place pupils in larger classes, with less teaching time for each pupil as a result. Support staff numbers are also falling, removing a vital layer of support for teachers and placing an even greater administrative burden on teachers which then has a negative impact on teaching, preparation and correction time.
‘Even basic classroom resources such as books, paper, pencils and photocopying of worksheets are becoming increasingly scarce.’
