UNION CALLS FOR FAIR FUNDING NOW
Thursday 26 February was Budget Day for the City of Edinburgh Council. The current Labour administration put their spending plans for 26/27 up for scrutiny and we, along with other unions and organisations, were at the City Chambers to let them know out thoughts.
The day started with a small demonstration outside the City Chambers, demanding Fair Funding for Local Authorities. Unite, the Union’s most recent national campaign is calling on the UK government down in Westminster to properly fund local authorities after years of austerity.
We were told this Labour government was bringing change – instead, local services keep getting starved of funds and people are losing faith in the public sector.
Once inside, we listened and echo the excellent deputations from Living Rent and the Edinburgh Tenant’s Federation about the need for more support for tenants across town and for proper enforcement to hold rogue landlords accountable.
The Welcoming Association also spoke, giving a strong testimony about the important work they do to integrate and welcome “new scots”, requesting core funding from the Council in order to be able to consistently deliver for the communities they support.
The EIS highlighted the need for further investment after years of cuts but, nevertheless, welcomed the money set aside for more staff and infrastructure for a more robust ASN support.
The Edinburgh Trade Union Council mentioned this year they would be celebrating the 50th anniversary of their first deputation to the CEC where they also addressed the topic of Housing.
Claire and Des spoke of the impact the housing emergency is having on Edinburgh’s families and how this is becoming increasingly visible in children in our schools.
Our deputation echoed some of the points raised by the other speakers and focused on three areas – Housing, Education, and Worker’s Pay.
Housing
While recognising the considerable investment in Housing which will double the amount of homes delivered by the Council in the next 10 years, we stressed this is simply not enough. By the Council’s own assessment, this only amounts to between 1/5 and 1/6 of what is needed. Additionally, although they claim this investment is in affordable housing, it includes mid-market accommodation which are exempt form future rent controls and is still well-above most worker’s budget.
Still, we hope this investment leads to more good council jobs and apprenticeships and that the Labour group will keep to their “insourcing” agenda and draws from the wealth of knowledge, skill, and expertise we have in our Housing Property team, rather than outsourcing these projects to non-living wage paying businesses. It’s essential to build an experienced and reliable workforce with good employment conditions to restore the tenant’s and residents faith in the public service across the city’s estate.
Schools
The Council proudly announced the narrowing of the attainment gap with more pupils from deprived backgrounds achieving more qualifications at all levels which an extremely positive development – but let’s not rest on our laurels. Schools in our Edinburgh have become the front line of a social emergency. Teachers who are already under immense pressure are now tasked with supporting pupils facing increasingly complex challenges as a result of high poverty rates in this city. The high standard of council schools is sustained due to the essential and immeasurable contributions and hard-work from some of the lowest paid workers in the whole local authority – Pupil Support Assistants and other School Support workers.
The recent review into School Support failed to address the gap between what is written on a PSA’s job description and what really goes on a daily basis in our schools. Our School Support colleagues work beyond their remits every day to meet the needs of the young people they support because they care deeply about helping them. There is a real need for a proper career progression, non-contact time included in the daily schedule, fair pay, and more protection and training to help deal with the increasing demand and scope of behaviours displayed by pupils in both mainstream and special schools.
Simply deploying more low paid staff does not solve the underlying crisis schools face regarding the complexity of need we are currently witnessing. Instead, it puts workers in situations with a higher level of unpredictability and risk. We sincerely hope the proposed investment translates into a measurable decrease in the amount of violence support workers face on a daily basis – because you cannot bridge an attainment gap while the staff expected to close it are pushed to breaking point.
Pay
We are proud to work for the people of Edinburgh and for this Council and, therefore, expect our employer to value and protect us. Instead, this administration is presenting a pay cut on its own workers and asking them, in their own words, to “continually deliver more with less resources”.
In April, every council worker will see their pay go up by 3.0% – the second part of a 2-year deal negotiated by the unions with COSLA. This budget will increase council tax by 4% and council tenants will see their rents go up by 7%. If the payslips of the people of Edinburgh cannot keep up with the rising cost of living exacerbated in part by this council tax hike, the Council cannot act surprised when more people turn to the local government for support. This regressive mode of taxation is being raised of the backs of ordinary people and some of the most vulnerable among us, instead of high earners living in Council Tax Bands E and above.
When the local authority fails to deliver for the public, it’s the public-facing council employees are the ones who pay the price – be it Library, School Support, Waste & Cleansing, Justice, Homecare, or Housing workers – we are the ones facing the consequences of the decisions made in these chambers.
Every Councillor got a QR code for our campaign big enough to hang it proudly in their offices.
Finally, we are fully aware that some of the shortcomings of this budget are due to insufficient funding from the Scottish and Westminster governments, which is why we challenged all the Councillors present to subscribe to Unite’s Fair Funding for Local Government and to send a message to their MP down in London.
We left every Councillor in the chamber a big enough QR code so they can proudly display it in their offices You can also sign the petition here and send a postcard for free to your MP here.
Many more aspects of this budget could have been raised but João and Étáin used the limited time they had to speak on the topics that were most relevant to them.
We will keep tabs on this Council to see through promises made in this budget and, in the meantime, we will continue to support our members and fight for a fairer more equal Edinburgh.
