Privatisation

Alan Bates is wrong about Amazon

Alan Bates, a leading campaigner on behalf of over 500 fellow sub-postmasters who were wrongly blamed, and convicted, for problems caused by cash-handling software, has called for the Post Office to be handed over to Amazon. Bates and other victims are right to be angry at the Post Office bosses’ venality and incompetence. But ownership by Amazon would make things worse, not better. As the ongoing strikes in Amazon’s BHX4 warehouse in Coventry show, Amazon’s treatment of its own workers has little to recommend it. Amazon resists the union recognition which would allow its workers to assert...

Run water, post, and other utilities as public services

One quarter of England depends on Thames Water for water and sewage. It is now so near being unable to deal with its debts that there is talk of the government renationalising it. Why? After privatisation of water in 1989, the private owners sucked out billions in dividends, covered by loading the company with more and more debt. Thames Water is also the worst water company in England for leaks due to ill-maintained pipes. Others do worse for dumping raw sewage into rivers, but Thames Water is bad on that too. All that comes from a basic public health function being run not as a public service...

Public ownership and workers' control

The Tories have felt obliged to remove Trans-Pennine Express rail from its private operators and reassign the franchise as from 28 May to the public-sector “operator of last resort”. They cite “months of continual cancellations” of services. Private water companies have been indicted for large discharges of untreated sewage into waterways and failure to fix leaks, despite paying out over £50 billion in dividends to shareholders since privatisation in 1989. Energy companies are making vast profits while poorer households have faced enforced chill and high bills. The Tories’ Energy Bill Relief...

Lewisham school workers and parents fight academisation

Picket line at Prendergast Ladywell, one of the schools under threat At the time of writing teachers and support staff at the Prendergast group of schools in Lewisham, South East London, members of the National Education Union, have had three days of strikes to stop the semi-privatisation – with 12 more days scheduled (9-11, 16-18 and 23-25 May; 6-8 June). From 9 May they are being joined by larger numbers of support staff, members of GMB. There is a very active parent campaign alongside the workers (and some student protests too) - I wrote about it last month - the relatively large number of...

Lewisham revolt against academisation

Workers, parents and students at the Prendergast group of schools in Lewisham (south-east London) are in revolt against the attempt to convert them to a multi-academy trust – a semi-private organisation outside local authority control in which management power is entrenched. As part of a lively and determined campaign, National Education Union members at the three secondary and two primary schools have voted overwhelmingly to strike, with six days set from late April. The schools are already part of a federation within the local authority – one which, peculiarly, also has links to a City of...

Salaried GPs? Salaried by whom?

In an interview with the Times last month Wes Streeting, Labour's Health spokesperson, said: "I'm minded to phase out the whole system of GP partners altogether and to look at salaried GPs working in modern practices alongside a range of other professionals." Sounds good. A salaried GP service has been a progressive call since the inception of the NHS and has long been the preferred model of the MPU (the Medical Practitioners' Union), now usually known as Doctors in Unite. But the question remains, salaried to whom? In 2004 APMS contracts were introduced, which allow private organisations such...

How "Integrated Care Boards" will hurt the NHS

In April 2023 a new payment scheme will be introduced which will determine how services in the NHS are financed and structured. At the same time as service providers are being instructed to make a 4% cut, this new scheme will further limit the provision of all services which come under the new Integrated Care Boards (ICBs). According to the Keep Our NHS Public campaign, this new scheme aims to control total expenditure through a single pot of money for each Integrated Care Board (ICB). The payment scheme, to be published by NHS England, will result in a postcode lottery with different prices...

1 February can be a launchpad (John Moloney's column)

It’s a good step that we’re moving to all-out action on 1 February, especially as we should be striking alongside other unions on that day, especially the National Education Union. Strikes in schools have a wider impact, as parents often have to stay home from work to look after children, so we’re expecting 1 February to be very impactful. Our National Executive Committee will debate the next steps. It’s vital 1 February isn’t a one-off set piece, but a launchpad for further national action. Various proposals are under discussion, including some for further all-out strikes in March. My own...

Action should not stop for talks (John Moloney's column)

Our national ballot closed on 7 November. We expect to have the full results by 9 November, ready for the National Executive on Thursday 10th. PCS disaggregated the ballot into 214 separate units and we are confident of hitting the thresholds in a significant number of areas, including major government departments where workers have particular leverage. Our National Executive will further meet on 18 November to discuss proposals for action. In the week between getting the results and the 18 Nov meeting, the union will write to the Cabinet Office to reiterate our demands put in the ballot: a 10...

PCS ballot ends 7 November (John Moloney's column)

Monday 7 November is the last day for our national ballots. Effectively though, votes will not be counted if members don’t send them off by the the previous Friday at latest. We know from information recorded by branches that in many areas we are getting close to the 50%, in some we are over, but in others, we still have a way to go. Over the coming days we have to redouble our efforts to get members to vote. We are running a disaggregated ballot in over 200 areas. This means that by the end of the ballots, we may have a patchwork of positive ballots, but others where we did not get to the...

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