Total Place or Total War?

I must admit that I was only recently vaguely aware of Total Place. I had thought it was just a “consultancy speak” term for yet another “Public sector efficiency” fad.

There are also a number of similar confusing buzz words and phrases about - such as “shared services” and “Easy jet” Councils bouncing around.

Recent London UNISON meetings and briefings have rapidly brought me up to speed.

The Total Place initiative is to look at the total public sector spend in an area (such as a borough or county) and to look at ways to make efficiencies and savings by combining services. By total public spend I do mean “Total”. Council services, NHS services, central Government services, Police, Further education, utilities and even the voluntary sector. One example of this is a proposal to put practically all the “back office” public service functions into one Council building. So we could have generic HR, payroll, finance, policy and procurement etc for all the borough or county Job centres, hospitals, Police stations, GP practices, housing, schools, universities and colleges all in one location.

There is even a green argument that centralising all these functions will allow energy inefficient offices to be closed and new modern efficient ones to replace them. It could also be argued that this could bring about a rebirth in “municipalism” by localising control of public services back to democratically elected local authorities. This possible configuration will dramatic impact on everyone.

I think that the trade union argument has to be carefully balanced. None of us are by definition against providing better quality or green public services nor saving money which could be ploughed back.

But Total Place should not be used as a cover for privatisation and an excuse to attack the terms and conditions of public servants. If that happens then instead of partnership and co-operation – there could be destructive conflict and mistrust between unions and employers. I brought this possibility up at last night’s GC meeting of my local Labour Party during the Q&A with our MP Lyn Brown - who I am sure took the point on board.

Total Place could result in Total War but only the crazies of the union’s ultra left and the Tory reactionary right will want to bring this on and feast upon it.

SERTUC Regional Council 18 July 2009

SERTUC (South East Region Trade Union Council) meets on a Saturday morning every 3 months at Congress House. Each TUC region will hold similar meetings.

Beforehand UNISON representatives held a pre-meeting where we discussed the agenda and agreed our positions.

The first main item of business is the President’s report. Martin reported on the recent strikes in the construction and engineering sector. Workers on the “Blue book” terms and conditions. He considered that the successful outcomes of the strikes should be considered as “victories” for the workers concerned especially during these times. The Fight still goes on since employers are trying to use the recession to attack workers. He praised the CWU strike action in support of the post office. The likelihood of action by the Fire Brigade over the attempt to Privatise support services. Mind you the FBU don’t need lessons on defending themselves. Congratulations to those in this region who fought the BNP. But 2 BNP MEPs are two too many. He pressed the government to use the banks that they now own to support British companies. He reminded Council that today was the 91st birthday of Nelson Mandela. “Congratulations”. He reaffirmed our solidarity with our brothers and sisters in South Africa who are still struggling to bring about fairness.

Next the inevitable “minutes/matters arising”.

Our First Speaker was Kate Hudson – who is the Chair of CND. She led on the recent Guardian poll that 54% of the public are opposed to having nuclear weapons. It is also the first time a majority of Labour Party supporters oppose the Trident programme. The highest level of opposition is in the 18-24 age range (no surprise there). Amongst social classes CDE there is the greatest opposition at 63% (which is surprising – to me anyway). She thinks that there has been a victory that the decision on Trident will have to come back to Parliament and that there will be a 9 month delay. She argues that research shows that more jobs will be created if Trident is scrapped.

Labour MEP Claude Moraes was to speak on the European Elections results but unfortunately his Dad is sick so he has had to fly to Edinburgh. He will speak at the next meeting.

The Regional Secretary had submitted a written report on which she accepted questions and comments. She reminded us about Burston School Strikes Rally. A CWU speaker reported on the ongoing dispute in Royal Mail. We were told to expect further industrial action. Our delegation leader asked for an update on proposal to make “Workers Memorial Day” officially recognised. There is supposed to be a DWP consultation on this. Megan was not sure how much substance this proposal has but will check it out.

The only motion was the Greater London UNISON motion on “shared surfaces”. Which I kept referring to as “shared services” (which is another trade union issue). This motion had voiced opposition to the whole concept. This is (very basically) the Dutch idea that you improve road safety by merging roads and pavements. The Executive wanted the motion to be remitted. But an amendment was submitted which appeared to do away with their concerns. Many disabled groups are opposed. Nicholas Russell from London Voluntary Organisation branch moved the motion and argued “How can you feel safe if you can’t tell the difference between the road and the pavement”. There was however a good debate by speakers opposed to the motion who believed that Shared Services can actually improve road safety and that we need fresh thinking. Despite this the motion was passed with overwhelming support.

The only items of AOB – was a request for everyone to sign the petition to save Vauxhall and invite everyone to join the UNISON Beastly Boris “chicken feed” event on Tuesday.

There were 66 trade union reps present form 19 different affiliated trade unions and 20 reps from county Trade Union Councils.

(usual health warning on the accuracy of my “speed typing”)