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Campaigns

Positively Public Briefings
Monthly briefings providing the latest campaigning, privatisation and good practice news. Link to another page on this siteAvailable here
National news

Private markets expose public services

(09/07/08) Union calls for independent review of influence of marketisation on services

Look at PFI's impact on pay, says UNISON

(08/07/08) Union welcomes response to call to examine PFI pay impact

'We'll fight tooth and nail for services'

(15/06/08) Local government: Union will 'keep campaigning against privatisation'

Minding the health gap

(12/06/08) Cutting poverty is key to tackling health inequalities, says UNISON
News list >

Social housing


The social housing sector is under-funded. Currently, there are very limited investment options to improve housing stock. These involve privatisation or part privatisation of stock or the service through stock transfers, arms length management organisations or PFI. There is no 'fourth option' to directly invest in housing.

The lack of funding to invest in existing housing or to increase the supply of affordable housing has led to an acute shortage of housing in many parts of the country, with growing social and economic problems, such as increased homelessness and increasing numbers of people unable to afford to buy or rent a home.

UNISON is campaigning for a level playing field for local authorities to invest in existing housing as well as to be involved in government plans to increase the supply of affordable housing.

For more information:
Link to a web page on this site Hands off our housing - UNISON's campaign against large scale voluntary transfers of council housing stock.
CONTACT DETAILS
• The UNISON contact for the Positively Public campaign is Margie Jaffe.
Positively Public
1 Mabledon Place
London WC1H 9AJ
Email: positivelypublic@unison.co.uk
Recent documents
Co-production: the modernisation of public services by staff and users
This report defines co-production, demonstrates the benefits of co-production to users, staff, management and policy makers, and examines how co-production can be put into practice.
Link to a PDF document on this siteAcrobat PDF (2017048 bytes)
PFI: Against the Public Interest
The report analyses the failings of the government's private finance initiative and public private partnerships, highlighting high profile contracts which have failed and PFI companies, such as Ballast which went into receivership.
Link to a PDF document on this siteAcrobat PDF version
Fair Wages: How to end the two tier workforce in public services and achieve fair wages
UNISON's fair wages campaign calls for a fair wages regulation in public contracting to safeguard the employment conditions and pensions of staff, regardless of who employs them. This briefing explains the campaign, why we need it, what successes have been achieved and what remains to be done.
Link to a PDF document on this siteAcrobat PDF version
Public risk for private gain?
The public audit implications of risk transfer and private finance

A new UNISON report shows that the government has failed to evaluate its own claim that extra costs of PFI are justified, because risks are transferred to the private sector. There are now more than 500 PFI deals worth £36bn, but the the true cost of these deals to the taxpayer is still unknown and private companies are reaping the benefits of this oversight, at the expense of the public purse. (NB: This is a 1.2MB download)
Link to a PDF document on this siteAcrobat PDF version
Our values, our NHS
Results of UNISON's NHS survey, which we will use as evidence to show the government what members value most in the NHS, and argue for a constitution that ensures these principles are protected and built on in future
Link to a PDF document on this siteAcrobat PDF version