From Barnet Unison:
“300 UNISON members will take a one-day strike action on Tuesday 18 October as part of a trades dispute.
Unlike other strike action there is a twist.
On the picket line outside the headquarters of Barnet council (north London business park) UNISON members will stage a short piece of street theatre to demonstrate the dangers of the One Barnet Programme to residents, services and staff.
There will be two performances at 9am and 9.30 am.
At 10.30am, a number of strikers will take a coach trip across the borough and give help and assistance to a local charity. The strikers will spend the rest of the day carrying out tasks for the charity.
UNISON members are calling on the leader of Barnet council not to pocket the money he saves from the strikers and instead donates that money to the mayor’s charity
Later on the same day, other UNISON members will support ‘Operation RESDIENTS MUST KNOW!’ by handing out newspapers and leaflets to Barnet residents outside tube stations across Barnet.
The day’s activity will end with a candlelight vigil outside Hendon Town Hall from 6.30 pm before the planning committee begins.
Barnet Easy Council is promoting the ‘One Barnet Programme’ (a mass privatisation project) which is being rolled out across all council services. The council previously identified £3m to implement what was called Future Shape policy. The latest brand One Barnet programme has a £9.2 million budget to pay for expensive consultants to carry out this mass outsourcing programme. 70% of the council workforce could be transferred to the private sector in little more than 15 months time.
John Burgess Barnet UNISON Branch Secretary said
“The council is gambling that the private sector can deliver £100m savings over the next 10 years. We have seen no evidence to substantiate these claims. In other parts of the country, we have seen the consequences of such blind allegiance to public sector bad private sector good. Our members can see that redundancy and cuts to jobs and services are behind the transfer from the council to a private sector contractor.
‘Strike action is always a last resort. For the last three years we have been asking for a genuine dialogue with the council to explore ways to save money, improve services.
‘Barnet UNISON is asking for the One Barnet Programme to be put on hold while meaningful talks with staff, trade unions and residents take place to look at alternatives to the One Barnet Programme.’