Conference believes that promoting and defending the role and values of local democracy is intrinsic to promoting and defending public services. Local government itself needs to do more to highlight the damage that is being made to local services and local democracy. To do this we need to work with councillors to ensure that motions are debated and passed at full council, that protect our members’ jobs and terms and conditions, as well as delivering vital public services. Campaigns led by UNISON to oppose the austerity policies and proposals on how councils can mitigate cuts by in-house income generation, use of reserves and management of borrowing, should be promoted more to get local councils to adopt them. Therefore conference calls on the service group executive to develop a campaign which: Develops ideas for policies that councils can implement to mitigate against the immediate impact of austerity; Creates an understanding of alternatives to austerity policies which would invest in local government and sustain services to communities and generate benefits for local economies; Continues to expose the long term harm that austerity policies are doing to council services; Supports branches and regions in working with councils to increase income generation from in house services; Supports regions and branches to extend and develop their political campaigning work; Provides training for councillors that deliver increase income generation from in house services to protect our members' jobs and terms and conditions; Provides support and resources to assist branches and regions in lobbying the LGA to campaign fairer and better funding for local councils. Northern Region 32. Support Library and Cultural services Conference recognises libraries and cultural services, such as museums and public have been suffering financial cuts over many years as councils struggle under the government’s austerity policies. There has been a systematic attack on the term and conditions of and undermining of the professionalism of people still employed in these services. Conference recognises the importance of these services to local communities as they contribute to the education and social cohesion of communities and give access to learning, art and leisure to people of all ages and backgrounds. Conference applauds those branches that have resisted the closure of these services alongside their local communities and pledges to continue supporting these campaigns. Conference condemns those councils that promote the use of volunteers to run local libraries, community halls and museums, replacing trained and professional staff. Conference calls on the SGE to: Lobby national politicians on the importance of these services; Produce materials highlighting the threat to services that branches can use in their local campaigns; Produce a cultural charter that councils should adopt to commit to protecting these services for their communities;
Conference believes that promoting and defending the role and values of local democracy is intrinsic to promoting and defending public services. Local government itself needs to do more to highlight the damage that is being made to local services and local democracy. To do this we need to work with councillors to ensure that motions are debated and passed at full council, that protect our members’ jobs and terms and conditions, as well as delivering vital public services. Campaigns led by UNISON to oppose the austerity policies and proposals on how councils can mitigate cuts by in-house income generation, use of reserves and management of borrowing, should be promoted more to get local councils to adopt them. Therefore conference calls on the service group executive to develop a campaign which: Develops ideas for policies that councils can implement to mitigate against the immediate impact of austerity; Creates an understanding of alternatives to austerity policies which would invest in local government and sustain services to communities and generate benefits for local economies; Continues to expose the long term harm that austerity policies are doing to council services; Supports branches and regions in working with councils to increase income generation from in house services; Supports regions and branches to extend and develop their political campaigning work; Provides training for councillors that deliver increase income generation from in house services to protect our members' jobs and terms and conditions; Provides support and resources to assist branches and regions in lobbying the LGA to campaign fairer and better funding for local councils. Northern Region 32. Support Library and Cultural services Conference recognises libraries and cultural services, such as museums and public have been suffering financial cuts over many years as councils struggle under the government’s austerity policies. There has been a systematic attack on the term and conditions of and undermining of the professionalism of people still employed in these services. Conference recognises the importance of these services to local communities as they contribute to the education and social cohesion of communities and give access to learning, art and leisure to people of all ages and backgrounds. Conference applauds those branches that have resisted the closure of these services alongside their local communities and pledges to continue supporting these campaigns. Conference condemns those councils that promote the use of volunteers to run local libraries, community halls and museums, replacing trained and professional staff. Conference calls on the SGE to: Lobby national politicians on the importance of these services; Produce materials highlighting the threat to services that branches can use in their local campaigns; Produce a cultural charter that councils should adopt to commit to protecting these services for their communities;
2018-LG-Conference-Preliminary-Agenda.docx