SCHOOLS, payrolls and social work operations are facing widespread disruption as hundreds of workers are balloted for strike action over plans to privatise IT at Scotland’s largest council.
Unions claim plans to hand over the running of all Glasgow City Council IT work to the Canadian multi-national implicated in the Obamacare crisis and the Scottish farmers’ subsidies fiasco would damage the service and lead to job losses.
The ballot will take place next week and would have major implications on everything from school lessons to monitor information on children in care and the sex offenders’ register.
Read more: Nicola Sturgeon raises prospect of second referendum to confirm Brexit
But the council’s Labour leadership has accused Unison of “misleading scaremongering”, adding the union’s case was “riddled with inaccuracies and mistakes”.
The move comes as the city council announces details of its proposed deal with Montreal-based CGI, claiming an external arrangement would be £100million cheaper than an in-house model, with the seven-year deal worth around £400m.
In a briefing to all staff, the authority’s chief executive Annmarie O’Donnell has claimed that as well as being cheaper, a deal such as that proposed with CGI would “improve the ability of our vulnerable citizens to live independently (and) provides greater support for raising (schools) attainment and achievement”.
Claiming a quarter of the contract’s value would be spent on local local businesses, Mrs O’Donnell added there would be no compulsory redundancies as part of the deal.
But following meetings with the council’s Labour leadership and senior officers on Wednesday, Unison has dismissed the pledges and claimed the authority’’s claims about the proposed contract lacked credibility.
Read more: Nicola Sturgeon raises prospect of second referendum to confirm Brexit
Glasgow branch secretary Brian Smith said: “The council appears to be moving down the road of privatisation. Unison will continue put the case for an in-house model which we believe is best for Glasgow’s citizens who rely on council services, council taxpayers and the workforce.
“Unison will also begin a ballot for strike action next week as we believe that this proposal represents a clear threat to jobs, employment conditions, pensions and services.”
The Herald revealed in August how, amid an unprecedented squeeze on council finances, Glasgow planned to join Edinburgh and Scottish Borders in handing over all its IT services to the GI Group, with other councils and public sector bodies expected to follow suit.
It also emerged how Labour councillors in the city were deeply apprehensive about the move, its capacity for industrial disputes and ideological ramifications, with concerns also raised over CGI’s role in the EU subsidies issue and Obamacare, which saw the outgoing President’s pioneering health insurance policy plagued by an embarrassing series of delays and errors.
Read more: Nicola Sturgeon raises prospect of second referendum to confirm Brexit
Council leader Frank McAveety said: “We have made it clear to staff that there is no threat to them.
“Officers know that I am not prepared to consider any option for an external contract which does not have protection of jobs, terms and conditions, and pensions, at its very core.
“The union leaders are scaremongering and misleading their members. They have produced their own version of a business case which is riddled with inaccuracies and mistakes.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel