Suffolk's council plans
From N Yorke
Thursday, 23 September 2010
"The Tory-controlled county's 'new strategic direction', set for approval tomorrow, could see virtually every service outsourced to social enterprises or companies. ......The council says it wants to withdraw from directly providing public services...." (See Guardian article)
Bloody stupid idea if you ask me. Sure, local Councils are not always great but lets fix them and not have more SITAs providing every service we need.
Let discuss.....
From Michael Piggott
Wednesday, 6 October 2010
Yes, it is a stupid idea.
The trouble with outsourcing is
a) Private companies exist to make a profit. This tends to force costs up;
b) To keep costs down, services worsen; and/or
c) In attempting to to maintain the level of services, wages are driven down.
So we all lose out except for the shareholders of the companies providing the services.
This is Tory ideology: no mixed economy, but an all-capitalist one. In the long run, it can only work to the detriment of the rest of us.
Calderdale, take note!
From Maureen Brian
Thursday, 7 October 2010
Michael Piggott is right. I worked for one of these so-called social enterprises the last time around. They are not social enterprises at all but profit-making companies.
What's the difference? Well, when the Major government decided to pay less for my executive job club - probably another imaginary cost-saving exercise - posh management offices were protected, top salaries were protected and eventually we ran out of money for paper, envelopes and stamps, although I was still expected to ensure that each one of those clients applied for 20 jobs a week.
For a time I was paying for basic supplies out of my own salary, already and illegally almost £5,000 less than the person before me was paid.
Dream on, Suffolk!