Barnet fighting privatisation

 

On Tuesday 22 January opponents of the “One Barnet” privatisation programme will hand in their petition, signed so far by more than 8,000 Barnet residents, to Barnet Council. The petition calls on the council to halt the One Barnet programme – the process of giving away 70-90% of our public services to big multinationals, including Capita - until they have held a REFERENDUM.

This is why they are calling for the referendum (hat tip Barnet UNISON)

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We were not consulted about handing over £1 billion of our money in contracts to companies like Capita;

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We will not be consulted when the services we use daily will be provided by big businesses, interested only in their profits;

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We were not asked whether we are willing to give up our local democracy and accountability to councillors, when services will be subject to 'commercial confidentiality';

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The ruling Conservative group did not listen when we pointed out the huge risks of letting such big contracts for so many years to a company with too many failures to its name;

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The ruling Conservative group don’t appear to care that our local economy will deteriorate further when Barnet residents lose their jobs with the council and local traders lose business as a consequence;

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We will have to pay through the nose if we want to get out of the 10-year One Barnet contracts and bring services back in-house

The Conservatives could pay a high political price for One Barnet, losing their majority in the 2014 council elections – but even if this happens, residents could still be landed with the One Barnet bill. Barnet UNISON have waged an exemplary campaign to resist this privatisation over many years and deserve the full support of all trade unionists.

If you can get to Hendon Town Hall on Tuesday evening you can support them in person. If you can’t then there’s an e-petition to sign on Barnet Council’s website.