Unity call over privatisations

Trade union leaders have called for the same “unity of purpose” from members in an attempt to defeat more council privatisation plans.

Unison has been running a campaign under the banner of “Our City’s Not For Sale” to fight the council’s alternative business model (ABM) plans.

The campaign helped lead to councillors rejecting plans to outsource a series of “environmental services”, including street cleaning and bin collections, to private firm Enterprise. Two more contracts are due to be presented to councillors later this month.

In an update to members, John Stevenson, president of Unison’s Edinburgh branch, said: “We still have two huge privatisations to challenge in January. We must keep up the same unity of purpose in the branch that has brought us success so far.”