- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
On Friday along with my colleagues Councillor Paul Godzik of Edinburgh City Council, Councillor Stephen Curran of Glasgow City Council and Sarah Boyack MSP Scottish Labour's Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Local Government I spoke at fringe meeting arranged by the Co-operative Party on Co-operative Councils. You can read the excellent Scottish Co-operative manifesto for local government here.
It was great to hear about the great ideas coming from Edinburgh and Glasgow and also Sarah Boyack's great ideas for local government.
My speech is below:
'Firstly, I would like to welcome you to Dundee and now that you’ve come this far along the road welcome the West End.
As a trustee of the DCA I would like to welcome you to the DCA. If you get the chance please have a look at the Jane & Louise Wilson exhibition down the stairs or visit the cinema. But I’d also like to point out that DCA is a symbol of what a Labour Council can do for this city.
This is the International Year of Co-operatives and the theme for the year is
‘Co-operative Enterprises Build a Better World’
Throughout this discussion on co-operatives I want us to focus on that theme.
Back in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall etc we were told that history had ended. The events over the past few years have proven that this was not the case. Shareholder capitalism is not the only show in town. This is the time for co-operatives.
The other thing that the events of the past few years have shown is that governance is important. When we promote co-operatives or employee ownership we are often told that so-called ‘ordinary’ people cannot possibly run businesses as well as for example Sir, sorry Mr Fred Goodwin.
Governance is important. Over the past ten years most councils have outsourced some facilities to arms-length companies and trusts. I am a member of a number of these including DCA. This outsourcing has made public accountability more difficult, more opaque. For many of these outsourcing trusts the change in governance is in essence a tax dodge. Put the organisation at arms-length, get charitable status and don’t pay business rates.
I think that in future where there are moves towards outsourcing Labour councils should always consider co-operative and mutual options.
Any Labour councillor or activist who doesn’t want to deliver co-operative solutions should look at co-operative values and principles and tell us why.
Co-op values self-help; self-responsibility; democracy, equality and solidarity.
Co-op principles voluntary and open membership; democratic member control; member economic participation; autonomy and independence; education; co-operation among co-operatives and concern for the community.
Why should we move toward co-operatives?
I think that there are a number of areas where co-operative solutions would be good in local government.
One area that we should look at is social care. Many local authorities are outsourcing in this area. We should look at encouraging social care workers to form workers co-operatives. What would be wrong about mostly low-paid, mostly female workers being in charge of their own destiny?
Within social care we should consider the personalisation agenda. For those who have long term care needs we should consider a consumer co-operative. This would take away the problems of having to do all the HR functions. This would empower people with long-term care needs; we need to move away for paternalism. What have we got to fear from allowing people to have an effective say over how they are cared for. One size does not fit all.
An example of social care co-operatives can be found in Highland Home Care.
There are many co-operative solutions which can make a difference in our communities. I am very impressed by what is going on in Glasgow with regard to Credit Unions. In this ward over the last year the state-owned RBS has closed two branches, taking services away from local people. We need to do more to promote credit unions. I’m delighted that Dundee City Council encourages children in our primary schools to save through Discovery Credit Union’s ‘Saved by the Bell’ programme aimed at pupils.
One of the main challenges facing local government in Scotland over the next few years is the ongoing pressure to share services. My view is that if we want to re-establish Tayside Regional Council or even Strathclyde Regional Council we should legislate for it not do it by stealth.
The Clyde Valley process has fallen apart due to problems over governance. Co-operatives could be used to create separate legal entities which would be responsible for linking up shared responsibilities and be democratically accountable to the communities they serve. The shared services agenda should not be about secret deals behind closed doors, which give the people who pay for and effectively own these services the chance to have some control over these.
Here in Dundee in our manifesto we aim to deal with fuel poverty by developing an energy purchasing co-operative. In my ward, less than a mile from here we have the first council housing built in Scotland in 1919. The Logie Estate had a communal heating system when it was built. The collective power model would allow baulk buying of energy from the wholesale markets to reduce energy prices and fuel poverty. We could also include greater environmental standards in any such purchasing.
Across the councils that you’ve heard from today co-operative solutions offer real solutions which would make a real change to people’s lives.
The International Year of co-operatives says ‘Co-operative Entreprises build a better world’ I would say that ‘Co-operative policies build better councils.’ '
It was great to hear about the great ideas coming from Edinburgh and Glasgow and also Sarah Boyack's great ideas for local government.
My speech is below:
'Firstly, I would like to welcome you to Dundee and now that you’ve come this far along the road welcome the West End.
As a trustee of the DCA I would like to welcome you to the DCA. If you get the chance please have a look at the Jane & Louise Wilson exhibition down the stairs or visit the cinema. But I’d also like to point out that DCA is a symbol of what a Labour Council can do for this city.
This is the International Year of Co-operatives and the theme for the year is
‘Co-operative Enterprises Build a Better World’
Throughout this discussion on co-operatives I want us to focus on that theme.
Back in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall etc we were told that history had ended. The events over the past few years have proven that this was not the case. Shareholder capitalism is not the only show in town. This is the time for co-operatives.
The other thing that the events of the past few years have shown is that governance is important. When we promote co-operatives or employee ownership we are often told that so-called ‘ordinary’ people cannot possibly run businesses as well as for example Sir, sorry Mr Fred Goodwin.
Governance is important. Over the past ten years most councils have outsourced some facilities to arms-length companies and trusts. I am a member of a number of these including DCA. This outsourcing has made public accountability more difficult, more opaque. For many of these outsourcing trusts the change in governance is in essence a tax dodge. Put the organisation at arms-length, get charitable status and don’t pay business rates.
I think that in future where there are moves towards outsourcing Labour councils should always consider co-operative and mutual options.
Any Labour councillor or activist who doesn’t want to deliver co-operative solutions should look at co-operative values and principles and tell us why.
Co-op values self-help; self-responsibility; democracy, equality and solidarity.
Co-op principles voluntary and open membership; democratic member control; member economic participation; autonomy and independence; education; co-operation among co-operatives and concern for the community.
Why should we move toward co-operatives?
I think that there are a number of areas where co-operative solutions would be good in local government.
One area that we should look at is social care. Many local authorities are outsourcing in this area. We should look at encouraging social care workers to form workers co-operatives. What would be wrong about mostly low-paid, mostly female workers being in charge of their own destiny?
Within social care we should consider the personalisation agenda. For those who have long term care needs we should consider a consumer co-operative. This would take away the problems of having to do all the HR functions. This would empower people with long-term care needs; we need to move away for paternalism. What have we got to fear from allowing people to have an effective say over how they are cared for. One size does not fit all.
An example of social care co-operatives can be found in Highland Home Care.
There are many co-operative solutions which can make a difference in our communities. I am very impressed by what is going on in Glasgow with regard to Credit Unions. In this ward over the last year the state-owned RBS has closed two branches, taking services away from local people. We need to do more to promote credit unions. I’m delighted that Dundee City Council encourages children in our primary schools to save through Discovery Credit Union’s ‘Saved by the Bell’ programme aimed at pupils.
One of the main challenges facing local government in Scotland over the next few years is the ongoing pressure to share services. My view is that if we want to re-establish Tayside Regional Council or even Strathclyde Regional Council we should legislate for it not do it by stealth.
The Clyde Valley process has fallen apart due to problems over governance. Co-operatives could be used to create separate legal entities which would be responsible for linking up shared responsibilities and be democratically accountable to the communities they serve. The shared services agenda should not be about secret deals behind closed doors, which give the people who pay for and effectively own these services the chance to have some control over these.
Here in Dundee in our manifesto we aim to deal with fuel poverty by developing an energy purchasing co-operative. In my ward, less than a mile from here we have the first council housing built in Scotland in 1919. The Logie Estate had a communal heating system when it was built. The collective power model would allow baulk buying of energy from the wholesale markets to reduce energy prices and fuel poverty. We could also include greater environmental standards in any such purchasing.
Across the councils that you’ve heard from today co-operative solutions offer real solutions which would make a real change to people’s lives.
The International Year of co-operatives says ‘Co-operative Entreprises build a better world’ I would say that ‘Co-operative policies build better councils.’ '