Privatisation of council services: the true costs

We have to get together and organise against the assault on society based on the privatisation of everything.

Labour, Tory and Lib Dem accept the steamroller of the 'market', all on the left need to resist, I am particularly pleased to be speaking with John McDonnell, I have been on platforms with him at Hands Off Venezuela and the Trade Union Campaign conference on climate change. He is great, his support for non violent direct action against the expansion of Heathrow, is an example to all of us

Politics has to be about well politics, not my party right or wrong to the exclusion of the politics!

I guess they wont let him stand against Brown! Shame....you don't even get to choose the Party leader if you are in the Labour Party....pinky blue Stalinism if you ask me.

Who would have thought these people to the right of the Fabians don't even trust their cowed members to choose a figurehead....any way rant over, see you tomorrow.

· Lambeth UNISON public meeting

· Thursday 8th May

· 6.30 to 8.30pm

· Lambeth Town Hall, Brixton



Lambeth Council is proposing to give massive private companies ten-year
contracts to run housing services. This meeting for all staff, tenants and
leaseholders will provide more information and discuss the way forward.



Speakers include:

John McDonnell MP – Chair of the Socialist Campaign Group
Ted Knight – ex-Leader of Lambeth Council
Derek Wall – Male Principal Speaker of the Green Party
Sarah Tomlinson – Branch Secretary of Lambeth NUT
Jean Kerrigan – ex-Chair of Tenants’ Council


Come to this meeting to hear the truth about privatisation.
Help organise the action that is necessary if we are to prevent the end of council housing.

Supported by:

Lambeth and Southwark Labour Representation Committee
Lambeth Trades Union Council
Lambeth Defend Council Housing

For more information please email stopprivatisation@yahoo.com

Privatisation of Council Services: The True Costs – Meeting in Brixton, 8th May

Not content with going ahead with an ALMO despite massive opposition from tenants, (1) Lambeth Council is pushing through plans to privatise the services provided to tenants dressed up in the harmless sounding name “Partnering”. (2) It is a licence for contractors to line their pockets and decimate the services tenants and leaseholders receive. Lambeth UNISON are organising a public meeting to expose the truth about privatisation. The meeting will take place from 6.30pm to 8.30pm on Thursday 8th May in Lambeth Town Hall, Brixton. (3)

Tenants' representatives are being consulted on the content of the specifications but, despite demands for a ballot, there is no suggestion that residents will have a say on whether the council goes ahead with this privatisation.

“We demand that the residents have the final say – a ballot of all tenants and leaseholders would be the only fair way to decide whether to privatise services or not.”- Stephen Hack, Secretary of Lambeth Defend Council

Among the most worrying proposals is that the council will get rid of technical officers who visit tenants’ homes to specify what repairs need to be done. In this way the contractor could be responsible for specifying, carrying out and monitoring all repairs – a sure recipe for disaster. The council are also considering moving the call centre to a private company out of the borough – or even out of the country. When Westminster council went through a similar wave of privatisation, for example, their call centre was transferred to Dingwall in the north of Scotland.

“The extensive experience we have in Lambeth of contractors carrying out sub-standard work and charging for work they haven't carried out suggests that we should be moving away from working with private contractors, rather than handing them the entire budget for service provision. “ – Heenal Rajani, Lambeth UNISON Convenor for Regeneration and Housing

By directly providing services through a Direct Labour Organisation profits could be prevented from being taken out of the borough to line the pockets of private contractors. A DLO would also provide jobs and training for local youth. Lambeth officers refuse to even come up with costs and plans for this option, despite other Local Authorities and even Tenant Management Organisations within Lambeth successfully employing DLOs.Lambeth staff, tenants and leaseholders are calling upon all Lambeth Councillors to reject officers’ plans for “Partnering” and to choose instead to keep the delivery of services within the borough under direct local control.


In the ballot to transfer management of Lambeth’s council housing stock to an Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO) in July 2007, only 42% of the votes cast on a turn-out of 29% (equal to 12% of those eligible to vote) were in favour of the ALMO. By discounting those residents who voted “don’t know”, the council claimed that a majority of tenants were in favour of ALMO. There was a one-sided debate, with the council ripping down opposition posters and paying staff overtime to mislead tenants. Only one day’s notice was given of the ballot, which consisted of leading questions designed to give a particular answer. The back of the ballot paper even contained an advertisement for the ALMO.

Under Lambeth Council’s “Partnering” proposals, private companies will bid for ten-year contracts to carry out all manner of services, some which are already privatised under smaller contracts (such as repairs and maintenance, graffiti removal and garbage collection), and others which are currently carried out in-house (such as grounds maintenance, out-of-hours repairs and the council’s call centre).

Confirmed speakers for the meeting include:
John McDonnell MP – Chair of the Socialist Campaign Group
Ted Knight – ex-Leader of Lambeth Council Derek Wall – Male Principal Speaker, Green Party
Rahul Patel – ex-Branch Secretary of Westminster UNISON
Jean Kerrigan – ex-Chair of Lambeth Tenants’ Council

This event is supported by: Lambeth and Southwark Labour Representation Committee
Lambeth Trades Union Council
Lambeth Defend Council Housing

For further information please call Heenal Rajani on 07792 231761 or email hrajani@lambeth.gov.uk
Visit http://lambethunison.blogspot.com or http://www.defendcouncilhousing.org.uk for background information