Strike threat over private sector plan

GMB leader John Edmonds opposes government plans

Union leaders are threatening strike action if the government's plans for public-private partnerships lead to worse conditions for workers.

Speaking on the eve of the TUC conference in Brighton, Unison leader Dave Prentis said any "erosion" of terms could result in some form of industrial action.

The public sector union leader dismissed the government's approach to bring in private contractors to run schools and new surgical units in hospitals as a "cul-de-sac".

We already know millions are being milked out of the system

Dave Prentis
Unison

Trade unions were warned during the general election they would have to accept private contractors moving into public service work.

Mr Prentis said: "It will lead to conflict, and you will not get the better service which the government and ourselves want to provide to the citizens of this country."

Trade unions will debate the question of funding for the Labour Party during a conference likely to provide some uncomfortable moments for Tony Blair.

The TUC was told it would not be allowed to stand in the way of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI).

Lost investment

This has provoked the biggest political row between Mr Blair and the unions since Labour was first elected.

The leader of the GMB, John Edmonds, said union members, like the public, were not prepared to see clinical and medical services in the NHS being run for profit.

The GMB released figures suggesting 24,000 hospital construction jobs could go as a result of lost investment due to PFI.

We don't say private good public bad

Charles Clarke
Labour Party Chairman

The union worked out that the £3bn it believes private companies will make out of PFI could have paid for 30 new hospitals, creating 75,000 posts for hospital staff besides the 24,000 jobs for construction workers.

It has emerged that three private finance hospital pilot schemes agreed in June have been put on hold.

The projects - at Roehampton in south-west London, Havering in Essex and Stoke Mandeville in Buckinghamshire - would have kept workers such as cleaners and porters on NHS contracts if private firms took over hospital services.

Firms bidding for the work are said to be unhappy with the agreement details. Unions say the firms realise their profits will be hit if they have to pay NHS rates.

Mr Prentis said the union's experience of 20 years of private sector involvement in public services was a tale of failure.

'Enormous profits'

Speaking on BBC One's Breakfast with Frost programme, he said: "Our experience is they lead to less responsive services, less accountable services, lead to fragmentation and you do not get value for money."

He also condemned the "enormous profits" already being extracted by private sector companies with highly-paid executives.

"We already know millions are being milked out of the system."

When Mr Blair addresses the conference on Tuesday he is likely to come face-to-face with union hostility.

Joint agenda

But Mr Prentis offered some scraps of comfort for the Prime Minister, indicating that whatever the disagreements the union and the party shared a "joint agenda".

"We don't feel out of step with the Labour government.

"We have a great deal in common with the Labour government. We have a joint agenda to improve public services."

Labour's unelected chairman Charles Clarke defended private sector involvement, pointing to PFI hospitals finished ahead of schedule.

Key services

He denied that parts of the UK's infrastructure had declined to third world standards.

Mr Clarke said: "We had decades of underinvestment in key public services which we have to put right.

"We don't say private good public bad anymore than it is sensible to say private bad public good.

"What we say is, pragmatically, what is the best way private or public of delivering a higher quality of public service."