Privatisation

New sell-off threat for Royal Mail

Royal Mail could be sold off (entirely or in part) by 2013 if the government’s latest scheme goes ahead. In what the Financial Times calls the “most ambitious privatisation scheme since rail”, the coalition plans either to float Royal Mail on the stock market or seek an industry or private equity buyer. In a move that could be seen as an early warning of privatisation, communications regulator Ofcom is expected to ease regulations on Royal Mail pricing, and potentially introduce increases of 50% on second-class stamps and limitless increases on first-class. A more expensive service will be...

Educating for capitalism's needs

In School Wars Melissa Benn lays out in details the increasing privatisation of Britain’s schools, the scale of an impending disaster. Benn begins by highlighting a 2011 Guardian article which revealed that “civil servants privately advised ministers that schools should be allowed to fail, if government was serious about reform”. The Tories’ vision rests on an ideological belief in a market system which will allow thousands of students in unfashionable schools, the ones with difficult pupil intakes, bolshie staff not keen on pay-and–conditions-smashing privatisation, or parents not willing to...

G4S to run police station

Security firm G4S has been given a contract to design, build and run a police station. Lincolnshire Police agreed the deal in a bid to save £20 million in what is thought to be the largest move of its kind in Britain. The 540 civilian workers at the force — two-thirds — will be transferred to the private company in April. The £200 million deal over ten years will see G4S run IT, human resources and finance. G4S is the biggest global security company in the world with a £1 billion turnover in the UK, showing its interests clearly lie in big business and profit, not acting to protect the...

Barnet Unison strike over privatisation

Around 400 Barnet Unison members will take their fourth day of strike action on Thursday 9 February. They are striking about the terms on which they might transfer to private sector employment if Barnet council's "One Barnet" mass outsourcing plan goes ahead. The strikers work in the services first up for privatisation, including parking, revenues and benefits, and development and regulatory services (things such as town planning, environmental health). In fact, the parking service contract worth £25 million has now been awarded - to NSL. This company lost a recent employment tribunal. They...

Private firm takes over NHS hospital

This week Circle Healthcare group became the first private company to take over the running of an NHS hospital — Hinchingbrooke hospital in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire. Hinchingbrooke is one of the so-called “failed hospitals”. Under the internal market, it has run up a debt of £40 million. The for-profit, offshore, hedge-fund backed, Tory-donor organisation Circle Healthcare have taken over the hospital buildings and the hiring and firing of staff under a £1 billion deal. In a recent company report they explained that they expect their need to maximise profit will have a negative impact on...

Blood Service win

Health workers have won a small victory against privatisation of the NHS after it was announced the Blood and Transplant Service will not be privatised. The Industrial Workers of the World and Unison unions had led the campaign to stop the service being put into the hands of companies such as DHL and Capita, who had shown an interest in running the service. A commercial review of the service reported on 18 October that it should remain nationalised. Activists must now build momentum from this to stop the wholesale selling-off of the rest of the NHS to companies interested not in saving lives...

Tower Hamlets cuts speed up

Tower Hamlets council in east London is planning on privatising its resources department, meaning that 800 workers will be transferred out of council employment and become employees of a private company. The attack comes in the context of a rapidly accelerating pace of cuts across the borough; the council is also planning to devolve the payment of severance packages down to individual schools, meaning that if a given school feels itself unable to pay out then it will have the power not to do so. Some schools have also started transferring out the employment of their cleaning staff to tin-pot...

Army to break prison officers' strikes?

The British state is preparing to mobilise the army to break a prison officers’ strike if they take action against the privatisation of Birmingham Prison. Commenting on the proposed privatisation, Prison Officers” Association (POA) leader Steve Gillan said: “This is a disgraceful decision. Prisons should not be run for the benefit of shareholders nor for profit. The state has a duty to those imprisoned by the criminal justice system and this coalition government have betrayed loyal public sector workers for their friends in the private sector.” The government has awarded the contract to run...

This is what the Big Society looks like

David Cameron’s “Big Society” big idea is in trouble. Its critics say it is too vague, little more than a cover for cuts. And there is too little money in the pot to finance the “voluntary sector” and “community involvement” projects the government want. Cameron was moved to answer his critics in a “big speech” on Monday 14 February. “Big Society” is not cover for cuts, insisted Cameron, because I’ve been “passionate” about this idea for years. But it seemed like little more than repackaged conservative politics. Conservatives (and Thatcherite Blairites) have long said they want to break up...

Government says it will privatise post

The coalition government has flagged up plans to privatise Royal Mail - totally. The Guardian reported (10 September): "The government is to begin the process of privatising Royal Mail, raising the prospect that the 'one price goes anywhere' universal postal service could be scaled back. "The business secretary, Vince Cable, has revealed plans for a bill to enable the sell-off of Royal Mail, which will include offering shares to employees. He appeared to confirm that there could be a total privatisation – going further than Labour's ill-fated attempts at a partial privatisation and previous...

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