Ealing Gazette readers say no to Library Privatisation

 

According to a quick poll (see below) in the Ealing Gazette the overwhelming majority of people who read the paper have said no to Library Privatisation, so why are the Council pushing ahead with it? A Council that has come out openly against the privatisation of the NHS!

 

Quick Vote

Is Ealing Council right to involve a private company in running the borough's libraries if it will save money?

Yes
24.8%
No
75.2%


see http://www.ealinggazette.co.uk/ealing-news/local-ealing-news/2013/05/22/private-company-set-to-run-ealing-libraries-64767-33369205/

Library of Birmingham – round one to us - CATC - 28/05/13

http://communitiesagainstthecuts.com/2013/05/28/library-of-birmingham-round-one-to-us/

"http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/council-shelves-plan-find-firm-4020338

For everyone who missed the article in the Birmingham Mail yesterday, Birmingham City Council has been put the defensive in a big way with its plans to privatise Birmingham’s new central Library. Our campaigning is paying off."

Cllr Pollard doubts his own decision on #Croydon libraries - Save Croydon Libraries - 28/05/13

http://soslibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/cllr-pollard-doubts-his-own-decision-on.html

"According to a press release that was only uploaded over the bank holiday weekend, Cllr Tim Pollard is calling his own decision in for scrutiny."


"Having raised questions as to why Cllr Pollard was so shy to announce his decision, taken late before a bank holiday weekend at the start of Croydon school's half-term break, with local residents also raising questions and Croydon Labour threatening to cancel the contract should they gain power in 2014, it seems even Cllr Pollard has lost his nerve and called his own decision in for scrutiny.

You really could not make it up!"

The Privatisation of Ealing Libraries (with an update)

Last night i attended a lobby against the privatisation of Ealing Libraries. The lobby, organised by Ealing Unison, took place outside the Town Hall and was well attended with a healthy mixture of Trade Unionists, staff and community activists turning up.

Statement from Ealing Unison on proposals to privatise the Borough's Libraries

KEEP LIBRARIES PUBLIC

On 21st May 2013 Ealing Council will be voting to privatise the Library Service. John Laing Integrated Services have been recommended as the preferred bidder. Ealing Unison and its members in the Library Service are urging the Council not to support this recommendation.
We are concerned that there has been no public consultation with Library users about how their service should be run. We fail to understand the indecent haste with which Ealing Council is happy to off-load a much loved service to the private sector. We fear that the public service ethos that has served the people of Ealing and their Library Service over many years will be replaced by the rapacious demands of the market place and the balance sheet. This, we feel, will inevitably lead to future job losses and a further dumbing down and hollowing out of the service, as old library buildings bequeathed to the people of Ealing by philanthropists such as John Passmore Edwards and Andrew Carnegie, are sold off to property speculators and replaced and relocated in the reception rooms of leisure centres and swimming pools.
We appreciate that Ealing along with many other councils has been placed in a difficult financial position by the coalition government, who are happy to make the public sector and the people who rely on these services, pay for the crimes of the banksters and tax avoiding spivs who created the current crisis. however, not many councils, even those under Conservative administration, have taken the decision to privatise their Library Services.
Why is the Labour council in Ealing in such a hurry? Ealing Council has been vocal in it's support of the campaign against privatisation in the NHS. It would therefore be a contradiction for them to support the privatisation of its Library Service. the record also shows that all the services that have been privatised in Ealing in the last fifteen years have failed in private hands and have been brought back "in-house".
the 250k savings that the council is seeking to make from the Library Service constitutes a tiny percentage of the overall council budget and will make little impression on the amount Ealing will have to find over the next few years. Ealing Council does however spend around £18m per annum on consultants fees and employing agency staff. Ealing Council is also in the fortunate position of sitting on a large reserve, of around £65m, which could be used to mitigate any cuts to services, all of which calls in to question the necessity of privatising the Library Service!

for an update on this story see;
http://www.ealingtoday.co.uk/shared/eacounclib173.htm

Sumter may privatize library operations - Daily Commercial - 18/5/13

http://m.dailycommercial.com/news/article_3d3a0a8c-693f-5fe6-a0cb-153a15eb8f54.html

"Sumter County wants to close the books on municipal library operations, opting instead for a private company to provide these services.

County officials are thinking about contracting the job to Library Systems and Services of Germantown, Md., saying it would improve the seven-library system by adding services such as eBooks and downloadable music."

"Friends of the Panasoffkee Community Library and a number of Sumter residents don’t see it that way. They fear services will go down and fees will go up."

"The Osceola County Commission recently privatized its library services and Lake County commissioners will discuss doing so, too, during a workshop next month, possibly on June 4 or June 18. In an earlier interview, Lake County Manager David Heath said Osceola officials have seen some savings, but not as much as they thought they were going to get."

A Public Appeal to stop the privatisation of the Library of Birmingham - CATC - 15/5/13

http://communitiesagainstthecuts.com/2013/05/15/a-public-appeal-to-stop-the-privatisation-of-the-library-of-birmingham/

"This appeal was issued alongside the press release we made on Sunday, the 28th April. However, the day after we issued the press release, the Council Press Office issued its own press release stating that the tendering had been cancelled. On the Tuesday, the Council refused to debate with us on the Adrian Goldberg show (Radio WM), but Adrian also confirmed that the process had been halted, at least for the time being. We see this as a temporary action only (see the article “Rebutting the Rebuttal” below), so the campaign to keep this public investment public must continue. We would be very pleased to receive a comment to this article from the Council saying that this whole rotten process was being abandoned. If not, then silence will speak volumes."

The article referred to above:
http://communitiesagainstthecuts.com/2013/05/08/rebutting-the-rebuttal-update-on-the-library-of-birmingham-privatisation/

Library and Leisure Services to be Contracted Out - Ealing Today - 16/5/13

http://www.ealingtoday.co.uk/shared/eacouncil172.htm

"A meeting of Ealing Council on 21st May is to be asked to rubber stamp a proposal to contract out library and leisure services in the borough.

If the plan is approved, John Laing Ltd. will take over the running of the library service. They already run the libraries in Hounslow and Harrow and the latter borough would act as the client on behalf of London Borough of Ealing in what would be a shared contract."

Just to remind everyone that there is a lobby against the privatisation proposals outside Ealing Town Hall on 21/5/13 at 6.30pm.