Empty Union Rhetoric
The unions are coming under pressure to say something meaningful - about the public spending cuts coming down the track.
So far, they resisted saying anything about the government's proposal to implement a public sector pay freeze - but only for workers earning above £21,000 a year.
The significance of £21,000 a year is that it would help to protect the lowest paid workers - two thirds of whom are women - in the council sector.
The government's announcement comes - of course - on the back of a complete pay freeze for all council employees - which has already been announced by the council employers - via COSLA.
So a relaxation of this policy - funded by the Scottish government - would be a big deal for the lower paid.
Yet the unions say nothing - other than to put forward ridiculous 'pie-in the sky' alternatives - that they know will never get off the ground - because they are not being made seriously.
The only proposal put forward by the unions - so far - is that the Scottish government should re-open all the PPP/PFI contracts signed in recent years - as a way of making potentially 'pain free' savings.
But this is exactly what the coalition government at Westminster did in relation to the out of control defence budget - only to find that the cost of ending or renegotiating contracts for two new aircraft carriers - was prohibitively expensive.
In fact it would have cost more to cancel the two new aircraft carriers - than the costs of finishing the building project (£5.2 billion and rising) - thanks to the way contracts were drawn up by the last Labour government.
And no doubt it would be the same in the case of PPP/PFI contracts - most of which were put in place by the last Labour-led administration in the Scottish Parliament.
In other words the unions bright idea for alternative 'pain free' savings - is a complete non-starter - and about as much help as saying Scotland should start exporting tea to China - as a way of solving the country's economic woes.
Time for the unions to wake up and show some leadership - on behalf of their members.
So far, they resisted saying anything about the government's proposal to implement a public sector pay freeze - but only for workers earning above £21,000 a year.
The significance of £21,000 a year is that it would help to protect the lowest paid workers - two thirds of whom are women - in the council sector.
The government's announcement comes - of course - on the back of a complete pay freeze for all council employees - which has already been announced by the council employers - via COSLA.
So a relaxation of this policy - funded by the Scottish government - would be a big deal for the lower paid.
Yet the unions say nothing - other than to put forward ridiculous 'pie-in the sky' alternatives - that they know will never get off the ground - because they are not being made seriously.
The only proposal put forward by the unions - so far - is that the Scottish government should re-open all the PPP/PFI contracts signed in recent years - as a way of making potentially 'pain free' savings.
But this is exactly what the coalition government at Westminster did in relation to the out of control defence budget - only to find that the cost of ending or renegotiating contracts for two new aircraft carriers - was prohibitively expensive.
In fact it would have cost more to cancel the two new aircraft carriers - than the costs of finishing the building project (£5.2 billion and rising) - thanks to the way contracts were drawn up by the last Labour government.
And no doubt it would be the same in the case of PPP/PFI contracts - most of which were put in place by the last Labour-led administration in the Scottish Parliament.
In other words the unions bright idea for alternative 'pain free' savings - is a complete non-starter - and about as much help as saying Scotland should start exporting tea to China - as a way of solving the country's economic woes.
Time for the unions to wake up and show some leadership - on behalf of their members.
