GMB Scotland Organiser Helen Meldrum has written to local MSPs and MPS with the following about DCC Leisure and Culture Dundee – Swimming lesson Cuts
“Dear
Leisure and Culture Dundee – Swimming Lesson Cuts
You will no doubt be aware of the cuts proposals by LACD to the provision of swimming lessons across the city. These proposals have real implications for both workers and communities and we are asking you to intervene in this matter.
In short, lessons have already been cancelled at Lochee, and will mean the reduction of services from seven days to four days a week at St Paul’s and Grove Academy. The impact on staff in terms of working time and pounds and pence are stark: It will mean cuts of up to thirteen hours a week and at a cost of £400 a month. This is rent.
This is a service already cut to the bone and against the backdrop of creeping casualisation of employment standards, staff have been working longer and harder for less in real terms in recent years with waiting lists for the service on the rise. It’s simply not sustainable in the long-term.
This proposal was not reached in consultation with staff or with their trade union. This is an imposition hatched by LACD management and a complete contravention of the Scottish Government’s Fair Work Convention – https://www.fairworkconvention.scot/the-fair-work-framework/
Leisure and culture have stated that the cuts are driven by a need to conform with Scottish Swimming’s ‘Learn to Swim National Framework’; an argument rejected by sources within Scottish Swimming itself. This leads us to the conclusion that pressure is being placed on the service by DCC and its meek acceptance of a second decade of cuts to local services.
You will agree with us that Dundee is a city that has endured enough pain when it comes to the loss of jobs and services, whether that’s in the public or private sector. We need to move away from the management of decline and towards a robust defence of our city’s interests. That means all our politicians must stand up unambiguously for Dundee.
Reducing access to a vital life skill like swimming for our local communities while attacking the terms and conditions of the staff who deliver this service does not suggest that our elected representatives in the council administration share this outlook. But even at this eleventh hour, it’s not too late for the leadership of DCC to think again.
That’s why we are asking you to support our members’ calls for a suspension of LACD’s proposals and for a full and transparent consultation process between LACD management, staff and the public over the long-term future of swimming lessons across Dundee.
I look forward to hearing from you and you can contact us at any time on 01382 225491
Helen Meldrum
GMB Scotland Organiser “
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Posted: 10th October 2019