Hampshire UNISON have slammed County Council proposals to make further cuts to Hampshire’s Libraries as a public consultation on reduced opening hours and possible closures begins this week. It is proposed that opening hours across the county are cut by a massive 7.5%. Around a third of Hampshire’s 53 libraries are likely to see a full morning or afternoon closure imposed if the cuts go ahead. Stanmore andNorth Baddesleylibraries have been slated for closure unless volunteers come forward to maintain services.

The £492,000 worth of cuts come on top of the £2.5 million that has already been slashed from the library service since 2009, which has seen massive job losses and pay cuts for staff. Hampshire UNISON branded the announcement of these latest cuts as ‘devastating’. UNISON convenor Steve Squibbs accused the Council of not valuing its public libraries and of making a politically motivated attack on the idea of a professional service run by paid staff.

He said, “Hampshire’s libraries provide fantastic value for money and are one of the best used services provided by the Council with nearly 7 million visits every year. Libraries are at the heart of local communities, playing a vital role in encouraging and promoting reading and literacy, particularly to children and young people. For job-seekers, the elderly and other sections of the community, the library service is a lifeline. And in these hard economic times public libraries are one of the few remaining community spaces that can be enjoyed by those who have little or no money. Cutting such a valuable service, which costs relatively little, is a savage indictment of this Council which has just banked a further £48 million to its already bulging reserves.”

Mr Squibbs went on to accuse the Council of “holding a gun to the heads” of communities in Stanmore and North Baddesley whose libraries are threatened with closure unless they volunteer to run the service. “It is an insult to those communities who have already paid for a service via their council tax to now be asked to offer their labour free of charge to run their libraries.
The money that the Council will be saving is negligible – this represents an ideological attack on the very idea of libraries as a public service. Clearly the intention is to use these libraries as a bridgehead and to extend the role of volunteers in the future. If the Council succeeds, the result will be a two-tier library service for Hampshire residents.”

UNISON are calling on local people and community groups to respond to the public consultation, but to also join the union in campaigning to defend the library service. “We need to demonstrate to the Council just how much local people value their libraries, that they should be fully-funded and professionally-staffed and that any moves to reduce access by cutting opening hours will be resisted.” Please email unison@hants.gov.uk if you would like to be part of the campaign.

This bright young boy’s fight to save a mobile library

http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/local/east-hampshire/this_bright_young_boy_s_fight_to_save_a_mobile_library_1_2373454

Residents fear mobile library will be axed

http://www.petersfieldpost.co.uk/news/bordon/residents_fear_mobile_library_will_be_axed_1_2373241

http://floor-to-ceiling-books.blogspot.com/2011/01/save-our-libraries.html

Fight is on to save mobile libraries

http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/newshome/Fight-is-on-to-save.6695900.jp

Campaign to save ‘Maisy Mouse’ mobile library

http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/newshome/Campaign-to-save-39Maisy-Mouse39.6695136.jp

Hampshire’s mobile libraries could be axed

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/8796858.Mobile_libraries_could_be_axed/

http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/newshome/Mobile-libraries-could-be-slashed.6691373.jp

Public service trade union UNISON warns that cuts to Hampshire’s Mobile Libraries will come as a devastating blow to the thousands who rely on this valued service to access library books. This is the next front-line service to face the axe under proposed Hampshire County Council spending cuts. Proposals unveiled last week would see a massive 60% cut to the Mobile Libraries budget, resulting in the loss of 13 vehicles, 18 jobs and leave just 344 stops out of an existing 1200 in communities across Hampshire.

Particularly hard hit will be women and the elderly who make up the overwhelming majority of regular mobile users. Similarly the proposals could leave care home residents, an estimated two thirds of whom have mobility problems, without any access to library services. Currently four mobile libraries visit care homes, providing room visits to residents who are unable to board the vehicle. This service would be scrapped under the proposals, which would also see annual charges introduced for deposit collections of books at care homes.

Schools and playgroups will also no longer receive dedicated stops and the successful Family Library Link service, specifically designed to serve areas of social deprivation around Leigh Park, is to be axed.

UNISON, the public service trade union, has vowed to fight the cuts. Library Shop Stewards Secretary, Steve Squibbs, called the cuts ‘unfair, disproportionate and mean’ and accused the council of, ‘targeting the most vulnerable and isolated of Hampshire’s residents’. He said: ‘Hampshire’s Mobile Libraries are widely recognised as a first-class service that we can all be proud of, but these proposals amount to its virtual destruction. In their rush to push through cuts, HCC will effectively be leaving many elderly and disabled people without any access to library services. The idea of charging care homes for deposit collections is a scandal – who else in Hampshire has to pay to access library services in this way?’

Mr Squibbs described the proposals to end dedicated stops to schools and playgroups as, ‘incredibly short-sighted’ and cited the scrapping of the Family Library Link in Leigh Park as further evidence that the poorest in society would suffer most from public spending cuts asking, ‘how can the council justify axing this valued service when it is sitting on reserves of £130 million?’

Mr Squibbs also accused the council of drip-feeding bad news over library cuts: ‘HCC has already said that it can’t rule out closing smaller libraries. The people of Hampshire need to be told the truth about the future of their library service – if there are plans to close library branches in the future then the last thing the council should be considering now is getting rid of its mobiles. Unless we are given the full picture now this consultation will just be a sham.’ Mr Squibbs also said the consultation period, ending 14 February, was ‘ridiculously short’.

UNISON is encouraging local communities, groups and individuals to come forward to help organise a campaign to defend the Mobile Library Service. Those interested in the campaign can contact Hampshire UNISON, St Thomas’ Centre, Southgate Street, Winchester, SO23 9EF on 01962 842094 or email unison@hants.gov.uk

So, HCC will be asking its employees to voluntarily agree to a pay cut in the near future. We should use the word ‘voluntarily’ advisedly, however – if staff won’t willingly wave goodbye to their enhancements for overtime and Saturday working, HCC are threatening to sack staff and offer new contracts with the revised entitlements. Such an approach is obviously bullying, with a disregard for individuals’ contracts of employment, but it is also a tactical move on HCC’s part, to attempt to bypass collective bargaining with the trade unions and divide and weaken staff opposition to their attack. HCC are hoping that they can scare a proportion of staff into ‘voluntarily’ agreeing to a pay cut, in order to isolate and eventually break those who do not agree.

We need to be clear about the consequences of refusing to voluntarily agree to a pay cut – if you do not agree this does not mean you will be immediately dismissed from your job. If all staff refuse to agree it will, however, send a clear message to HCC that we are united in our opposition to their proposals and that they should think long and hard before carrying out their threat to impose them by dismissing staff and offering them new contracts. In short, you have nothing to lose by refusing to agree to this pay cut – to do otherwise is a bit like turkeys voting for Christmas…