Public Service Action: An Anti-Privatisation Newsletter for the Labour Movement 1983-1997 Digital Access

Fifty-six issues were produced between 1983-1997 that contained news, analysis and information focusing on key issues and developments in the public and recently privatised sectors. Each 12, 16 or 24 page issue reported on contract failures, campaigns and industrial action, company information, research, policy and legislative changes with a print run of 10,000 copies. Download selected copies of from the boxes that follow the list of contents of each issue.

Public Service Action No. 55 and 56: Rebuilding the welfare state – Equal Pay Wins – MoD head for privatisation binge – New deals, profits and taxpayer losses – Heavy toll on jobs – PFI Consortia: who’s who – PFI the big lie – Who benefits from CCT – Critical eye on agency model – Rail carve-up for private firms.

Public Service Action No. 54 1996: Royal Mail Sale?- Benefit contracts – MoD Homes sell-off – Women secure big discrimination pay-outs – Fall-out spreads over nuclear sale – Labour takes the consensus route – PFI: USA style – PFI: showpiece or shambles – Poverty on the increase – CCT Pressure increases – Contractor update.

Public Service Action No. 53 1996; Health Tendering Costs Jobs – Safety Fears Grow as Privatisation Gathers Speed – Private sector to benefit from DSS cuts – Pension blow for School Meals Staff – Wandsworth benefits from massive subsidy – PFI: high speed privatisation – Uncertainty continues to surround nuclear sell-off – Gender impact of DSO surpluses – After CCT? – Contractor update

Public Service Action No. 52 1995: PFI boost for private services – Demands to curb bus wars – Too little too late from the budget – Tenants lobby MPs – Union campaign against Pall Mall – Externalisation stopped – DSO sell-offs – Catering contractors – Private contractors who’s who – EOC calls for suspension of CCT in Northern Ireland – New CCT rules.

Public Service Action No. 51, 1995: Environment Minister challenges EOC Report – Nuclear sell-off safety fears – Rail sell off approaching the buffers? – Electricity takeovers – TUPE new legal ruling – Equal Pay victory for school meals staff – Court rules against Contractors’ cartel – Global ‘Corrections’ Market Developing – East Midlands Counts the cost – Privatisation of Council Housing What are local Housing Companies – Personnel sector analysis – Externalisation under scrutiny-

Public Service Action No. 49/50 Spring 1995: Tendering Increases Inequality and poverty – Women hit hardest by CCT – Government subsidy for CCT – TUC calls for better deal for part-timers – TUPE: A new threat- The growth of quangos – Union concerns over contract award in Employment Service – Mergers and budget cuts cast shadow over RECs – Ealing’s Externalisation fails to meet targets – Is this the end of the NHS? – Home truths: housing management contracts – Transnational Monopoly – Consultants wait to cherry pick – Government fails to stop share ownership decline – Legal firms gear up for competition – Bus merger brings pressure to end dispute – Corruption increases with spread of CCT.

Public Service Action No. 48 (not available)

Public Service Action No. 47 (not available)

Public Service Action No. 46 February 1992: Urban Management plc -What future for the Civil
Services? Private prisons – Local Government Bill widely criticised – Contractors Fines and Failures – Privatisation of the Royal Parks – a cut above – School Meals campaign.

Public Service Action No. 45 November 1991: Contractors’ Charter – Esop fails in Newcastle – Privatising the Pits – Companies and consultants – Waste industry takeovers -Sports and Leisure contract awards – Wandsworth retenders cleaning contracts – Contractor Fines and failures – Flagship Management buyout goes bust –

Public Service Action No. 44 February 1991: Waste deal – Alternative Care Plan – Business as usual – Power sell-off – A revitalised British Rail – NHS: Opting and contracting out – Transfer market – Contract analysis.

Public Service Action No. 43 August 1990: 70,000 jobs lost, 3 buy-outs collapse – Consultants profit from Housing Action Trust failureBFI: Politics and Garbage -Calls for more scrutiny – Contractor fines and failures – Cashing in on care – Skills scandal – Guarded failure private security firm exposed – Regalian sell-off – Housing choice: evil, and brutalises people.

Public Service Action No. 42, April 1990 April 1990: – DOE acts for contractors – ‘Anti-Competition’ complaints – A Clean Sweep trade unions and tenants united in Newcastle – The Bradford experiment – The price of winning: Contractors Audit Vol 3 – Housing action trusts resuscitated – cashing in on care contractor fines and failures – companies and consultants – health privatisation in Scotland – Private landlord company rejected.

Public Service Action No. 41 November 1989: Health action raises standards – Wirral women triumph – Catering contractors scared off – contractor fines and failures – Private security booms – education opting out – the cost of caring – transfer of four estates to tenants rejected – House sales top privatisation income – Buy as you rent homes.

Public Service Action No. 40 July 1989: Water drains Tory support – Cleaners: women lose out -Management Buy Outs special report – Food poisoning and contract caterers – Education reform and local management of schools – Equal opportunities and CCT – Monitoring the council housing privatisers.

Public Services Action No. 39 April 1989: Contract Abuse -contracts awarded – Bus blues – toxic waste – French companies bid for contracts – new European catering monster – playing the game by outsourcing leisure management – Lincolnshire contract collusion -Contractor fines and failures – Radical surgery restructure of the NHS – central control of local government

Public Service Action No. 38 November 1988: Bradford’s blue print cuts and privatisation – ARA sacked by Wandsworth Council – Biffa Waste win South Bucks District Council refuse contract then demand additional payments before starting contract – New threat to Direct Labour Organisations – Scotland for sale – Tax shelters – Housing Action Trusts – Forsyth effect in Scottish NHS tendering – Learning the lessons – water stakes – rail sale.

Public Service Action No. 37 August 1988: Tenants in revolt over Housing Action Trusts – Hospital in-house move for cleaners – Westminster leisure deal – catering competitors – lessons learned and scope to protect in-house standards, services and jobs – Contractors Audit in Manchester – Monopoly cleaning with BET and Hawley Group – comedy of errors in Merton cleaning – Civil Service agencies – fattening up/slimming down nationalised industries – preparing privatisation of water – prisons – the hard cell.

Public Service Action No. 36 July 1988: Visible hand- DHSS danger warning – Privatised management – Private in-roads – Testing the market – Profit samples: private pathology – Mis-use of units costs and rates – At their leisure – Cashing the Giro – End of the Road – National Bus Company – We are not for sale.

Public Service Action No. 35 June 1988: Council tendering – Community care a private future – NHS going to market – Health union campaign in Scotland – Contractor fines and failures – Council’s rush to sell housing estates -North East trade unions develop strategy – privatisation of Scottish Transport Group – relaunch of campaign against water privatisation – guards in prisons – Roll over Rover – British shipbuilders down the slipway – Sell-off timetable.

Public Service Action No. 34 April 1988: Racist bidding in NHS contract – NHS Defending the Defendable – Tender fiasco in Merton – Pritchards pull out of contract after claiming additional payments – Future of agencies in the Civil Service – Action for Cities – action against our cities – trading departments and companies – Selling the World – New Zealand three years hard labour – British Columbia credit drive – contract trends in USA – ICS = Incompetent Cleaning Services.

Public Service Action No. 33 February 1988: Safer in our hands – HCA’s trojan horse – Contract fines and failures – Pritchards whole truth – Rush to failure by contractors – Westminster Council cemeteries sale – tenants stop sale of 1,400 coal board houses – organising cleaners in USA – privatisation of British Rail catering services – anti union drive in privatised National Freight – Battle for Britoil.

Public Service Action No. 32 December 1987: Health warning for practices of Ealing catering contractor – Contractor fines and failures – Union memberships drive in British Telecom subsidiaries – Going commercial in Health – Takeovers and mergers – Housing Action Trusts are single minded organisations – management consultants – new contractor reneges on union policy – Tory share plan crashes – BP’s big ban – market turmoil as privatisation share collapse.

Public Service Action No. 31 Oct/Nov 1987: privatisation the DIY way by opting out – pits and mortar cashing in on coal homes – private BT will ‘improve efficiency’ – Contract fines and failures – a strategy to combat statutory tendering – buses competition farce – new onslaught to privatise civil service functions.

Public Service Action No. 30 August 1987: Gas and airline takeover mania – preparation for sale of electricity – NHS trading bodies plan – some Councils seek to outsource all services – the soaring national costs of privatisation – Contractors – 47 sackings/abandoned contracts – Mafia links alleged in US waste contractor – private care scandal.

Public Service Action No. 29 July 1987: Local government bill explained – property companies buy and sell National Coal Board homes – Right wing organisation writing education agenda – Vanishing shareholders after privatisation – water: Ridley does down river – Bus workers in tender trap – Catering contractors hi-jack health agenda – BT management offensive – companies target council transport – Contractor fines and failures – private health deals in the NHS.

Public service Action No. 28 April 1987: What’s in store from a third Thatcher term? – impact of sale of Royal Ordnance to British Aerospace – electricity unions campaign against privatisation and charter for electricity supply – Leyland Trucks sold to Dutch – special analysis: Audit Commission – no accounting for quality – the big lie about tendering saving the NHS £86m – Contractor fines and failures – Any future for Council housing?

Public Service Action No. 27 February 1987: Statutory tendering in local government delated – Sky high profits on. sale of British Airway shares – Westminster City Council PLC – asset stripping Rover Group – more outsourcing in the Civil Service – Contractor fines and failures ISS still cannot clean schools – chaos on the buses – British Coal homes rip-off – Meeting needs/creating jobs in Manchester, Sheffield, Islington, Hackney and Darlington.

Public Service Action No. 26 December 1986: Contractor fines and failures – Scarsdale Hospital strikers proved right as contractor abandons contract – British Telecom 2 years on – private cash for public housing – who gains and who loses? estate sales action conference – the value of public cleansing – British Gas – what Sid didn’t tell you.

Public Service Action No. 25 October 1986: British Coal house sale clearance – monopoly cleaning takeovers to eliminate competition – health occupiers win – private health deals – privatising public assets knock-down prices – privatised Sealink Ferries occupation – sale of Trustee Savings Bank bonanza for speculators – growing scandal in private care homes – contractor fines and failures.

Public Service Action No. 24 September 1986: 500,000 jobs at risk – water privatisation postponed – Contractor fines and failures – Lincolnshire County Council sacks 1,000 cleaners and ignores ISS failure record – Newcastle City Council sells estate to Bellway to improve and resell to tenants but serious flaws – Contractor fines and failures in hospital catering.

Public Service Action No. 23 July 1986: Takeovers eliminates competition between contractors – Union campaign stops Community Psychiatric Centres (USA) from building, managing and operating a Birmingham hospital solely for NHS patients – privatising the inner cities – public money funds private developers in London Docklands – Contractor fines and failures.

Public Service Action No. 22 May 1986: Contractor fines and failures – NHS Managers despair as standards spiral downwards – new municipal laundry service in Sheffield – Haringey school meals project – Dirty business and the waste contractors – who ‘wins’ with in-house tenders? – worst fears of bus deregulation – water campaign with a charter for water.

Public Service Action No. 21 March/April 1986: Business Expansion Scheme funds private care – Councils closing care homes – Contractor fines and failures – Audit Commission accountants answer
to the housing crisis with higher rents, 8,000 ‘surplus’ jobs and selling estates to private builders! – the geography of NHS privatisation.

Public Service Action No. 20 Jan/Feb 1986: Impact of new Housing and Planning Bill – Contractor fines and failures – cosy consultants – how private care exploits the elderly – NHS tendering government moves goalposts to appease contractors – Blue Arrow group employment agency.

Public Service Action No. 19 November 1985: Contractor fines and failures – Dockyards strike – Neasden Hospital occupied to prevent closure and sale of site – Estate sales public money for private profit – Taking action against Value for Money studies – Migrant workers suffer in Pritchards Kuwait contract – British Telecom one year sine privatisation – Bechtel bids to build electricity power station in Northern Ireland.

Public Service Action No. 18 October 1985: Statutory Tendering demands – Contractor fines and failures – British Steel Corporation mergers and closures for privatisation – Campaign against privatisation of NHS ancillary services spreads – job loss table from tendering – Merton social services paying the price – parents slam Sutcliffe’s junk food.

Public Service Action No. 17 August 1985: Joint union action defends school meals in Hillingdon – Contractor finds and failures – sale of airports – the tender trap avoid in-house bids – asset sales – company towns — estate sales boost – contractors and consultants

Public Service Action No. 16 July 1985: Pritchard Services Group international links – exploitation in South Africa and Wandsworth contract workforce turnover reached 1,000 for just 80 jobs in three years – Crothall pay and conditions in the NHS – Organising contractors – airport cleaners strike back.

Public Service Action No. 15 June 1985: Private home helps in Northern Ireland – Sheffield Council launched an improved and expanded Trade Waste service – British Gas high speed sale planned – Taking action against privatisation – £12bn from land and building sales since 1979 – Contractor fines and failures – privatising pensions – US health companies merge – sale of remaining 48.4% stake in British Aerospace.

Public Service Action No. 14 March 1985: Tories plan contract bonanza – water hive-off planned – Contractor fines and failures – Hawley profits doubled – asset stripping of British Shipbuilders is speeding up – drastic impact of 1985 Transport Bill – Improving school meals the Haringey approach – NHS fraud by consultants.

Public Service Action No. 13 February 1985: Workers plan for Barking Hospital – 20 weeks into Addenbrooke’s hospital strike – Infectious time bomb at St Helier Hospital – ARA moves into UK – private poison increased use in parks, open spaces, playing fields and cemeteries – Medway closes DLO – Civil Service functions face privatisation.

Public Service Action No. 12 December 1984: Contract racism at Heathrow Airport – Pritchards hire union busters in USA – BT theft – Norwich win for direct labour – more housing sales in Glasgow, Reading, Medway, Wandsworth, Nottingham, Westminster – NHS action in Barking.

Public Service Action No. 11 November 1984: Contractor fines and failures – Hawley and Michael Ashcroft cleaning up – right wind Monday Club policy paper and Norman Tebbit speech to the Selsdon Group – contractors and consultants – Ministry of Defence reform and new threat to jobs.

Public Service Action No. 10 September 1984: Privatisation the hidden agenda in the Miners Strike – BT share sale con – Fife NHS workers win,

Public Service Action No. 9 August 1984: Barking Hospital campaign, Contract fines and failures, Direct Labour under attack, Council house sales: the facts, Public transport jobs and services threatened, NHS action, ‘Workhouse Food’ for elderly, Westminster Council Leader’s campaign to abolish Greater London Council, New Town for sale.

Public Service Action No. 8 June 1984: Hammersmith Hospital campaign interview, Cockroaches in Barking, School meal cuts and contractors, British Telecom sales talk, British Gas private repairs,Contractor fines and failures, London tenants fight sales, Boardroom conflict in Brengreen Group.

Public Service Action No. 7 April 1984: Organising the contractors, Tenants campaign against home sales, Contractor fines and failures, some successes in the NHS, demands for Councils to open the books, fighting wage cuts in school meals, cleaners speak out, multi-million Defence contracts are planned.

Public Service Action No. 6 February 1984: Contractor fines and failures, Medway Hospital strike, hard times at Waste Management Ltd, merchant banker SG Warburg’s conflict of interests in advising government on privatisation, homes for elderly sold, school meals – frozen sandwiches, Bus and tube auction, spiral of decline for government agency.

Public Service Action No. 5 Nov/Dec 1983: Cleaning firm exposed – BT: the fight goes on – Westminster: forging links – Training profits – Special supplement: Facts and fantasies: Buying shares in privatised public assets – Private power – NHS: action build-up.

Public Service Action No. 4 October 1983: Telecom managers oppose BT sale, builders gain control of building regulations, Contractor fines and failures, takeovers and mergers, Controlling Contractors, Estates sold in Knowsley, privatisation of 91 heavy goods Vehicle Testing Stations stopped, who owns whom?

Public Service Action No. 3 August 1983: Contractor fines and failures, Telecom carve-up, privatising education – teachers fight back, Tarmac bids for private roads, Wage cuts for Birmingham school cleaners, City slickers – city connections, Imposing conditions on contractors, new Housing Bill extends sale of council housing and housing for the elderly.

Public Service Action No 2. May 1983: USA waste management firm facing Federal probe bids for UK contracts, Workers win Direct Labour expansion in Liverpool, Contractors and consultants – sick profits while elderly suffer, pay and conditions, Calderdale NHS Laundry campaign, Defence contracts, more council estates for sale.

Public Service Action No. 1 March 1983: Attack on the NHS, Job loss table, Barratt Developments buying up council housing, Contractor fines and failures, Tories have 21 ways to privatise council housing, Direct Labour tendering costs, who owns the contractors, Speculators privatisation share price index,

Published on 29th November 2022. Last updated 12th December 2022.