Commenting ahead of the Scottish Government’s Programme for Government, UNISON’s Scottish Secretary Lilian Macer said: “The First Minister has an opportunity to put people before budget cuts by investing in our public services.
“Scotland has the longest NHS waiting lists since devolution and thousands of nursing vacancies. Our social care is in crisis, with a workforce crying out for investment. Scotland’s councils are being warned that they are in danger of becoming financially unsustainable.
“The Scottish Government’s plans to cut a further 20,000 public service jobs and cut £1billion from the budget will cripple services that are already struggling. Staff can’t continue to do more with less.
“We need to invest in early intervention to prevent costly crises; deliver NHS workforce planning that brings down waiting times; and fix low pay, which is the single biggest barrier to resolving the care crisis and ending delayed discharge in our hospitals.”
Notes to editors:
– UNISON is Scotland’s largest union, with more than 150,000 members providing public services in education, local government, the NHS, social care, police services, water, and energy. They are employed in the public, voluntary and private sectors.