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Tory 'worker co-operatives' plan Tory 'worker co-operatives' plan
(about 4 hours later)
The Tories have renewed a pledge to give public sector workers the chance to form co-operatives to run services. David Cameron has renewed a pledge to give public sector workers the chance to form co-operatives to run services as part of a push to woo Labour voters.
Staff of taxpayer-funded services, such as primary school teachers and nurses, would decide how they were run - within certain national standards.Staff of taxpayer-funded services, such as primary school teachers and nurses, would decide how they were run - within certain national standards.
Shadow chancellor George Osborne hailed the policy as "pretty radical". The Conservative leader said the "radical" plan would "unleash a new culture of public sector enterprise".
But the Co-operative Party, which has 30 Labour MPs among its members including schools secretary Ed Balls, called the scheme "clueless". But Labour said Tory local authorities were planning to cut services.
Conservative leader David Cameron launched the Conservative Co-operative Movement in 2007, insisting that such groups embodied core Conservative values, and it was time to reclaim them from the political Left. Mr Cameron relaunched the initiative, which he first announced in 2007, at a pre-election event at Battersea Power Station, at which he sought to reach out to disillusioned Labour and Lib Dem voters who had never voted Tory before, telling them: "We are not the same old Conservative Party. We are the party of the mainstream majority in our country."
At the weekend, he urged Labour supporters to keep an "open mind" about backing his party at the general election, and declared that the Tories were very much on the "centre ground". Under Tory plans, employee-owned co-operatives would be able to decide on management structures, "innovate" to cut costs and improve the standard of service, and share any financial surpluses among the staff.
'No free-for-all'
Mr Osborne told BBC Radio 4's Today programme handing control of public services to the people who run them would be "as big a transfer of power to working people since the sale of council house homes in the 1980s".
One would hope that in any organisation where the bosses had completely lost the confidence of the staff then one would look at the future of those bosses George Osborne, shadow chancellor Peston: How would it work?One would hope that in any organisation where the bosses had completely lost the confidence of the staff then one would look at the future of those bosses George Osborne, shadow chancellor Peston: How would it work?
"We are saying to public sector workers: 'if you want to, and only if you want to, you can create employee-led co-operatives and you can run state services, paid for by the taxpayer'. Mr Cameron said: "I know that there are millions of public sector workers, that work in our public services. and who frankly today feel demoralised, feel disrespected, feel a lack of recognition.
"This is a power shift to public sector workers so that they take control of their own working environment and they get away from these top-down bureaucracies which have made life a misery for so many people in the public sector." "We will not only get rid of those targets and that bureaucracy that drives you so mad, we will give you the power in a way that is as radical as the right to buy your council home."
He denied that it would result in a "complete free-for-all". He refused to be drawn on how many public sector workers he expected to set up co-operatives, which would be allowed to keep any surplus cash.
But he assured workers that wage rates, pensions and other benefits would be carried across from the public sector and members would be able to remain in trade unions - and he urged the unions to overcome their "scepticism" about the plan.
He said workers co-operatives had been shown to boost productivity and staff morale and reduce absenteeism.
The Tory leader also used the event to launch new election posters aimed at disaffected Labour and Lib Dem voters, saying: "I've never voted Tory before, but we've got to mend our broken society" and other slogans on a similar theme.
Mr Cameron launched the Conservative Co-operative Movement in 2007, insisting that such groups embodied core Conservative values, and it was time to reclaim them from the political Left.
'No free-for-all'
Shadow Chancellor George Osborne denied the cooperative plan would result in a "complete free-for-all".
"The check on quality here is that they would be contracting services to the local authority or the National Health Service and they would be providing a contract, for community nursing or for primary education."The check on quality here is that they would be contracting services to the local authority or the National Health Service and they would be providing a contract, for community nursing or for primary education.
"And we would be making sure, as taxpayers, that we were getting value for money and it was appropriately run and the standards the kids were being taught to were at the right level and the like.""And we would be making sure, as taxpayers, that we were getting value for money and it was appropriately run and the standards the kids were being taught to were at the right level and the like."
'Clueless'
Standards such as the national curriculum would remain, he said.Standards such as the national curriculum would remain, he said.
George Osborne's plan for employee-run public services fails to balance the needs of consumers, the public, with the interests of the public-sector workers themselves Michael Stephenson,Co-operative Party general secretary
"But the essential principle that people in the public sector, whether they are community nursing teams, primary schools, job centres, would be able to take ownership of their own enterprise and run it as a non-for-profit social enterprise or co-operative providing state services is exactly what we are talking about.""But the essential principle that people in the public sector, whether they are community nursing teams, primary schools, job centres, would be able to take ownership of their own enterprise and run it as a non-for-profit social enterprise or co-operative providing state services is exactly what we are talking about."
It would mean teachers could effectively force out a head, he agreed.It would mean teachers could effectively force out a head, he agreed.
"One would hope that in any organisation where the bosses had completely lost the confidence of the staff then one would look at the future of those bosses," he told the programme."One would hope that in any organisation where the bosses had completely lost the confidence of the staff then one would look at the future of those bosses," he told the programme.
But Michael Stephenson, general secretary of the Co-operative Party, said: "George Osborne's comments show the Tories are completely clueless on co-operatives. But Cabinet Office Minister Tessa Jowell accused the Conservatives of hypocrisy.
She said: "While we are seeking to learn lessons from mutual companies like the Co-operative and John Lewis - owned, respectively, by their customers and their staff, Tory local authorities - which Cameron offers as a model for how the Tories would govern - have decided that their model of public service delivery is the budget airline.
"Under the Tories the principle this appears to encapsulate is that ability to pay should determine the level and quality of the service."
And Michael Stephenson, general secretary of the Co-operative Party, which counts 30 Labour MPs including schools secretary Ed Balls among its members, said the Conservatives had misunderstood the point of co-operatives.
"George Osborne's comments show the Tories are completely clueless on co-operatives.
"Mutuality is about giving communities a say in how services are run. That is about more than involving workers, it is about people running services as a community asset. The Tories don't have co-operative values."Mutuality is about giving communities a say in how services are run. That is about more than involving workers, it is about people running services as a community asset. The Tories don't have co-operative values.
"Just as Cameron's Conservative Co-operative movement turned out to be neither a Co-operative, nor a movement, George Osborne's plan for employee-run public services fails to balance the needs of consumers, the public, with the interests of the public-sector workers themselves.""Just as Cameron's Conservative Co-operative movement turned out to be neither a Co-operative, nor a movement, George Osborne's plan for employee-run public services fails to balance the needs of consumers, the public, with the interests of the public-sector workers themselves."