Demonstrate in Falkirk: Not a Minute on the Day, Not a Penny off the Pay

That the Parliament expresses support for all trade unionists and supporters attending the national demonstration in Falkirk on Saturday 16 December 2006 for equal pay and against cuts in pay, terms and conditions and services and draconian imposition of contracts through implementation of single status in local authorities without reaching negotiated agreement with trade unions; affirms commitment to the achievement of equal pay through levelling up, not down; reiterates its belief that the Scottish Executive should make sufficient funding available to meet the full value of women’s equal pay claims and to implement single status fairly; notes that the Executive is prepared to give handouts to business totalling at least £280 million over two years in business rate cuts; considers that this is insulting to all local authority workers and those reliant on their services; considers it unacceptable that workers should have to demonstrate on the streets, take industrial action and resort to the courts to obtain what is rightfully and lawfully theirs while business needs only to hold out its hand, and believes that the Executive and local authorities must now do much more to settle the issues around single status and equal pay if they are to avoid further unrest and disruption in the run-up to the May 2007 election.