Maureen Ferrier

Maureen Ferrier is a PR specialist and a former head of communications for the Scottish Funding Council. She was editor of the magazine Public Service Scotland from 2008 until 2010 and is currently a reporter with the Fife Herald/ St Andrews Citizen.

Background

From 1994 to 2001 Ferrier was press officer and then public affairs officer for the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA). According to Public Servant magazine Ferrier has also 'served' the Scottish Office and Ministry of Defence, presumably prior to 1994.

In 1999 Ferrier was a member of the lobbyists' lobby group the Association of Scottish Public Affairs, writing to the press on its behalf. In 2001 Ferrier took redundancy from COSLA in order to go freelance. She then set up Maureen Ferrier Public Relations, a short lived PR firm. By 2005 she was head of communications for the Scottish Funding Council In 2008 she was appointed editor of the magazine Public Service Scotland until it folded in June 2010. The magazine was incorporated into the UK-wide Public Servant magazine and its publicservice.co.uk website. Ferrier reportedly continued to write for the company.

At COSLA 1994-2001

Anti-water privatisation campaign

In 1995 the Conservative Government made moves to strip "Scottish local water utilities from local control as part of its reorganisation programme for local government in Scotland". The anti-privatisation fight was headed by COSLA. Maureen Ferrier describes the PR campaign, saying:

while no one in the anti-water privatisation coalition sat down and designed a formal grand strategy, everyone kept the goals in mind.

and:

no one gave a thought to applying the methods stemming from a particular communication theory, but instead relied on "experience" and knowledge of the media.

Teachers' dispute 1999

Ferrier wrote to the Herald in 1999 to deny reports that COSLA was to hire a PR firm in its dispute with the teachers:

I should like to lay to rest the fears of your correspondents today who are perpetrating the myth that Cosla is employing the services of a public relations consultancy. This is certainly not the case nor do we have any plans to use a public relations consultancy in relation to the offer on pay and conditions of service for teachers currently on the table.

Our wish in this matter is that teachers read the offer carefully and reach their own conclusions on its meaning for the future of their profession and the future of children in Scottish schools now and into the millennium. To that end we are in the process of issuing information which will be with teachers within days. In the meantime, teachers - and anyone else who is interested - will find details of the offer on Cosla's website at www.cosla.gov.uk.

David Liddell, the Secretary of the South Lanarkshire branch of the EIS, responded:

AS one of the correspondents taken to task by Maureen Ferrier, Cosla's Public Affairs Officer, for "perpetrating the myth" (although I think "perpetuating might better have conveyed the intended meaning) that Cosla was employing the services of a public relations consultancy to sell their offer to teachers over the heads of their unions, I am happy to hear that this is "certainly not the case".

I assume then that the glossy leaflet currently being sent by Cosla to all teachers, containing as many warm words and cosy reassurances as the average Bupa advertisement, has been produced entirely "in-house".

Somewhat bizarrely, on the Cosla Website, its text is accompanied by what appears to be a briefing paper for what might euphemistically be described as "busy" education conveners on what "spin" to put on the offer and how to answer awkward questions.

As it seems Maureen reads the letter page of The Herald, perhaps she might like to answer the question which is troubling many EIS members, which is "How can Cosla justify spending what must be a substantial amount of public money on attempting to influence the outcome of an internal trade union ballot?"

She writes loftily that Cosla's "wish in this matter is that teachers read the offer carefully and reach their own conclusions on its meaning for the future of their profession", and in the next sentence, "To that end we are in the process of issuing information (ie, the glossy leaflet) which will be with teachers within days". I detect a bit of a contradiction here.

Readers, including Maureen, might care to contemplate what response other than an angry one any trade-union member could be expected to make to employers whose cynical final position can succinctly and accurately be summed up as "Accept our offer or we take away the negotiating machinery". Teachers "know a hawk from a handsaw" and no amount of "spinning" or oily ingratiating "puff" about how valued and important teachers are will make this sow's ear of an offer into anything remotely resembling a silk purse.

Propaganda war

In December 2000 Maureen Ferrier reportedly planned what the Edinburgh Evening News described as a "propaganda war" against striking council staff. Ferrier orchestrated a PR campaign emphasising the "worst possible scenario" in a news release. A leaked memo sent by Ferrier and obtained by Edinburgh Evening News said, "Obviously we're going for the emotive ones - Christmas and New Year events (particularly Edinburgh and Glasgow), for example."

Ferrier wrote:

I'd be grateful if you could back this up locally, anticipating to local media what the likely effects of increased strike action are and stressing that despite what Unison said in the early days of the action, the public who depend on public services are being adversely affected by the action.

Ferrier added:

Depending on how things go with Unison, we'll probably escalate our own media campaign by highlighting specific issues, so if you could give me as much information as possible on how the strike is hitting council services in your area, I'd be grateful.."

Scare tactics

A week later a further leaked memo by Maureen Ferrier aimed at persuading council workers to stop striking and return to work was published. It read in part:

The aim is for us to maintain the moral high ground we seem to have grabbed so far and build on that, to show that it is not the councils that are causing the problems which the public are experiencing, but Unison.

We are also writing to chief executives/personnel directors with advice on what action councils can take against strikers and those who are refusing to carry out certain duties and it may be that we use that letter as the basis for a news release (scare tactics!).

Ferrier argued that her intentions were not to scare staff. She noted:

We are not threatening staff. We just want to make sure they are aware their continuity of service could be affected by taking strike action. That could affect their holiday entitlement and pensions..

Affiliations

• Convention of Scottish Local Authorities 1994-2001
• Maureen Ferrier Public Relations circa 2002-2005
• Scottish Funding Council circa 2005 - former head of communications
• Public Service Scotland from 2008 - editor. This is a publication launched in 2008 by PSCA International that carries news about the public sector in Scotland.