Join UNISON!

On Monday UNISON is launching a new advertising campaign “Essential Cover…..” to boost the rate of recruitment to the union. A series of adverts will be run on TV as well as in national, regional and trade press, with on-line and digital activity coming to the fore. The union nationally, regionally and branch by branch is using its campaign as a launch pad for more activities and recruitment events across the UK.
    Dave Prentis, UNISON General Secretary explained that 'the campaign is being launched at a time when public services are under unprecedented attack from Government.

London Met Suspensions - This is what victimisation looks like

Union News has posted a video report on the campaign to reinstate suspended UNISON members Jawad Botmeh and Max Watson as well as UCU member Professor Steve Jeffreys who work at the Working Lives Research Institute of London Metropolitan University. The disciplinary investigations are widely seen as politically motivated following successful union led campaigns against privatisation and the recent election of Jawad Botmeh to the University's Board of Governors:
http://union-news.co.uk/2013/03/video-stop-the-witch-hunt-at-london-met/
http://www.londonmetunison.org.uk/

The Good Ones For Hugo Chavez by Alice Walker

March 5, 2013

The good ones
who listen
to women
to children and the poor
die too soon,
their lives bedeviled
by opposition:
our hearts grieve for them.

Women are paying a double price for the crisis

#womensday Today is International Women’s Day and women worldwide will again demand for a basic, but yet fundamental right: equality between women and men. In a statement to mark IWD, the European Trade Union Confederation warns that women are paying a double price for the economic crisis. Time has come for a real change of direction:
http://www.etuc.org/IMG/pdf/ETUC_
Statement_IWD_2013_EN_final.pdf

TUPE changes - from 'Protection of Employees' to 'Promises for Employers'

'The Coalition's proposals for the reform of TUPE Regulations aim to strip back employee protection (the very purpose of the legislation) and give businesses an easy ride when it comes to dismissing workers and cutting pay' writes Roger Jeary on the Institute of Employment Rights blog:
http://www.ier.org.uk/blog/tupe-protection-employees-promises-employers

Con Dems take one small step back on NHS competition

Campaigning works! Yesterday's withdrawal of proposed Government Section 75 regulations on the implementation of the Health & Social Care Act - designed to engineer more private sector involvement in the NHS (England) - is an important short term victory.

VSC statement following the death of President Hugo Chavez

Following the death of President Hugo Chavez, Venezuela Solidarity Campaign Secretary Dr Francisco Dominguez said: "Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias, President of Venezuela, died on March 5th at 4:25 hrs (local time) after a long and hard battle against cancer. He was 58 years old.

10 steps to economic recovery

There's an old political maxim that before you can make economic changes you must win the political arguments. Something well understood by the Tories with their oft repeated big lie that profligate public spending rather than a failure of the banking system and the financial markets caused the 2007/8 economic crisis. PCS General Secretary Mark Serwotka sets out some clear and sensible policy antidotes to Con Dem austerity which will revitalise the economy:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/04/10-steps-kickstart-uk-economy?INTCMP=SRCH

Let's spread it around!

The TUC is backing a High Pay Centre report calling for 'modest wage redistribution' to improve living standards for millions of low paid workers. Frances O'Grady TUC General Secretary said 'Rising pay inequality was a major cause of the financial crash. Faced with flat wages, many people borrowed to maintain their living standards whilst the very wealthy put their cash into ever more risky investments to squeeze out returns. Unless wealth is spread more broadly we will be unable to build a sustainable recovery, as consumer spending will continue to flat-line'
http://www.tuc.org.uk/economy/tuc-21982-f0.cfm

A brilliant example of a union taking these demands beyond worthy platitudes into a hard hitting campaign can be found in Australia where the mining and energy division of Australia’s CFMEU union is calling on private companies to share the profits of the country’s mining boom with Australian workers and their communities:
http://www.letsspreaditaround.com.au/our-campaign
http://www.letsspreaditaround.com.au/campaign-materials/watch-ads

Support the Shrewsbury 24 Campaign

The Justice Secretary, Chris Grayling, has recently announced that crucial Government documents relating to the Shrewsbury pickets’ trials in 1973 are to be kept locked away for a further 10 years – 50 years after the dispute took place. Please sign the e-petition to ensure that the documents are released whilst the pickets are alive. The youngest is 65 and the oldest 85.

Portugal rises against austerity

Hundreds of thousands of people protested yesterday in cities across Portugal against government austerity measures which have driven unemployment up to more than 20%."This government has left the people on bread and water, selling off state assets for peanuts to pay back debts that were contracted by corrupt politicians to benefit bankers," film director Fabio Carvalho, who was among the protesters in Lisbon, was quoted as saying by Reuters. "If not today, things have to change tomorrow and we need to remain in the streets for the government to fall."http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21643853

The Grinding Machine by Ntsako Mbhokota

It’s another beautiful day in Africa, the sun has just risen and already there is a reason for an ordinary south African male to grab your bag and shoot you in the face.