Northern Ireland says NO to Austerity

#M13 Over 50,000 public service workers, including UNISON members, across Northern Ireland took 24 hour all out strike action against austerity cuts yesterday. Education, health, transport and council services were brought to a halt in response to the cross-party Stormont House agreement which will cut 20,000 public sector jobs over the next 4 years. A well supported march and lunchtime rally was held in Belfast and 10 other towns.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-31858483

Joined up public services - how do we unscramble marketisation?

Progressive, people centred reforms of public services by an incoming Labour Government will require more than good intentions writes Eunice Goes on the LSE blog. Decades of funding cuts, marketisation and the embedding of 'thousands of private sector providers' present an enormous challenge yet to be addressed by Labour party and trade union policy makers. Is it time to end the contracting out culture?
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/labours-public-services-reform-cannot-yet-undo-effect-of-privatisation/

Rising inequality caused by weaker unions

A new study by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has tracked three decades of income (1980 to 2010) and found that as unionisation declined, the wealth of the richest 10% in advanced countries showed a continuous increase. The decline in unionisation explained about half of the rise in incomes for the richest 10% and half of the increase in the Gini coefficient (a measure of income inequality).
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2015/03/jaumotte.htm