Enraged Bankers Under Pressure Over Bonuses‏

Bankers were yesterday told there will be no backing down from an EU demand that they should be paid no more than 20 per cent of their bonuses up front in cash, as experts said Europe's pay rules would be the "toughest in the world". http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/city-outrage-as-europe-stands-firm-on-bankers-cash-bonuses-2157462.html

Arguments against a pay freeze‏

Last week the Obama administration announced a plan to freeze the salaries of non-military federal employees for two years, using the same bogus ‘deficit’ arguments deployed by the UK Government. It was widely condemned as a bad idea by US public service unions: http://afscmemn.org/federal-pay-freeze%3A-bad-idea

Students lead by example and seize the day‏

The Guardian reports on the direct action of student groups who have mobilised large scale resistance to cuts in education and increased tuition fees. What can rank and file trade unionists, hidebound by restrictive anti trade union laws, learn from their example? http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/dec/10/tuition-fees-student-demonstrators?

Riot by Gwendolyn Brooks‏

A riot is the language of the unheard.
—martin luther king

What Debt Does To Young People In The UK‏

The bankers debt passed on to the population now finds its expression in the police response to the youth protesting for a better future. The violence of debt and the repression of the state is captured here on video. The privatisation of higher education must be stopped:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7I-enS27fI 

Unions & International Development‏

Owen Tudor writes on the Guardian ‘poverty matters’ blog about the TUC’s international development work: ‘the TUC has three main goals for international development work with our partners in the global south's trade unions: that all workers, including the vulnerable, can enjoy decent work; that all workers and their families enjoy safe working conditions, social protection and access to quality public services; and that all workers, speaking through their unions, promote and defend human rights, equality and social justice.’ http://alturl.com/yvkc2  The TUC recently published a guide to its international development strategy for 2011-2015: http://www.tuc.org.uk/extras/GlobalJustice.pdf  

Resignations over student fees

Lib Dem activist Richard Huzzey has resigned from the party over the student fees vote. This follows Jenny Willott resigning as Chris Huhne's parliamentary private secretary, Mike Crockart resigning as a Parliamentary aide to Michael Moore and Tory MP Lee Scott quitting as a ministerial aide. It’s a start.
http://www.libdemvoice.org/opinion-richard-huzzey-i-resign-22345.html

Vampire Squid Sucking Irish Blood - Bankers Get Bonuses‏

Allied Irish Banks propped up by the State are going to pay €40m bonuses despite the bailout and a full frontal attack on workers and the poor. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/dec/08/allied-irish-banks-pay-bonuses-despite-bailout

Con Dem job cuts don't add up‏

Writing on the Public Finance blog, Heather Wakefield, UNISON national secretary for local government, deplores the rising number of job losses in Councils and points out the economic folly of making public service workers redundant: 'UNISON has worked out, for example, that depriving a £21,000-a-year council worker and single mother of her livelihood would cost the government around £19,000 in lost tax and National Insurance income and in benefits outlay. Meanwhile, the local economy will suffer the loss of her and others’ purchasing power, making it even more of a struggle to pull itself out of the mire';
http://opinion.publicfinance.co.uk/2010/12/economics-of-madness-by-heather-wakefield/?

The Tories & Unions - 'no disaster' or an existential threat?‏

An under-reported WikiLeaks document was a curious US embassy cable sent one year ago, on 10 December 2009, following a meeting between US ambassador to the UK Louis Susman and the TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber - who reportedly said he did not expect a Tory government would be hostile to unions and that a Cameron led regime would be ‘no disaster’: