Council budget cuts start to kick in‏

On a daily basis local authorities are making announcements on job cuts on a scale not witnessed since councils were subject to poll tax capping back in the early 1990’s.

MIAMI 5 US EMBASSY VIGIL

MIAMI 5 US EMBASSY VIGIL: Thursday 1 October 2009 6pm-7.30pm US Embassy, Grosvenor Square, London, with special guests from Cuba Adriana Pérez, Olga Salanueva, and Irma González - families of the Miami Five.

Standing ovation for President Jacob Zuma at COSATU Congress‏

Jacob Zuma, the South African President received a standing ovation from over 2000 delegates at yesterday’s opening session of the 10th congress of COSATU – South Africa’s national trade unioncon federation.

Anti SEIU campaign - the politics of envy fed by failure‏

There is an astonishing claim in Tribune that the U.S. trade union the‘Service Employees International Union’ is wrecking the American trade union movement and waging a war on other trade unions. Even worse that it is making agreements and partnerships with employers that restrict the rights of workers. Then to finally put a straight knife into any lingering respect there might be, there is a claim that the SEIU has offered to buy out one of the biggest trade unions in the UK in a form that would have been a take over.

The psychosis of cuts‏

A dire and sickening consequence of the economic crisis has been the quick emergence of a supposed political consensus that public spending cuts are required to bridge the UK budget deficit.

Burnham King’s Fund speech – seeing is believing says Dave Prentis

On 17 September, a day after an 'early doors' meeting leading health trade unionists in Liverpool, Andy Burnham, Secretary of State for Health, had another breakfast engagement. This time he was at the think tank The King’s Fund where he set out latest Government thinking on health policy for England:

Rights and scrutiny threatened by SNP watchdog reforms

Scotland's FoI chief, Children's Rights Commissioner and many more have lined up to oppose SNP Scottish Government plans to allow ministers to change or abolish independent watchdogs without recourse to Parliament, says a Sunday Herald. report.

TUC to consider electoral reform

TUC: An under reported but highly significant policy decision was made in one of the final debates of Congress. The PCS amendment to motion 83 on ‘democratic renewal’ (from the FDA civil service union) was carried on a show of hands.

AFL-CIO Convention says End economic embargo of Cuba

The largest US trade union centre AFL-CIO has made a decision of historic significance at its convention in Pittsburgh: http://www.aflcio.org/aboutus/thisistheaflcio/convention/2009/index.cfm

Scrap Trident - true cost an obscene £97bn!

At a time of economic crisis and plans by all of the main political parties to make public expenditure cuts, a new report by Greenpeace reveals the true cost of the Trident replacement programme, over its 30 year life span, to be £97 billion. http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/peace/trident-costs-are-running-out-control-20090917