Birmingham UNISON resists City Council jobs carnage‏

Tory/Lib Dem led Birmingham City Council, the largest local authority in Britain, is pressing on with plans to cut £69m from its £3.2b budget by April 2011. Services at risk include homes for the elderly and people with disabilities, nurseries, neighbourhood offices, leisure centres and libraries.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/8508023.stm

The unfunny joke of energy policy‏

Neil Clark, writing in the Morning Star, says the recent Ofgem report doesn’t go anywhere near far enough. Privately owned energy companies will continue to put short term profits ahead of Britain’s longer term energy concerns:

UNISON GS election - Lies, damned lies and voodoo density statistics‏

A scientific view of the General Secretary election
There has been a lot of talk in the UNISON blogosphere about the forthcoming General Secretary election. Much of the commentary comes with ideological baggage attached. This post will attempt to apply a little scientific rationality and objectivity to one aspect of the debate and draw an objective conclusion about who it is best for UNISON members to vote for.

Miners by Wilfred Owen‏

There was a whispering in my hearth,
A sigh of the coal.
Grown wistful of a former earth
It might recall.

VENEZUELA UNDER THREAT Event, Sat Mar 27 - Register Today!‏

EVENT: 8 Years of From the Coup Against Chávez - Defend Social Progress Against US Militarization of the Region: Saturday March 27, 11.30am - 4.30pm (Registration from 11.00) at Bolivar Hall, 54 Grafton Way, London, W1T 5DL (Nearest tube: Warren Street.) Register Online Today here!

The People's History Museum set to reopen‏

Manchester’s unique People’s History Museum (PHM) re-opens tomorrow after a £12.5m re-development project. It is the national centre for the ‘collection, conservation, interpretation and study of material relating to the history of working people in Britain’.

Energy SGE unanimously back Prentis nomination‏

UNISON's Energy service group executive - which organises members in the electricity, gas and nuclear industries - today nominated Dave Prentis in the General Secretary election. The unanimous decision at a meeting in London today was the first by a SGE since nominations opened on 4 February.

UNISON GS election - West Midlands regional council backs Dave Prentis‏

The 120,000 strong West Midlands region this morning voted overwhelmingly today to nominate Dave Prentis in the UNISON General Secretary election. In a tremendous show of unity at the Birmingham regional council meeting only 5 of the 100+ delegates opposed the recommendation when put to the vote.

The cult of council tax cuts‏

UNISON national secretary Heather Wakefield, writing for the public finance website, castigates the growing practice of local authorities to freeze or cut council tax at a time of increasing demand for front line services:

Report of UNISON National Executive Council 10th February 2010‏

The meeting opened with invitations for nominations to the post of General Secretary. Dave Prentis was overwhelmingly endorsed by 38 votes with 9 votes being shared on factional lines between Bannister (4) and Holmes (5). Vice President Angela Lynes in moving Dave’s nomination said ‘we face difficult times ahead and there is only one candidate with the experience and knowledge to take us forward united and that is Dave Prentis’.