Irish public service unions fight back against pay cuts‏

Irish public service unions have commenced a nationwide work to rule in protest at the Government's decision to cut the pay of public sector employees. The low key but sustained industrial action ranges across health, education the civil service and local authorities.

Woman Work by Maya Angelou‏

I've got the children to tend
The clothes to mend
The floor to mop
The food to shop

Feb 6 - Scotland fightback starts here!

A rally in Glasgow on Feb 6, addressed by Dave Prentis, and a major demonstration in mid March, will launch UNISON Scotland's fightback against cuts.

Review of 2010 UNISON National Black Members Conference‏

Without a shadow of doubt, the two highlights of conference for me were the address by the General Secretary, Dave Prentis and Eleanor Smith’s historic address to conference as the first elected Black Vice President of UNISON.

Chav - a convenient label to disguise the dirty truth of poverty‏

Brendan Barber's comments on the ‘market knows best’ in response to the latest equalities report is not misplaced. There is still a yawning chasm in Britain when it comes to rich and poor. Recent child-abuse cases have shocked the UK not least the children upon children attack in Doncaster which led to national media coverage and the shock and horror displayed by politicians. But are they really shocked and if so why hasn’t anything been done to address the real causes of such incidents?

ILO reports a record rise in unemployment due to crisis‏

The ILO has published its annual Global Employment Trends report. It states that the number of jobless worldwide reached nearly 212 million in 2009 following an unprecedented increase of 34 million compared to 2007, on the eve of the global crisis.

"It is My Dream That My Son Makes it to College."‏

College worker and SEIU member Genevieve Repsher, reports on her experience attending the recent Sodexo shareholders meeting in Paris: http://www.seiu.org/2010/01/genevieve-repsher-it-is-my-dream-that-my-son-makes-it-to-college.php

NJC 0% offer - the perfect pay storm?‏

In her regular column on the Public Finance blog UNISON national secretary for local government Heather Wakefield lambastes the “sick making and unjustifiable” 0% NJC employers pay ‘offer’ for council workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland:

Who wants to see spending cuts?

The Next Left blog analyses the implications of the latest British Social Attitudes Survey: "...the great guilty secret of those rather unpopular populists of the Taxpayers' Alliance, Guido Fawkes and every other right-wing group banging the less spending and tax cuts drum has always been what a small niche of public opinion they represent." http://www.nextleft.org/2010/01/british-social-attitudes-survey-reports.html

Sodexo AGM lobbied by workers from CGT, SEIU & UNISON‏

The US union the SEIU filed two questions to the AGM regarding the employment practices of the company as the multi billion Euro French service sector company Sodexo held its shareholders AGM in a Paris suburb yesterday. Shareholders were turning out to vote on an improved share issue on the back of a massive 1.3 billion Euros profit recorded for this financial year.