UNISONActive is an unofficial blog produced by UNISON activists for UNISON activists. Bringing news, briefings and events from a progressive left perspective.

Saturday, 23 July 2011

Noise by Peter Redgrove

Suddenly in this dream I was printer’s ink
Poured through the presses, patterned in every man’s
  mind,

Friday, 22 July 2011

Fund Mergers - the Silver Bullet in LGPS Negotiations?

Local government pension schemes will be free to reform the fund without imposing a 3.2 percentage point increase on employees' contributions, the government has announced. The LGPS has been granted autonomy to formulate its own package of reforms while still helping deliver additional 'savings' of £3.8bn required for all schemes across the public sector by the Treasury:  http://www.professionalpensions.com/professional-pensions/news/2095677/lgps-freed-contribution-increase-rule#ixzz1Skjq5TeG

Debtocracy - a documentary on the Greek crisis

Aris Hatzistefanu and Katerina Kitidi are the directors and researchers of “Debtocracy” a full length documentary on the Greek Crisis (74 mins) and can be viewed with the English subtitles button (top right). It's distributed under Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 license and has had over 1 million views so far. http://www.debtocracy.gr/

BDS Campaign : Israeli Democracy and Human Rights

In an open letter to The Herald newspaper in Scotland, Mike Kirby, Scottish Secretary questions potential attacks on the human rights organisation, B'Tselem, which has been supported by UNISON.

Thursday, 21 July 2011

The Co-op Good with Food...bad with pensions

With the Coalition Government and certain councils pushing for co-ops as the future model for public services the issue of pensions yet again rears its head.

What they say and what they mean..

In the phrase "Greek bail out" "Greek" means " Banks in France, Germany and the UK". "Bail out" means "collecting on a bet even though the horse was shot". Austerity means this http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,775301,00.html

Wednesday, 20 July 2011

Robbing Pensioners of £15bn to Pay Bankers £14bn?

Local Government Pension Scheme pensioners have had £15billion stolen from them since April 2011. Why? Because the imposed change to CPI to increase their pensions had the effect of reducing payments to them by around £15 billion going forward to 2013.

Cameron two steps away from the axe?

What links David Cameron to a murder in a South London pub in 1987 the year the News International dispute at Wapping ended? And could this be one of the reasons he will be forced to quit? Pressure is mounting.

Russell Tribunal on Palestine will convene in Cape Town's iconic District Six

The third session of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine is to convene in Cape Town in November to answer the question whether the treatment of Palestinians in Israel and the occupied territories fits the international legal definitions of the crime of apartheid.

Tuesday, 19 July 2011

UNISON calls in troops for pensions' fight-back

More than 200 senior activists and UNISON staff from across the UK, will gather in London today (19 July), to draw up a fighting strategy for the next stage in the union’s pension campaign. http://www.unison.org.uk/asppresspack/pressrelease_view.asp?id=2372