UNISONActiveis an unofficial blog produced by UNISON activists for UNISON activists. Bringing news, briefings and events from a progressive left perspective.
Global Justice Now has done a great job in highlighting the 7 arguments that are presented as the deepest wisdom by Global Leaders on why the world economy is the way it is. Like a force of nature or some almighty God who we dare not anger, these myths are the foundations of Capitalism in the 21st Century. As the High Priests gather in the snowy tourist trap of Davos in Switzerland to consult the oracles, we are left to wait hopefully for signs that the Gods are appeased.
But the Global Justice Now campaign shows that even the slightest and quickest of examinations reveal that these 7 myths are man-made constructs. They are nothing more than simple justifications for a global economy where the worlds 80 richest people own more than half the wealth of the world. It is an outrage. They are lies. Read for yourself about Free Trade, the poverty of Africa, the Free Market … http://www.globaljustice.org.uk/dangerous-delusions
The Critical Thinking blog has published a useful update on Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). EU denials that ‘standards on consumer protection, on the environment, on data protection and on food are not up for negotiation’ are blatant lies. So too are purported assurances that the NHS is excluded from the scope of the proposed Treaty: http://freecriticalthinking.org/daily-pickings/1047-ttip-update-status-and-resistance
As the arrogant and odious Eric Pickles MP blames the blame game on the flooding crisis in the South West of England, it is worth remembering the warnings given by UNISON at the beginning of the year about the likely catastrophic impact of large scale funding cuts at the Environment Agency. Will this Government ever learn that austerity is ruining lives? "Staff in the Agency have worked day and night to keep communities safe and prevent flood damage, and work tirelessly to support those devastated by the aftermath. The government can't have it both ways, praising the sterling work of members in the Agency but at the same time imposing further damaging cuts." http://www.unison.org.uk/news/cuts-to-environment-agency-jobs-would-be-catastrophic
‘My argument is that the climate threat makes the need to fight austerity all the more pressing, since we need public services and public infrastructure to both bring down our emissions and prepare for the coming storms. Far from trumping other issues, climate change vindicates much of what the left has been demanding for decades’ said the campaigning writer Naomi Klein in a seminal speech to the founding conference of Canada’s largest trade union Unifor last September:http://www.naomiklein.org/articles/2013/09/why-unions-need-join-climate-fight
The Environment Agency in England, where UNISON organises 3,500 workers, is slashing its staff by 15% in the next year. Over 1,700 jobs will be lost as a result of Government funding cuts. Veerle Heyvaert writing for The Conversation blog warns that the ‘environmental and related economic costs of this scale of layoffs at the Environment Agency should be taken seriously. By themselves they are unlikely to sway a government that, regardless of its claimed green ambition, pursues an agenda of environmental deregulation. Yet there are other significant legal and political costs that may have escaped the government’s attention so far but are significant’ http://theconversation.com/environment-agency-staff-cuts-risks-economy-and-reputation-20584
Greenpeace and global trade unions have slammed as a 'missed opportunity' the Rio+20 UN climate change summit, which ended on Friday.
In a discussion paper written to mark the summit, Ulrich Brand of Germany's Rosa Luxemburg Foundation questions the magic formula of the green economy - 'people have been rhapsodising over the greening of capitalism. At the same time it is clear that somehow sustainable development is not faring so well. CO2 emissions are increasing. Biological diversity is contracting. Famine, impoverishment and social inequality are increasing in many countries' http://www.rosalux.de/fileadmin/rls_uploads /pdfs/Argumente/lux_argu_GreenEconomy _eng.pdf
Eric Pickles caused enough concern in Manchester when environmentalists scratched their heads wondering how a beached whale had arrived in Manchester but lo and behold it was merely Eric being kept wet by the tears of the thousands of workers he has laid off.
The excellent Institute of Employment Rights hosted an impressive talk last night at UNISON’s new centre in London. John Hendy QC welcomed Richard Wilkinson, one of the authors of the book The Spirit Level to address a packed meeting room: http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/resource/the-spirit-level
Until the middle of December, energy and environment ministers representing governments from across the globe, unions and green organisations have taken all up residence in the Mexican party resort of Cancun. http://www.tuc.org.uk/international/tuc-18876-f0.cfm
‘The deep defects in the global economic system have not been remedied. The current upswing will therefore be brief. Another, perhaps even more serious, crisis is likely. When it happens the left must not be caught, as it was last time, with its pants down’ says Larry Elliot in his foreword to ‘Britain's broken economy - and how to mend it’ published by the centre left New Political Economy Network and available on line at: http://www.lwbooks.co.uk/ebooks/BritainsBrokenEconomy.html
UNISON has for the last three years running a Capital Stewardship Programme, trying to explain to our members that their pension funds own the economy. A new stewardship code has been launched by the government which gives pension fund members more power over their savings which are invested in the economy. Ruth Sutherland of the Observer points out the key issues that are covered by the code. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jul/04/pension-funds-corporate-governance-investors
Last week, SOLIDAR - a network of NGOs working to advance social justice in Europe - co-signed a letter coordinated by the Fair Trade Advocacy Office addressed to the EU Commissioner for Internal Market and Services.
With just two days to go before BP's annual general meeting, a growingwave of support from global public sector pension fund investors is emerging for the resolution - co-filed by the UNISON staff pension fund and co-ordinated by Fair Pensions and opposed by BP management -questioning the company's planned oil sands projects in Canada.
UNISON's national campaign to bring the oil giants BP and Shell to account is making real progress, particularly where pension fund members have requested the pension fund to vote for the two resolutions on the agenda at both companies' AGMs.
UK Members of Parliament (MPs) today (March 11) demand that their own Parliamentary Pension Fund backs a growing investor campaign to force oil giants, BP and Shell, to report on potential investment risks associated with controversial tar sands projects. http://www.responsible-investor.com/home/article/tar/
Yesterday women came together in Northern region to celebrate International Women's Day (8 March) to debate how climate change and the decisions being taken to tackle the environmental challenges the World faces disproportionaly impact more on women in society.
