4 Community Budget pilots confirmed – time to organise

The Government has announced that in 4 large areas public bodies are to be given the chance to pool budgets across all local public services – thus posing a major organising challenge to UNISON over the next 10 years – building workplace power to secure in house service delivery as the public service structures in England are transformed:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/dec/22/councils-local-public-services-budgets The local authority areas selected for the pilots are:

"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

Cameron's 100 days?

Spending cuts, school reform, the dismantling of regional policy and restrictions on immigration ranked high in a poll of Conservative "insiders" predicting the early actions of a new Conservative government on the conservativehome blog.

Drive for shared services and 'back office' staffing reducations stepped up‏

Key to government promises to "protect the frontline" (http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page21634) from the impact of spending cuts are"efficiency" plans for "back office" operations across central government, local government, schools, the health service, police services, and all other public sector bodies. Cabinet Office papers released this week to accompany the Pre-Budget Report provide more detail, building on the Operational Efficiency Programme launched by the Treasury earlier this year:

PUBLIC WORKS: Quality Public Services are a true measure of a civilised society

In a speech to an SNP Conference fringe, UNISON Scotland Convener Mike Kirby looks at the history of public provision and slams trusts and outsourcing as a forerunner for privatisation and an attack on jobs, terms and conditions and pensions. In a call for valued, accountable and quality services, he asks why, if other countries can fend off possible accusations on unfair state aid to services, why can't we?

Political Fund response: Northern 'can do' approach to challenges - Educate, Agitate, Organise

Northern Region today hosted day one of a two day policy conference attracting over 140 activists from all over the region. Refreshingly this was a policy conference with a difference. There were no motions, amendments,composites or Standing orders reports in sight The focus at this meeting is not on political philosophies or political point scoring. Its agenda was grounded in the concrete. Plus Jane Carolan's keynote speech

UNISON police staff conference - outsourcing threat intensifies‏

I returned home from the UNISON Police Staff Service Group Conference last Saturday with very mixed emotions. On the one hand I felt angry, worried and dismayed that our Government could be proposing that the future of our police service should be left to outsourcing, shared services and collaboration.

Local government jobs carnage worsens‏

UNISON branches across the country tell of the cuts they are facing: In his immediate response to Gordon Brown's leader's speech at the Labour Party Conference last Tuesday, Dave Prentis was rightly sceptical on BBC Radio 5 about Gordon Brown's differentiation between 'essential frontline' public service jobs and those non-specified other jobs which are presumably deemed dispensable. 'We need confirmation from the Government that the public sector will not pay the price for the economic crisis' said Dave in the official UNISON response: http://www.unison.org.uk/asppresspack/pressrelease_view.asp?id=1591