Boom in international trade fails workers in developing world - UN report‏

The surge in world trade in recent years has failed to improve the working conditions and living standards for the majority of workers in poor countries, according to a new United Nations labour agency study launched today. In the developing world, job creation has largely taken place in the informal economy, which ranges from 30 per cent of the workforce in Latin America to more than 80 per cent in some sub-Saharan and South Asian countries. Read more: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=32505&Cr=international+labour&Cr1=#

Our money.our companies...time to get our act together

Property rights are supposed to be at the centre of capitalist economies, and it’s our pension savings invested in shares that make us the owners of companies! If we are to learn anything from the current economic crisis it’s this – we can’t pay our pension contributions and just walk away. The government, through Paul Myners the Minister for the City stresses that they can only do so much… http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/769f43dc-b679-11de-8a28-00144feab49a.html?nclick_check=1

Political fund response: Make dual political strategy work for us

Come the elections, we have to face some very hard facts. And one of them is that, without dramatic action, the Tories seem on course to gain power with all that would mean for the destruction of public services, pensions and just about everything else – along with an NHS even more privatised than the worst of any of the current plans.

UNISON Political Fund Review – the changing political landscape (Q1 - Q3)

The consultation for the review of the political fund effectiveness is underway. Branches and other union bodies are being asked to feed in views by Friday 13 November. Here we give introduce a section of the consultation document and invite UNISONActive readers' views for publication.

Why transformational leadership matters in trade unions

Gregor Gall’s excellent article ‘in search of charismatic leadership’ published in last Friday’s Morning Star, made the point that the recent loss of the likes of Ken Gill and Jack Jones, marked the passing of a generation of inspiring and visionary leaders at the highest levels of the labour movement.
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/features/In-search-of-charismatic-leadership

Income inequality had a role in creating crisis

In the FT letters, Prof Robert H. Wade argues rising national inequality since 1990 - not only in the US but in countries containing perhaps as much as 80 per cent of the world's population - was one of the main forces driving global financial fragility. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/68a4de1c-b6c5-11de-8a28-00144feab49a.html

How can UNISON's political fund be more effective?

The consultation for the review of the political fund effectiveness is underway. The consultation is gathering ideas and experiences for the review. Branches and other union bodies are being asked to feed in views by Friday 13 November. Here we give some of the background and invite UNISONActive readers' views on the review for publication.

NUM Former Vice-President Mick McGahey victim of MI5 fabrications‏

Another great trade union leader of the late 20th century has been smeared by MI5, its academic hired hands and (no surprise) its house journalists in the Sunday Times. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6869435.ece

HMIC recommends sweeping privatisation of police services‏

Private sector companies have a “massive” opportunity to take over running non-frontline police services as law enforcement budgets across the country come under severe pressure, according to the chief police watchdog, reports James Boxell in the FT

UNISON fighting redundancies in local government - a twin track approach‏

The ‘Twin Track’ approach to opposing privatisation whilst also preparing for it’s existence in our workplaces is one that will be known to many, and one that seeks ultimately to offer some rearguard safety net to our members faced with ‘outsourcing’. Whilst it may stick in all our political throats to face the reality of privatisation a new real threat requires an additional track of opposition with a similar security strategy built in.