Living standards squeezed by pay & benefit cuts

A joint survey by PCS and UNISON of more than 10,000 public sector workers, has confirmed the drastic impact of Con Dem austerity measures on the living standards of public sector workers across the UK:

NHS Pay Review Body confirms 2 year pay freeze

The supposedly independent NHS Pay Review Body has adopted Government policy that a 2 year pay freeze should be applied to all NHS staff except for those earning less than £21,000 per annum (NHS pay spine points 1 to 15) who will receive a £250 flat rate pay rise in 2011/12:

Invest in getting people back into work - TUC

As speculation mounts that tomorrow’s Con Dem budget will see concessions on fuel and air passenger taxes but no reversal on austerity measures, the TUC has called on the Government ‘to use the budget to boost jobs through well-funded employment schemes and encourage growth through a green investment bank and an ambitious industrial strategy’: http://www.tuc.org.uk/economy/tuc-19346-f0.cfm

Now is the Time to Grab Hearts and Minds

The great issue in the trade union world that we live in at the moment is the issue of our pensions. There is little doubt that the only way that we will influence our main foe in this fight is by taking strike action against the Tory Government.

Party Funding Review - end game in sight

Since July 2010 the Committee on Standards in Public Life has beenholding an inquiry into the old chestnut of party political financeand there appears to be some slippage in the timing of its finalreport - having moved from from 'spring' to 'late spring' in mandarinspeak: http://www.public-standards.org.uk/OurWork/Party_Political_Finance.html 

UNISON Active Analysis: Hutton Review of Senior Pay - a soft boiled Curate's Egg

Last Tuesday, for the second week in succession, a Con Dem appointed Hutton Commission reported on the findings of a review - this one chaired by Will Hutton:  http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/indreview_willhutton_fairpay.htm

The City & Wall Street plunder pension funds from West Midlands to Wisconsin

Everyone knows by now that the attack on public sector trade unionism in the West has its epicentre in Wisconsin. Backed by the wealthy elite the State Governor has launched an attack that seeks to destroy the resistance of workers, their unions and their communities.

Libya: Stop the Bombing - Protest at Downing Street: Sunday 20th March 3pm

CND regrets the British government’s decision to pursue military intervention in Libya and opposes the current attacks taking place on Libya.  http://www.cnduk.org/

BDS movement against Israeli Apartheid is 'doing a good job all over the world'

Ofer Eini, leader of Israel's Histadrut trade union confederation is reported in the Jerusalem Post as saying that the boycott movement against Israel is "doing a good job all over the world". Eini, a leading opponent of the boycott in the international trade union movement, was speaking at an Israel lobby event in New York.

On the brink of... by Suheir Hammad

Written 20 March 2003 in tribute to Rachel Corrie
On the brink of
tears, sanity and war,
I feel powerless, hope
less and less than alive.