PSI blog on the Financial Crisis

Public back A Million Voices

UNISON's advertising campaign – 'don't wait til they've gone' – has encouraged the public to stand up for public services and public service workers.

Messages of support have flooded in and they make encouraging reading for our members.

But messages of support are not just coming from our members – many are also coming from people outside the union who are standing with UNISON to support public services.

More on the UNISON website: http://www.unison.org.uk/news/news_view.asp?did=5702

IMPACT members vote overwhelmingly for strike action

IMPACT members have voted overwhelmingly on 21 October 2009 in favour of strikes if the Government moves to impose a second public service pay cut.

Read more on the IMPACT website here: http://www.impact.ie/iopen24/impact-members-vote-overwhelmingly-strike-action-n-279.html

IMPACT campaign to fight the cuts

IMPACT’s anti-cuts campaign is really gaining momentum. There’s still a wall of prejudice and misinformation but finally, the point of view of public servants is beginning to be heard. We’re gaining ground little by little. But with the outcome of the IMPACT ballot, the budget looming, and the government warming up public opinion for cuts, we’re heading into a critical time.

More exciting YouTube videos have just been launched. Go to these links and have a look:

• Labels
• The Nerve

Read our earlier post on the issue here: http://financialcrisisblog.world-psi.org/2009/10/impact-launches-campaign-to-fight-the-cuts.html

IMPACT launches campaign to fight the cuts

Under the slogan ‘Public Services: Transformation Not Cuts,’ PSI affiliate IMPACT has launched an advertising campaign, aimed at defending public services and the people who use and provide them.

“The IMPACT campaign aims to increase support for the people who deliver public services by demonstrating that public servants and their unions understand that times have changed, and they are demonstrating a willingness and ability to find and implement constructive solutions to preserve the services that people need and value,” said IMPACT general secretary Peter McLoone.

According to new research commissioned by IMPACT trade union, Mr McLoone said that a large number of people wanted public service reform without further cuts in pay or vital services. “These findings strongly suggest that, while recognizing the need for savings, a large number of people want an alternative approach to cuts in pay and services. IMPACT is putting forward that alternative, which can deliver substantial savings in public spending without damaging cuts to vital services - and without the imposition of a second public service pay cut.”

Mr McLoone also said public servants had been unfairly blamed for an economic and budgetary crisis that they did not create. “Despite a massive attack on public servants and their pay – from politicians, economists, business organisations and most of the media - public opinion is evenly split on the question of public service pay. This clearly suggests that politicians are mistaken if they believe they can win votes easily by pillorying and punishing the people who deliver public services,” he said.
The stark reality is this Government is planning to cut your family’s vital public services. And this is happening at a time when – because of the recession – people’s demand for public services is growing at pace.

Commentators have rightly described this as a shortsighted and cynical attempt to patch up the mess the Government has made of your economy. But far from alleviating the recession slashing your vital services will actually deepen it and cause great hardship to middle income families and the most vulnerable in society. This would be a tragedy.

Visit the campaign website here: www.7STEPStoTRANSFORM.ie

As part of the campaign, IMPACT has a new YouTube Channel. Visit the links below:

Latest videos (watch out for new videos over the next three weeks):

• Monster
• They’re everywhere

You can also become a YouTube campaigner and subscribe to the channel today (follow the link and click the ‘subscribe’ button just above the video screen)

World Day for Decent Work - 7 October 2009

7 October is the World Day for Decent Work (WDDW), organised by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).

The economic crisis threatens the jobs and futures of people everywhere. Decades of deregulation, and the greed and excess of a tiny minority, have pushed the world into the deepest recession since the 1930s. Decent work must be at the centre of government actions to bring back economic growth and build a new global economy that puts people first. Join with the International Trade Union Confederation in the campaign for economic recovery and reform on the World Day for Decent Work on 7 October 2009. Your organisation’s support is important, and you have the chance to join millions around the world in a united mobilisation for change.

PSI and other global union federations have chosen to use the day to highlight the growth in precarious work and the resulting erosion of workers' and trade unions' rights.

Information on the WDDW can be found on the new PSI webpage on precarious work by clicking here.

The ITUC has launched a new website for the WDDW: http://www.wddw.org/

Click here for the ITUC Call to Action: Get the World to Work.

Economic crisis imminently threatens economic survival of poor countries

Ahead of G-8 summit, United Nations Millennium Campaign warns that developing countries will be forced to slash desperately-needed expenditures for the poor; Campaign calls on G-8 leaders to urgently provide financial resources to poor countries

 

The United Nations Millennium Campaign is warning that the ongoing economic crisis is likely to bring the economies of many developing countries to the brink of collapse and threatens the very survival of their citizens. According to the African Development Bank, countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kenya could run out of foreign reserves to purchase goods necessary for survival in a matter of weeks. At the same time, countries including Laos, Senegal, Uganda, Cape Verde and Sudan are cutting expenditures on poverty alleviation for desperately poor citizens. Experts predict that spending on core development, including the Millennium Development Goals, could decline by $200 billion as a result of the crisis.

 

Read full text here: http://www.endpoverty2015.org/global-partnership/news/economic-crisis-imminently-threatens-economic-survival-poor-countries/06/jul/09

Economic Recovery That Works For Working People in America

SEIU’s 2 million members are engaged in a campaign to ensure that Congress quickly follows through and passes an economic recovery package. The millions of working people in America reeling from the nation’s severe economic crisis need immediate action on a large economic recovery package that invests in state and local government to preserve essential services and invests in infrastructure and human services to create jobs. Click here for more: http://www.seiu.org/economicrecovery/

People’s Voices on the Crisis

On 20 June, 2009 a coalition of civil society organizations, and UN- NGLS , organized “People’s Voices on the Crisis”. This event brought together activists from civil society organizations, trade unions and grassroots groups on a local, national and international level, who gave testimony on how their lives and communities are being directly affected by the current economic crisis. Held in advance of the UN Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development, “People’s Voices on the Crisis” gave an opportunity to those that have felt the impact of the crisis and whose stories have thus far received little attention to share their perspectives. The event showcased the testimonies of grassroots activists from diverse regions of the world working with many of the world’s forgotten victims, who will give evidence on how the financial, as well as food, energy and climate change crises, are affecting their lives and their work. More here: http://www.un-ngls.org/spip.php?article1396 or http://www.un-ngls.org/spip.php?article1379

Press the G8! Online action

The Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) launches an online action supporting mobilisation around the G8 in July in Italy. The interactive ‘game’ and online petition are based on the concept ‘Press the G8’. Individual activists add their pressure by literally ‘pressing’ the G8 leader or leaders of their choice, each time a leader is ‘pressed’ the counter goes up. The amount of pressure added and the total number of signatures will be used to lobby the G8 during their upcoming meeting in July in Italy.

www.whiteband.org/action/presstheg8

• Click here for more information on the online action: http://www.whiteband.org/blog/archive/2009/06/02/press-the-g8-online-action/

• More on GCAP here: http://www.whiteband.org/about-gcap/what-is-gcap

• Start planning your activity around the G8 Summit in Italy. Download the GCAP G8 Common Lobbying Positions (pdf) here: http://www.whiteband.org/Action/take-action/gcap-mobilisation-2009/g8-2009/gcap-g8-common-lobbying-positions-final.pdf

• The G8 Summit will be held on 8-10 July 2009 in L’Aquila, Italy. General information on the G8 summit can be found here: http://www.g8italia2009.it/G8/G8-G8_Layout_locale-1199882116809_Home.htm

Trade Union Declaration from OWINFS Cape Town Meeting

Trade unions and labour federations met in Cape Town in the context of the Our World is not for Sale strategy meeting on 11-14 May. They prepared a Declaration on the economic and financial crisis and plan on coordinating a week of worker action, where workers can demonstrate to show that “workers will not pay for the crisis”. 

The Declaration states that the G-20 Economic Crisis Summits have been advertised as developing a remedy for all the problems of capitalism. Yet in fact the ‘remedies’ coming out of these summits rely on the very policies and institutions that got the world into this mess: the WTO, the IMF and the WB and other IFIs. Never in history had there been such an enormous pay out of public funds designed to preserve an existing economic system that has proved not to work for most people. Effectively, the G-20 has tried to save the interests of concentrated capital, of transnational corporations and the big banks, the very interests that have long opposed any government intervention in their businesses. This backwards approach cannot be continued at the next G-20 meeting in September in New York. It is critical that the world’s workers and the poor rise up together to demand real change.

For the full declaration in English click here: Download Unions statement at OWINFS

For the full declaration in Spanish click here: Download Declaracion sindical OWINFS