PSI “Women, Water, Workers and Health” campaign

The International days of action for Women, Water, Workers and Health will be held on 8 March (International Women’s Day), 22 March (World Water Day) and 7 April (World Health Day). Women and trade unions call for quality public water and health services FOR ALL.

Access to clean, safe water is fundamental if we are to reduce poverty, promote gender equality, reduce child mortality and ensure good health for all. It is essential that States invest in quality water and sanitation services in the interest of public health. Evidence suggests that when the majority of health care financing comes through government, health outcomes are better. Where public health systems are well-funded and governed, governments have the necessary oversight and authority to rationally plan health care according to population needs, keep costs down and promote social protection for the poor and vulnerable.

Trade unions play a key role in developing quality public water and health care systems. Trade union members are often front-line experts with hands-on knowledge of how to improve management and delivery of quality water and health services. They know which systems can be improved and how resources can be used more effectively.

Taking advantage of the technical resources and expertise that exists in municipal water utilities is another option to improve the quality of water services. Rather than sell off vital services, authorities should seek knowledge-sharing between successful public water undertakings and those that need improvement. Capacity building for public water and sanitation utilities includes training for workers, together with the maintenance and improvement of infrastructure. These are all vital investments for our future. Public sector trade unions from developing and developed countries can play an essential role. These partnerships are often called public-public partnerships or ‘twinnings’. They are a valuable contribution to the improvement of water services and to the strengthening of public utilities.

The key campaign messages that are being promoted by PSI are:

• Access to safe and affordable water is a fundamental human right
• Universal access to safe, affordable water promotes public health and accelerates development
• Publicly funded quality health and care services are crucial to empowering women
• Reliance on private provision of health care and water services exacerbates inequalities
• Governments must invest in public water, health and sanitation services
• Water and health care must be kept in public hands

The campaign materials consist of postcards, posters and a brochure. These should assist affiliates in their quality public services campaigns, help them in their efforts to raise awareness amongst their membership, in local communities, in schools and in national debates and be of use in recruitment and organising of campaigns.

Copies of the materials will be available shortly on the campaign website at the following address: www.psiwater.org.
For further information, please contact equality@world-psi.org.

Japan: Improving conditions for workers in elderly care

PSI’s Japanese affiliate JICHIRO (the All-Japan Prefectural and Municipal Workers Union) has started a campaign to improve the working conditions of those who care for the elderly in Japan. These workers have to work long and irregular hours with low wages. Their skills and dedication are not adequately recognised, and it is becoming difficult to keep sufficient personnel in the sector.

A severe shortage of workers in elderly care has pushed the union to join forces with other workers’ organisations, groups of elderly citizens and retirees, people with disabilities and vocational and business groups. Together they are campaigning for an increase in the number of elderly care staff, to raise wages and improve working conditions.

They collected 645,000 signatures and presented them to the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare. The government has promised to compile a special budget giving these workers a 3% wage rise. However, JICHIRO considers that this is not sufficient and is continuing to lobby for a system where all workers can benefit from adequate wages.

PSI Chilean affiliates fight for quality public services

Chilean affiliates decided to reproduce the PSI campaign for Quality Public Services linking it to the bargaining process on the 2008 salary adjustments. Posters were displayed in subway stations and State agencies.

Chilean trade union organisations affiliated to PSI decided to support the 15 trade unions involved in the bargaining process for the public sector through an extensive use of the PSI world campaign. Under the motto “Decent Work = Quality Public Services”, communication strategies were applied in order to influence the result of the negotiations to be held with the government this year.

This initiative was launched by the PSI Campaign Committee, its active members include: Claudio González (Fenpruss), Angela Rifo (Anef), Carolina Espinoza (Confusam), Raúl Bustos (Asemuch) and Carlos Rodríguez (Confemuch). These people designed posters, T-shirts and banners to be displayed in the main public buildings. The production of these materials was financed by the PSI LO/TCO project.

A public campaign

The campaign poster “Decent Work = Quality Public Services” was put up in subway stations, bus stops, the CUT headquarters, the facades of most public service buildings, municipalities, schools, medical centres and hospitals. Public workers’ main claims were also publicised through open messages related to the official list of demands presented to the Ministries of Finance and of Labour, i.e. application of ILO Convention n°151, work stability, equal opportunities and a 14.5% salary adjustment.

Public sector strike

The strike held by public employees from 17-21 November was so massive and effective that it obtained good media coverage. As a result, wide sectors of civil society expressed their solidarity with public sector workers.

Although this major national mobilisation was not sufficient to get the 14.5% salary adjustment requested by the 15 public sector trade unions, they did succeed in getting an additional 5% on top of the initial 5% increase proposed by Andrés Velasco, Minister of Finance. This achievement was made possible thanks to the scope of the mobilization and the efficient actions carried out by the leaders of the movement.

UK: Reform ‘won't come from the centre’

Trade unionists know that the alliance between public sector workers and the public is a strong and useful alliance. Both want public services of high quality and keep services public. One key issue for trade unionists have been to give more responsibility to public sector workers who know the users’ needs: quality.

In an interesting article in “Public service” (the information portal for the public sector), UK minister for the Cabinet Office Liam Byrne say that Public sector reform will not come from what central government dictates but is best driven by a smaller, stronger centre of government that focuses on allowing frontline workers to deliver the services that people need.

Byrne said a move away from central control will add to efficiency savings already achieved by the civil service, improve Whitehall accountability and give greater independence to frontline staff.

The plan is to close the gap between Whitehall policy and frontline delivery. Byrne said: "What people want is an economy where our performance matches our potential, a society of fair rules and fair chances. As an extraordinary country, whose sense of invention helped define this age, we have an extraordinary future ahead of us. That future is well within our grasp. But not unless government, the civil service, and our public services change with the world around us. "

He added: "Success comes not from accumulating, or hoarding, or concentrating power in the hands of politicians or civil servants – it comes from giving it away to people. We want a country of powerful people. And that is my guiding principle in reform of public services."

Claiming the government will not "walk away from Whitehall reform", Byrne said: "The centre needs to be an agent of change, not an agent of control. We don't need a big government to have a strong state, but we do need a strong state to have a richer economy and a fairer society. We need an active government putting people power at the centre of its vision for the future."

If this will be the future it could be a revival for professional pro-user civil servants.

Read more at: http://www.publicservice.co.uk/news_story.asp?id=8471

PSI’s proposal for public-public partnerships moves forward

UN Habitat to implement Global Water Operator Partnerships

A PSI delegation defended the public-public partnership (PUPs) approach in a meeting at UN Habitat headquarters in Nairobi, 29-30 January 2009. PSI, its unions and its allies were able to advance key principles and guidelines and were selected to participate in the international steering committee of the Global Water Operators Partnerships Alliance (GWOP).

In order to reach the MDGs in water and sanitation, many tens of thousands of public operators will need assistance. Public operators need new mechanisms to help each other, in a systematic fashion, not just subject to the whims of donors or the occasional twinnings at municipal level.

Many barriers exist for systematic cooperation among public operators, which the GWOPs initiative should help resolve.

• Public water operators are typically municipal, operating within strictly defined geographic and political boundaries.
• These operators do not seek to expand beyond their geo-political borders, as they are not driven by profit, mergers and acquisition or competition.
• These operators are not present at the main global or regional policy meetings on water, so don’t have a voice to express their needs. 

PSI proposed a global mechanism for overcoming these problems to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation. A compromise was necessary, whereby private operators are allowed to participate, on a non-profit basis. Kofi Annan mandated UN Habitat to implement the proposal. 

The GWOPs International Steering Committee will provide advice to the UN Habitat staff and the WOPs General Assembly. Its role is to develop the actual guidelines and principles, as well as a code of conduct. PSI managed to obtain two seats for the unions (Abvakabo FNV and SOSBA) and two seats for the NGOs within the International Steering Committee (the original proposal had been one seat for NGOs and labour combined).

The tensions in Water Operator Partnerships (WOPs) lie basically around the role of the privateers and the pro-commercial publics, ie, SABESP and others. The private lobbying arm AquaFed (the International Federation of Private Water operators) was present and very active. Although all agreed that the WOPs must be not-for-profit, the issue of a quarantine (preventing the privates from doing ‘business’ after a WOP for a period of 5-10 years) was controversial and heavily resisted by the privates.

Another remaining problem is the role of the regional WOPs, which were put into place before any principles and guidelines were developed. Most of the regional WOPs were started by regional development banks and include pro-privatisation biases. The regional WOPs haven’t included any of the social partners in their activities, including the unions.

PSI worked with a number of the public operators and NGOs to ensure an appropriate focus on PUPs. Key allies included water utilities from India, Morocco, Brazil, Argentina and the Netherlands. NGO allies include the Reclaiming Public Water Network, Africa Water Network and WaterAid.

The International Steering Committee met on the second afternoon of the meeting and agreed on a set of principles for the GWOPs. Although there was stiff resistance from AquaFed and US AID, the quarantine was agreed in principle, even if UN Habitat must determine whether it will be implemented. AquaFed tried to put over the argument that this would constitute discrimination forbidden under UN mechanisms.

Norway: Cooperation on quality

The Norwegian National Centre for Health Services has initiated cooperation with an ongoing Quality Municipalities Programme. The municipalities that have projects involving health have been invited to cooperate with the agency's knowledge section for quality, called GRUK.

The Quality Municipalities Programme has been developed as a result of an agreement between the State, the National Association of Local and Regional Authorites and the labour unions affiliated to PSI.

The main focus is to improve the quality of care for the elderly and disabled, primary and secondary schools and kindergartens. Particular emphasis is being given to improving the quality of the interactions between the municipal staff - the service provider - and the individual recipients of the services. Reducing absenteeism from the workplace due to illness is being given special attention. In an article in LOAktuelt, the Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Magnhild Meltveit Kleppa, explained that the municipality of Bodø has succeeded in all those areas.

Currently, 124 municipalities are in the programme. The goal is to include about half of the over 400 municipalities in Norway.

Through the cooperation with GRUK, the municipalities will gain access to lecturers and academic initiatives in quality improvement. The municipalities can also access the site “Methods and tools for improved quality”. Senior attorneys from the section will travel around and visit the municipalities and their local government during the autumn.

The National Centre for health services was created in 2004. Its mission is to assist health care authorities and health workers with updated knowledge of medical and health care methods and technologies. The knowledge centre is managed by the Health Department, but is academically independent.

UK: UNISON investigates “Public Services Industry”

A report by UNISON warns that the increasing involvement of the private sector in public service provision is exposing taxpayers to new financial risks. Public services are now a moneymaker for a private industry with an annual turnover of nearly £80bn. The report examines the wider social, economic and political impact of its growing role and influence. Concerns raised by the report include:

• Public services generate levels of profits for PPP firms and private equity houses far beyond what might be regarded as “fair” returns on investment.
• Reliance on debt finance has heightened the exposure of key services economic risk resulting from the “credit crunch”.
• Transaction costs generated by the complicated process of tendering, bidding, contracting and monitoring are substantial.
• Pressure to extract profits can persuade contractors to prioritise cost cutting at the expense of investment and service quality.
• Public service delivery contracts are inflexible and costly to alter, making it harder for services to respond to changing needs or revised priorities.
• Public bodies can be poor clients, not properly monitoring contracts and undermining accountability.
• The claimed advantage for PFI and PPP of risk transfer is entirely notional – the taxpayer must ultimately bail out contractor failure, as major schemes cannot be allowed to fail.

The report: The Rise of the Public Services Industry is authored by Paul Gosling and can be downloaded from http://www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/PP8917.pdf

The UNISON “Positively Public” campaign for quality in UK public services asks for recognition of the essential role of public service workers in achieving this. Positively Public has campaigned on a range of public service issues, from the quality of school meals and hospital cleaning to the promotion of best practice. UNISON has won widespread recognition and support for their evidence-based critiques of policies such as the Private Finance Initiative and has been successful in securing a number of important policy changes. UNISON has pursued a twin track approach to public service campaigning that opposes the privatisation and marketisation of public services in principle but also recognises that where reforms are going ahead, UNISON must get the best protection for their members. UNISON campaigns for public services at international, national and local level, working with a diverse range of organisations who share the unions views on public services.

Bolivia says no to GATS for health services

On 11 November 2008, Bolivia notified its intention to modify some of its international trade obligations under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) relating to health services. Bolivia had previously made commitments within GATS to allow the activity of private corporations from other country members in hospital services. However, the country is now seeking to remove those commitments, in order to keep health services public.
According to WTO rules, Bolivia may be obliged to offer compensation to other member countries if it modifies national trade obligations under GATS.
PSI is very interested in hearing from unions in Bolivia and other countries as to the outcome of this modification. Contact Jorge.Mancillas@world-psi.org.

Mauritius: Local focus on PSI’s QPS Campaign

PSI affiliates in Mauritius, the Government Servant Association (GSU), the Federation of Parastatal Bodies and Other Unions (FPBOU) and the Local Authorities Employees Union (LAEU), celebrated Quality Public Services Day on 23^rd June in Port Louis. They reproduced and customized the PSI campaign material into a brochure, which was distributed to the public. They included union contact details in the locally-produced materials, which were also circulated in union offices and workplaces.  A selection of materials will be sent to all Heads of States and relevant ministries, and all of the Southern African Development Communities Offices (SADC).

In his opening speech, the President of the National Organising Committee comprising the GSA, FPBOU and LAEU, Mr Patrice L’Assiette, said that by comparing public services with the private sector, it was easy to realize the importance of public services. Where public services offer free help to all, private organisations have the prime objective to make profit, at high cost to consumers. “Public Services are the owners of the jewel of the family and should not be sold. All workers and public sector trade unions must work hand in hand for a better provision of Quality Public Services,” he said.

The representative of the GSA, Mr Prakash Ballackram, spoke about privatisation, which has a negative impact on workers and the public at large. Additionally, contracting out and public-private partnerships represent an ever-growing threat to the public services in Mauritius. Public-private partnerships are often the first step to implementing the privatisation agenda. PSI firmly believes that public-public partnerships (PUPs) would be more appropriate and would save on public spending, enhance efficiency and provide services at low cost. The central feature of modern public services is based in the principle of mutual support across communities based on shared social objectives. Neoliberalism is the ideological champion often pushed aggressively by the World Bank, the IMF and WTO.  Services provided are becoming commodities to be bought and sold and citizens have been turned into customers.

The unions organised a workshop for 33 participants, who were invited to talk on their expectations and future engagements with the rest of the group. All the participants and representatives of the three affiliates were given  samples of the campaign materials for distribution and placement in their workplaces. The participants appreciated the contents and quality of the materials produced and they thanked the PSI head office for this professional work.

In other activities, mixed groups of affiliates used the study circle method, and discussed how a better public service could be possible if provision of modern tools and equipment for better performance and productivity, and training on a regular basis for all employees from top management to the lowest grade of workers were in place. Other subjects put up for discussion were a better public transport system to enable workers to be in time at work and spend minimum time on the road; that government services should aim at being ISO certified and to implement a code of ethics and a customer charter. All workers agreed that they should celebrate Quality Public Services Day with great enthusiasm because public services are the backbone of society. Lots of progress has been made thanks to the service public sector workers provide.

South East Asia: PSI affiliates develop campaign plans for QPS

On 23 June union representatives from Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand met to discuss quality public services issues, share public sector restructuring experiences, and develop campaign plans to counteract the ongoing attacks on public services.

Cambodia: Each country has a different story; the new PSI affiliate in Cambodia (CICA) described a situation where privatisation of water and energy began soon after the civil war as the country was rebuilt and before people realised what was happening.  The quality of services does not improve, good governance is not practiced and poverty increases.  Corruption is high and people are not employed in public services for their skills and knowledge. Salaries are very low and paid irregularly. Working conditions are poor with workers experiencing human rights abuses in the work place. The cost of water and energy has risen, and poverty and services are cut off if people do not pay the bills. CICA is small and faces continual threats from the government because they are independent and speak out for the people. In spite of that the union are gradually growing stronger and recruiting more members.

Singapore: It is very different in Singapore, with efficient and effective public services and high expectations from the public. The unions are proud of the services provided by their members, and participate as stakeholders in developing policy and processes for public service delivery. This year they are holding a public service week with the government. that includes ceremonies to reaffirm the commitment to public services. There is some corporatisation and outsourcing where new recruits are now given 3-year contracts and the union has concerns that the quality of services may decline because of the changing nature of employment.

Indonesia: The Indonesian unions are facing severe threats to trade union rights. When the airport workers union held a strike for government’s failure to negotiate the collective agreement in good faith, seven workers were suspended and one dismissed.  This is a strong union but the sustained government attacks could weaken all the independent unions who organise State Owned Enterprises. 

The government is planning new electricity regulations this year, but as much as 40% of the population do not have access to electricity.  The new regulations will lead to privatisation, increased tariffs and the 40% without power will also increase. Water privatisation in Jakarta has gone ahead but has not been successful and it is now partly owned by local companies. This has meant that workers conditions and the quality of the service are reduced. The companies want to produce clean tap water but the water bottling companies are preventing it and prefer an irregular distribution of water and a poor supply. The government has ratified the ILO Conventions 98 and 87,  but in spite of this there are still no formalised independent unions in the civil service, this includes local government.  There are still no regulations covering the 4 million civil service workers.  The government is planning to restructure the administration but there is no consultation about how they intend to carry this out. It is feared that wages will go down, the quality of service delivery will decrease and expenses will be higher than workers incomes. The low salaries creates corruption, there are no career paths and a lack of competence because the government does not provide training programmes for workers. There is nothing for workers when they retire.

Philippines: In the Philippines there are nearly 1.5 million workers in the public sector and of these 56% are women.  Unions have the right to organise but there is climate of fear that makes recruitment difficult.  Workers are afraid of being branded as subversive or activists and of losing their jobs.  Earlier this year the government introduced a ‘Rationalisation Act’ that is now 50% implemented.  The results are that many workers have been forced to retire, new agencies have been created to carry out the work but workers are forced to accept very low conditions.  The rationalisation was about cutting budgets and this has led to reduced services, lower wages and workplace harassment.  Contracting out is increasing and the privatisation of water and energy continues.  Workers are given 3-yearly contracts and the renewal of these contracts is used as a tool for management to get votes in local elections.  This approach is ensuring that the gap between high and low salaries is becoming larger.  The unions successfully use the resources they have and can mobilise mass movements, lobby governments, hold demonstrations and have workers representatives in local government.

Malaysia and Thailand: In Malaysia and Thailand health is a specific problem, as poverty rises so does the cost of health care for working people and their families. There is continuing outsourcing as the governments reduce budgets for primary health care to fund an ever growing private health care sector that is now affordable for most of the population. The political situation in both countries has made it difficult for unions to grow and become stronger. In Thailand, in spite of the new constitution that gives the right to organise in the public sector, the government has done nothing to amend the law.  There is now an association for public health workers and PSI affiliates are working with them to assist them to become a union. But progress is slow and difficult, as there is a lot of management resistance.

The workshop participants agreed that it was important to plan and implement ongoing campaigns that can draw attention to these issues at the international, regional and national levels. They identified three areas to plan campaigns around: Public Administration and good governance will be the target for the Philippines, Cambodia and Singapore; Utilities and State Owned Enterprises and privatisation will be the target for Indonesia and Thailand; and Health will be the target for Malaysia and Thailand.  These campaigns will be planned and coordinated by the PSI National Coordinating Committees in each country with the support and assistance of the PSI Sub Regional Office.

Sweden: Privatisation does not give the desired results

A market for private job centre agencies is growing in Sweden. The state-owned public job centre service has outsourced workloads for almost one billion dollars. But researchers question expectations of a higher quality of the activity.
 
The pioneer country for private employment agencies is Australia. One of the many who has been there for study visits is the Swedish Minister of Employment, Sven Otto Littorin. Research suggests that the results of the reforms are not as good as the politicians hoped for. In countries where manpower services are completely or partially privatised, the objectives have been that the activities would be more efficient, cheaper and less bureaucratic, and that they would provide a better quality service. Another expectation has been that the new players will contribute with innovative methods in the service of getting people a job.

The introduction of a free and commercial market for manpower services has clearly led to changes, say the researchers Thomas Bredgaard and Fleming Larsen at the Centre for Labour Market Research at the University of Ålborg. But they are not so sure that it is for the better.

Read more about the results here

India: Focus on the female child care workers 

The Tamilnadu Government Officials Union (TNGOU) organised an event on 23rd June (Public Services Dayto recognise the work of the female childcare workers, the Anganwadi workers. The TNGOU has launched a campaign to improve the status of these workers and treat them equally with other civil employees. This campaign will have renewed vigour because the central executive has decided to conduct five regional conferences and one state conference with the issue of childcare workers as a top priority.

The Public Services Day event was attended by 100 representatives of the childcare workers. Two of them, who had received “best worker” awards from the government, shared their experiences. They explained how their work provides an essential service to parents who depend on them to develop their children and provide them support during their early years.

Each worker has a success story to share about the children from their centres. Thanks to the care they provide, many children are able to pursue their education and not end up as child labourers. However, despite the fact that many of these workers have served in the centres for years, when they leave they are not covered by social security.

The TNGOU campaign will revolve around lobbying the government to recognize the childcare services as public services and recognize the anganwadi workers as public employees. The TNGOU requests PSI that their case be discussed at the next meeting of the UN Commission on the Status of Women to be held March 2009.

Norway: Children on own boat the best picture

Fagbladet, the magazine of The Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employers, invited its readers to join a photo contest about the quality of services in January 2008. Fjord captain Anders Slembe took this winning picture of proud children and their teacher admiring their catch after a trip on the Oslo fjord.

Four days a week the children in Hval nursery farm are out on their boat in the Oslo Fjord. The nursery has its own 30–foot fishing boat, and Anders is the captain. The children put out nets and learn a lot about the sea, fish, and also: nature and climate. They learn to cultivate a very natural relationship with the sea. On a trip this winter the children caught both perch and red shark on their hooks.
It is not dangerous to send young children shark fishing; it's even fun. The last time the children caught a red shark, it was alive and the children touched it before throwing it back into the water.

Anders Slembe’s photo shows how a local kindergarten, with some extra help and effort from parents and employees, can improve children’s quality of life. Each year the kindergarten also holds a Christmas market, where, amongst other things, they sell handmade fish cakes. The revenue from this sale covers the cost of diesel fuel for the fishing boat.  Other Norwegian day care institutions are visiting Hval to benefit from their experience. To achieve what they have done in Hval takes courage and creativity, imagination and willingness to try out new ideas.

Fagbladet received several good contributions to the contest about quality, some of which are available on the web site http://www.frifagbevegelse.no/fagbladet/

Bangladesh: Workers and employees exchanged ideas

On 23rd June, the Power Grid Cooperation of Bangladesh Scramik Karmachari Union (PGCBSKU) celebrated Public Services Day with a work place discussion meeting in the city of Chittagong.

Mr. Morshed Alam Khan, General Secretary of PGCBSKU, welcomed the participants and explained the importance of a quality public sector. Later the working president of PGCBSKU's Central Executive Committee, Hafizul Hossain, presented a paper on quality public services, which the participants studied during group discussions. Local leaders of PGCBSKU and Power Grid Corporation of Bangladesh Sramik Karmarchari League (PGCBSKL) participated in the discussion, together with some members of the Bangladesh Jatio Bidyut Sramik Karmachari Union (BJBSKU).

Two lecturers from the Industrial Relations Institute in Chittagong provided some information and exchanged their experiences. The meeting was a good opportunity for the workers and employers to meet and learn to know each other, to exchange ideas and experiences and to join their forces to create quality public services.

UK:UNISON demands adequate funding for local government services

Representatives of PSI affiliate UNISON's 850,000 members working in councils throughout the UK had their annual conference in Bournemouth in June. The reprenstatives announced that they would fight tooth and nail to preserve jobs and local services. Delegates welcomed the removal of ring fencing which has given councils the flexibility to direct funds where they are most needed. But the increased freedom comes while money is getting tighter than ever, conference said, noting that "what this government gives with one hand, it takes away with the other".

The government’s three-year comprehensive spending review of 2007 was the harshest settlement in a decade - it does not even account for inflation, let alone an ageing population's demand for increased services. And the £4.3 bn in 'efficiency savings' delivered by members has not been directed back into local services and decent pay rises for staff.  Instead, council managers are spending millions of pounds on consultants who invariably recommend outsourcing and job cuts, leaving workers struggling to provide the quality services communities need.

Three-quarters of councils in England are only providing home care to older people judged to be in 'critical need', conference heard. Calling for adequate funding for local government services, delegates asked which services would be next to feel the pinch. Too many people were already falling between the cracks because of the squeeze on spending, they warned.
They also warned of the need to keep campaigning against privatisation and the erosion of staff terms and conditions that came with it.

Disabled members reported a detrimental impact on their working conditions following efficiency reviews, with little evidence of employers meeting their legal obligations to consider how shared services or outsourcing will affect this group of workers.
Where services are outsourced, it is women, particularly black women, and disabled staff of both genders who stand to lose the most, delegates heard.

Conference agreed that although it is vital to keep campaigning strongly against any further privatisation of services, where services are outsourced, they must be equality-proofed. In fact, public-sector equality duties should be extended to other organisations working with councils to provide public services, they declared.

Sweden: Public Libraries received United Nations Public Service Award

Libraries in the Umeå region in Sweden are celebrating their success. They have been won a United Nations award for developing the best possible service to people living in the region.The libraries in six municipalities (Umeå, Nordmaling, Vindeln, Robertsfors, Vännäs and Ballarat) form the constituency of the Umeå region. They won the competition  in the category of improving the delivery of services.

“This is so important. We have probably not quite understood it yet. We are happy, proud and amazed! It shows that we have made real priorities, "said Inger Edebro Sikstrõm,   director of the Library in Umeå to sktf-tidningen. SKTF is a national trade local union for publicly and privately employed salaried employees who provide service and support to the public within municipal and county areas, as well as within the church. SKTF is a PSI affiliate.

Edebro Sikstrõm is also project manager for Library 2007, a EU-funded project that the libraries in the Umeå region have participated in since 2000.
The aim of the project has been to adapt the services provided to the need of the citizens. Because there is a lot of movement in the Umeå region, people move across municipalities when, for example, they work at one place but live in another. 

The libraries have worked for a closer cooperation.”We now have only one server for all the libraries in the region. In addition, we have a common library register, and users only need one library card to have access to all the libraries, and can borrow and return books in any one of them.”Their web page, www.minabibliotek.se includes a discussion forum or "Living Room" where users can discussbooks, music and films.
The Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions have called it "Sweden's first municipal community,"An audio library allows visually-impaired users to enjoy the library independently.
Umeå library has already been praised for its development work in the past, when it received the European Public Sector Award and the Union of Baltic Cities Innovative Cultural Activity prize. Text translated from tora.gran@sktf.se

In the European Union: EPSU calls for stronger emphasis for public services

On 23^rd June, the Public Services Day. EPSU called for stronger emphasis for public services in the European Union. EPSU General Secretary, Carola Fischbach-Pyttel stated that; “the recent No vote on the Lisbon treaty should be a wake up call for EU leaders - actions, not words are what people want. An EU that is proud to promote quality services is what resonates with EU citizens. People will respond if they see EU institutions actively pushing for universal healthcare, for accessible childcare, for affordable energy, for clean water, and for safe waste management. On this UN designated public services day, EPSU calls on the EU to put public services at the heart of the EU”.

EPSU announced also that Public Services International was sending out copies of new quality public services resource; a useful folder containing posters, stickers, a leaflet about the campaign and the PSI global policy and strategic objectives. These documents are available here.

PSI affiliate wins UN Public Service Award

PSI affiliate from Singapore, the Housing & Development Board Staff Union, has informed us that the Housing & Development Board (HDB) has been awarded the UN Public Service Award under the category of Improving Transparency, Accountability, and Responsiveness in the Public Service. The Award is granted for the efforts and achievements of member countries in the areas of public administration and development management.
The HDB's "Home Ownership Programme" was chosen as a winner by the United Nations selectors, and the Board will receive the award at an official ceremony on 23 June, International Public Services Day.
PSI and its affiliates congratulate our Singaporean affliate for this great achievement.

For more information, go to www.hdb.gov.sg.

Canada: Provincial Government pushing massive and dangerous privatisation agenda

The pro-business government of British Columbia (Canada’s westernmost province) is ramming through a very hard-edged privatisation programme, targeting energy and water systems.  B.C. Hydro, the provincial monopoly energy utility has been under attack from the government for more than 15 years. The current government under Premier Gordon Campbell has pushed through legislation that weakens BC Hydro and is now committing the province to expensive private power generation contracts. This move will also bring BC Hydro under NAFTA’s free-trade provisions, meaning that future governments will be incapable of rolling back the current misguided privatisations. 

On the occasion of World Water Day, PSI utilities officer David Boys went to Canada on 17-20 March. He met with the Canadian Office and Professional Employees union (COPE), which represents a majority of the workers in BC Hydro. Although COPE is not a PSI affiliate, we suggested a programme of work which should be urgently implemented, focusing mainly on support by our affiliated unions in the USA and the UK which have suffered under some of the same policies promoted by the Campbell government.  Boys also met with John Calvert, a professor at Simon Frazer University who published an important new book on the energy programme.

PSI also helped the Canadian Union of Public Employees, CUPE, fight the announced privatisation of a new $1.2 billion sewage treatment plant for Victoria, the capital city of the province. 

CUPE has built a powerful coalition and is bringing significant resources to the fight.  PSI participated in community meetings, press and radio interviews and meetings with elected members of national, provincial and local government. CUPE also brought an activist from the east coast city of Halifax where unionists and NGOs successfully defeated a similar privatisation, resulting in a last-minute ejection of French giant Suez.

See http://www.cupe.bc.ca/4546

Peru:  Quality services through a public-public partnership

Peruvian urban water and sanitation policies have until now been based on private sector participation and market liberalisation. However, in the city of Huancayo, the action of workers, citizens and users has resulted in an innovative public-public partnership (PUP).

FREDEAJUN (Front for the Defence of Water- Region Junín) successfully resisted privatisation and, in a participatory process, developed an alternative proposal to reform the public utility SEDAM Huancayo SA.  FREDEAJUN and its member organisation SUTAPAH (Trade Union of Water Industry of Huancayo) has also established a public-public-partnership between SEDAM and ABSA (Aguas Bonaerenses S.A), a publicly-owned company operated by a workers cooperative in the state of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The case of Huancayo shows that through a strong local movement of citizens and workers, it is possible to reclaim the right to public water services. PUPs are efficient tools for movements to engage in utility reform. Huancayo also demonstrates a new form of international solidarity amongst public operators.

Read more about Huancayo. Learn more about public-public   (PUP)

Sweden: how to make elderly care a profession of choice

Kommunal, Sweden’s 500,000-strong public sector trade union, and PSI’s affiliate, has ten demands for improvements in the pay and working conditions of health workers,  providing primary care to the elderly. 

Employers should fulfil these demands, in order to provide quality public services. Fair pay, permanent employment, full-time work, agreed working hours and safe working conditions are the main demands. 

The union argues that elderly care is hard work and carries serious responsibility, but wages at the moment do not value these aspects. Comparable male dominated work is clearly higher-valued so there are also pay equity issues as well. 

The prevalence of part-time work is also much higher in elderly care and the union considers that full-time work should be a human right. Kommunal has called for new legislation to protect the right to full time work and argues it is the only way to be able to recruit enough young people to train as health workers in  the elderly care sector and ensure a quality service. 

Kommunal is still campaigning every Thursday with demonstrations against the draconian cuts in public services and the sale of state-owned assets. Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt’s neo-liberal government is determined to see through privatisation, rather than protect Sweden’s well-deserved reputation for quality public services.  Kommunal is determined to go on with the demonstrations until the Swedish people have justice or a new government.

Read more about Fight for juctice

Denmark: It pays off

The government of Denmark launched a new campaign called “Empowerment of women - it pays off”., focusing on the Millennium Development Goal (3) on gender equality and women’s empowerment.

In a work shop during the Commission on the Status of Women, CSW)in New York, the Danish Ambassador to the UN, Carsten Staur, said “if we wish to achieve sustainable development, safe societies and democracy, we need to empower girls and women. We are far from achieving the Millennium Development Goals. If we don’ t get on track, we will fail.”

Women's economic empowerment is a key factor in building quality public services. MDG 3 embodies the right to equality and equal access to resources and influence. The Danish Government have now created a website as a platform for action, and a meeting place for discussion. There is information, a film, on-line debates and many links to references and other resources. MDG3action.org is a forum for action. .

PSI is participating at the UNCTAD XII in Ghana April 20-25 and the pre-civil society forum preceding the conference.  In September,  the Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Accra, Ghana and in November the International Conference on Financing for Development in Doha, Qatar.

Norway: Law against Private ownership of drinking water

On 3^rd April, the Norwegian Parliament passed a law to ensure that water and sanitation infrastructure be publicly owned for the indefinite future. The French water company, Veolia, is clearly disappointed, and will not be able to invest in Norway as they have planned.

Fagforbundet, PSIs affiliate, and the biggest public sector union in Norway has welcomed the new legislation.  The union considers that public ownership is vital to ensure good quality drinking water.  “Veolia is not interested in quality. They are just going for the profit’’, said  Stein Gulbrandsen, from the Division for Public Transport and Technical Staff (SST) in Fagforbundet.

Veolia has been campaigning in the Norwegian municipalities to gain support and to press local politicians to privatise the management of water and sanitation. Last Autumn,  all mayors and leading administrators received a letter and an information newspaper, from Veolia about the benefits the company could offer.

“We only gave them information about public-private solutions,” a representative from Veolia explained. Howeve, the company has been lobbying hard in advance of the vote in Parliament, and have made public their view that  compulsory public ownership will ensure neither quality nor control.

Fagforbundet will pushing for substantial investments when the next budget is drawn up.  “Private investors might have been able to do the upgrading faster, but that’s not the question here. Water and sanitation are not for sale. The people of Norway do not want to pay multinational companies to make a profit so they can enjoy good quality drinking water and sanitation in their homes”, said Stein Gulbrandsen.

Germany: Realising the human right to water

PSI together with its affiliate in Germany, Ver.di and a number of German NGOs jointly sponsored a conference on the human right to water, February 22-24, in Berlin.  The conference brought together over 100 activists, including women leaders from PSI affiliated utilities industry organisations from El Salvador and Uruguay and representatives of environmental and indigenous peoples associations from Bolivia, and Peru. 

Nora Wintour, Deputy General Secretary addressed the conference to explain the work of PSI to promote the human right to water, and to maintain water in public ownership and management.  She outlined the main aims of the PSI’s “women, water and workers” campaign March 8-22 2008.  Lourdes Martinez, Executive Board member of FFOSE, Uruguay, gave a detailed account of the work to promote the referendum for a constitutional right to water and the creation of the Commission for Water and Life.  This campaign resonates in Berlin today, as there is currently a signature petition circulating to call for a plebiscite on public ownership of Berlin water, entitled “we want our water back.”  Roxana Deras, General Secretary of STSEL, the Electricity Union of El Salvador, outlined the work of the Salvadoran coalition to oppose water ’s department was key to the coordination of the programme, which was co-sponsored with Ecomujer, FIAN, the German Gender network (Genanet)  and the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation. For more information and copies of the presentations see www.verdi.de

Berlin 8^th of March: Women from Verdi, joined Berlin women’s forum in Marianneplatz in Berlin at the 8th of March, to demonstrate against privatisation of water. As an ecological resource, water should be recognised as a basic human right.  “Because of the profit hunting of global companies, water is in many parts of the world a reason for suffering and conflicts. We need to stop that now,” said Ruth Luschnat from the Berlin women’s forum.

Southern Africa: Study circles as part of campaigns

PSI affiliates in Southern Africa have developed tools to involve workers and members at all levels in the union. They believe that this is a good way to be effective, and to create local communities with quality public services. The ten countries Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Zambia have been doing project activities that support unions to implement the PSI Quality Public Service Campaign. The activities are based on the issues facing each country.

The study circle manual provides a comprehensive guide to quality public service issues with guidelines and materials for the study circles coordinators and leaders. Reactivating the use of study circles is an important and effective method for raising workers awareness of issues and ensures the union members involvement at the workplace.

What are Quality Public Services? Thinking About QPS in the Workplace. The Central Role of Workers and d Working Conditions in Public Workplaces For Building Quality Public Services. Free Market Reforms; A Threat to QPS? Arguments For and Against Public Services Delivery. and so on.

These are the titles of some of the sessions in the study circle. The manual is not useful just for unions in Southern Africa but also for PSIs affiliates throughout the world. The study circle will ensure that the right to QPS I recognized as a trade union and human right. It will help ensure gender equality and equal access to services for all people and public alternatives to privatisation of basic services that are accountable and free from corruption.

The founders for this project are SASK , LOTCO and FNV. Ntokozo Mbhele has been the project coordinator.

Download Poster No. 1 here

Download Poster No. 2 here

Download Poster No. 3 here

Colombia:  People’s Tribunal calls multinational companies to account

The People’s Permanent Tribunal is the successor of the Russell Tribunal. It now comprises 130 human rights experts and well-known personalities.  In March 2008, in cooperation with Social Observatory, the Tribunal held a hearing in Colombia on public services. 

The hearing lasted three days and was held in Bogotá, Colombia. It examined the impact of the main multinationals in energy, water, telecommunications, and contracted services in government, including Union Fenosa and Endesa in the electricity sector and Aguas de Barcelona, Suez, Vivendi and Canal Isabel Segunda. 

It looked at how privatisation has meant that companies were often sold well below their real value, depriving the State of revenue,  and have resulted in mass redundancies, lack of investment in maintenance and improvements, persecution of trade union leaders, tariff increases and poor service delivery, or service delivery for those who can afford to pay.

Philippines: Vigorous fight for safe, affordable and efficient water

The fight against privatisation in the water sector is vigorous in the Philippines and the rest of Asia. The activities during the water-women-workers campaign shows that PSI affiliates are mobilising. On March 9^th, the Alliance of Government Workers in the Water Sector in the Philippines launched the www-campaign in municipalities. The South East Sub Regional Advisory Committee meeting on March 8^th and 10^t also organised some activities in order to launch the campaign. PSI affiliates called jointly for safe, affordable and efficient water for all. The South East WOC meeting did the same.

Globally, many affiliates have taken an active part in making this campaign a big success. Women’s committees have taken up the campaign from many regions, utilities and health affiliates and PSI affiliates generally in Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa and the Inter-Americas region. 

In India, The Tamil Nadu government official union was organising a conference on March 17^th on Women and Water, which highlighted the relationship between gender and water issues. Trade unions, media, government officers, politicians and some 400 persons participated.

The campaign has it’s background from 2006, when the World Women’s Committee (WOC) organized a workshop on the issue of women, water and trade agreements, looking at the impact of privatization and the GATS/WTO agreement. This workshop was held with the participation of the International Gender and Trade Network. At this meeting, it was agreed, on the recommendation of the Inter-Americas women’s committee, that the 2007 March 8^th campaign focus on the theme of Women and water: sources of life. Given the proximity of the World Water Day, on March 22^nd, and in consultation with PSI utilities group, a decision was made to extend the March 8^th campaign until March 22^nd in order to link the issues of women’s rights and access to water at the international level. The Water, Women and Workers: Sources of life campaign was the first attempt to link systematically, at the global level gender and water within PSI. Linking gender and sectoral issues proved to be a positive way to mobilize PSI’s affiliates.

In Korea, for the first time, a joint programme of activities allowed PSI’s affiliates and the member organisations of Joint Action against Water Privatisation to raise the issue in the centre of Seoul.

Ecuador : PSI affiliate supports Constitutional right to water

PSI affiliate ANTAPS, the water and sanitation union, is participating in the PSI funded Andean water project and has been an active campaigner against privatized water companies, such as Bechtel, which has taken over the water company in the key city of Guayaquil and elsewhere. 

ANTAP produced a pamphlet on the occasion of March 22, world water day, which outlines its positions against water privatisation.  It has also participated together with other civil society organisations in the development of a set of proposals for the Constitutional Reform Process.  The natural resources and biodiversity forum.of the Constitutional Assembly agreed in January 2008 that the following basic principles should be included in the new Constitution: 

Water is a public good and belongs to nature and to all the people of Ecuador. The right to water is a fundamental human right and cannot be renounced. No person, for no reason, whether racial, social, religious, economic, nor political, can be denied the right to water.

The new constitution should declare that water is a strategic resource of Ecuador.

For more information in Spanish

Sweden: Demonstrations every Thursday till 2010

Kommunal, Sweden’s 500,000-strong public sector trade union, and PSI's affiliate, launched the “Fight for Justice” campaign in November 2007 and has been demonstrating in Stockholm every week since then. The demonstrations are designed to protest at the draconian cuts in public services and the sale of state-owned assets. Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt’s neo-liberal government is determined to see through privatization, rather than protect Sweden’s well-deserved reputation for quality public services.

Ylva Thörn, President of Kommunal, launched the campaign by addressing her members and the people of Sweden, outlining the dire consequences for public services when profits matter more than quality. She explained that Kommunal wants to show the Government its anger over the cuts, its concern to protect the quality of public services and working conditions in the health, education, administration, transport, and utilities sectors.

Ylva Thörn stated that the impact of the government’s neo-liberal market policies would be felt in all the country’s communities and municipalities. Kommunal is mobilising its 500 local branches so that there will be demonstrations at least once a month in other big Swedish cities.

“These demonstrations are here to stay - until we have justice or a new government!” Ylva Thörn confirmed.

UK:  UNISON is Positively Public

Positively Public’ is UNISON's campaign for quality UK public services and for recognition of the essential role that public service employees play in achieving this. UNISON has campaigned on a range of public service issues, from the quality of school meals and hospital cleaning to the promotion of best practices. The campaign has won widespread appreciation and support.

The latest part of the Positively Public campaign, is entitled ”Cleaning up the NHS”.

In January UNISON urged officials from the health ministry to bring back hospital cleaners, whose numbers have almost halved in the past 20 years. The union believes more cleaners on the wards would reassure the public and help stamp out super bugs such as MRSA .The union welcomed the ‘deep clean’ initiative announced last year but says it should be used to kick-start better day-to-day cleaning of hospital wards and departments. It has warned that to do so effectively, the government needs to set recruitment targets for NHS cleaners.

UNISON head of health, Karen Jennings, says that the union is calling for a meeting between health ministers, UNISON and hospital cleaners to give politicians an insight into what hospital cleaning is like on the front line. It is a shame that the government has looked at the dangers of hospital-acquired infections from every angle except that of employing more cleaners. Karen Jennings underlines that a recruitment drive with government targets would speed up the urgently needed return of cleaners to hospitals, so that patients and the public can see cleaner, safer wards for themselves.

Read more about Positively Public

Brazil: Users, managers and workers unite for quality health

Nearly 4,000 participants met in Brasilia at the 13th National Health Conference on 14 and 18 November 2007, representing users of public health facilities, health workers and managers. The main theme was "Health and the quality of life: state policies and development". One of the interesting aspects of the conference was that over 50% of the participants were health service users.

It was by far the biggest health conference ever held in Brazil: prior to the event, there had been a series of over 4,000 municipal conferences, followed by 27 state conferences, all with representation from the three sectors (workers, users and managers).

One of the highlights of the national conference was the failure of the Ministry of Health proposal to establish state-based private foundations to administer public hospitals. It was feared that on the pretext of "modernizing" the management of health services, this policy could open doors for the possible privatisation of public health facilities. A partnership between health workers, including two an affiliates of the PSI, the Confederation of Social Security Workers (CNTSS/CUT), and Health Workers National Confederation (CNTS) and representatives of users defeated the proposal by a large majority. “This is a victory for the principles of a Quality Public Health Service,’’ said Monica Valiente, PSI Sub-regional Secretary for Brazil.

Nepal: South Asia Water Forum demands quality public water

On 7 January 80 women and men from public sector trade unions in the South Asia sub-region met in Nepal for a water network.

The forum reviewed PSI’s Congress resolution on water privatization. Participants shared information on national water policies and water sector reforms, discussed the role of the Asian Development Bank and drew up an action plan for South Asia. PSI affiliates were keen to learn more about globalization, its impacts on workers rights, and PSI’s water policy and campaigns.

The forum noted that rapid urbanization, rural migration, and population growth, had created enormous challenges. Irrational use, pollution, poor management and lack of public investment meant that no country in the sub-region had attained a quality public water and sanitation service, although the right to water is enshrined as a constitutional principle.

The forum recommended that unions in the sub-region should;

•  Promote quality public water and sanitation as essential to development.
• Promote adequate investment in publicly owned and managed water and sanitation services.
• Monitor financial institutions, call for transparency and accountability, and apply for the right to information where necessary. 
• Support water conservation and awareness campaigns and denounce companies and government institutions that pollute water supplies.
• Develop capacity building programmes for water workers on globalization and its impact on the water industry.
• Build alliances with research institutions, civil society organizations, users and other water activists, through networks and other mechanisms.
• Strengthen social dialogue in the water sector.

See more pictures http://www.flickr.com/photos/23079914@N03/

Kenya: Social Dialogue in the water sector

A national tripartite workshop on social dialogue in the water sector was held in Nairobi, Kenya on 26-27 November 2007,within the framework of an ILO sponsored programme on promotion of social dialogue in the public sector. The meeting recommended that social dialogue mechanisms be established, including bipartite enterprise committees, and a national industrial council.

The mandate of the enterprise committees and national council were to seek to resolve issues at the workplace level, improve information flow, and involve stakeholders in water reform. The meeting further identified the need for better data collection and research and capacity building for all staff, including managerial skills.

The workshop brought together representatives from the Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of Local Government, the Water Resources Management Authority, the Water Services Regulatory Board, the Association of Local Government Employers, water company managers and PSI affiliates from the Kenya Local Government Workers’ Union, the Union of Kenya Civil Servants and the Kenyan Electricity Workers Unions. Representatives from the national centre, the Central Organisation of Trade Unions also participated.

The workshop final statement (click here) recognised that access to water is an inalienable human right, and that in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals regarding access to water, it was important to promote social dialogue within the framework of the ILO Declaration of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. It was agreed that the water industry reform process faced a series of problems concerning poor participation of stakeholders, governance and investment issues. It was agreed that there was a need to clarify the legal framework in which the water industry operates, ensure adequate funding and investment in water infrastructure, involve the local community, in particular women as one of the prime users of water resources; and improve social dialogue.

 The World Social Forum held in Nairobi in January 2007 provided a platform for civil society organisations, trade unions and other stakeholders to start the process of discussing issues in the water sector in order to reach a common understanding. The Forum had also created an avenue for the formation of networks such as the Africa Water Network whose principles led to the collaboration between the trade unions and the civil society organisations. In the English-speaking (East and West) Africa sub-region this marked the beginning of an alliance between trade unions and civil society, which has opened up new horizons for the trade unions, which had previously focused largely on staff and welfare issues. This had limited their involvement in the broader campaigns against privatisation of the water sector as well as participation in community related issues, such as the access to clean water.

Trade unions and civil society have become more critical of the privatisation of water and need to strategise for democratic control and involvement in the management of water in their communities. In Tanzania and Uganda all the concerned groups successfully campaigned against water privatisation and insisted that its management must remain in public hands.

Indonesia: Major demonstration to oppose electricity privatisation in Jakarta

Over 7,000 workers joined a mass rally to oppose privatisation and “unbundling” of the PLN state electricity company in Jakarta, Indonesia on 30 January.

The Ministry of State Enterprises has unveiled a restructuring plan that is seen as a first step towards privatisation. The plan includes the creation of autonomous provincial companies and an end to the system of price subsidy from the main islands, particularly Java, to the smaller and poorer islands. PSI affiliates took part in the rally.

At the same time the government has agreed a major loan from the China Exim Bank to finance the construction of two coal-fired power plants in Java. “The PLN union has been opposing privatisation plans since 2002,”explained Fransiskus Supiarso, the Indonesia PSI coordinator. “So far they have been successful because the government know that the end result will be higher electricity prices for those who can least afford to pay more.”

Indonesia - a public services bill?

The Public Services Monitoring Community, a group of concerned NGOs, has urged the Indonesian House of Representatives to pass into law a public services bill to guarantee citizen’s rights to adequate and accessible public services.

A government bill drafted back in 2005 and proposed by the Ministry of State Administrative Reform contained many flaws and conspicuously fails to guarantee universal access. The NGO draft in contrast, provides a general guarantee and envisages the creation of special services for vulnerable groups, a clear mechanism for filing complaints and sanctions on state officials, to be monitored by an independent body.

Ecuador: Judicial workers call for quality justice!

The National Federation of Judicial Associations of Ecuador (FENAJE) has sent a detailed complaint to the government of Ecuador detailing how proposed reforms to the judicial system would violate Constitutional principles and put an end to the current judicial recruitment, appointment and tenure systems which provide guarantees for judicial independence and due process of law. 

The Federation has also exposed cases of legal irregularities, including senior appointments to the courts without a competitive examination.  In February last year, FENAJE held a rally outside the Supreme Court of Justice. In clear retaliation, the Supreme Court judges then proceeded to dismiss 6 union leaders, from their posts in the Ministry of Justice in violation of freedom of association principles and ILO Convention 87 and ILO Convention 98, to which Ecuador is a signatory.

Then in October 2007, the government ordered that two leaders of FENAJE be issued with arrest warrants and charged with crimes that could lead to prison sentences of up to 6 years. FENAJE has also submitted a complaint to the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association and in January 2008, PSI associated with the complaint and called for the urgent intervention of the ILO. 

See full allegations by FENAJE in Spanish. 

South Africa: Unions call for action to prevent electricity cuts

South Africa's state-owned electricity company, Eskom, has introduced a ‘load shedding’ policy, or staggered power cuts, in different districts and has stopped supplying power to neighbouring countries because of acute domestic shortages. The cuts last from 2 to 4 hours.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions, COSATU, is seriously concerned that the power cuts threaten millions of jobs. Many casual workers, including ‘permanent casuals’, are being sent home without pay for the period during which the power is off. Earlier Eskom warned the government that it needed money to invest in new power stations, but the government, which was then preparing to sell the company, refused.

COSATU opposed electricity privatisation on the grounds that it would lead to retrenchments, higher tariffs, a slower extension of supplies to poor communities and insufficient investment to meet future increased demand for electricity. COSATU insisted that Eskom must be a national service, efficiently providing secure and affordable power to the people and to industry. The present crisis is a result of poor management and inadequate investment.

President Thebo Mbeki has met Eskom's executives to discuss the power shortages. The President admitted the government had been wrong to refuse Eskom's request for more investment in power generation several years ago. "We were wrong. Eskom was right," Mr Mbeki said. The governing African National Congress has now recommended the urgent development of a national response plan, to keep the electricity flowing.

http://www.cosatu.org.za/press/2008/jan/press25.htm

Norway: A Photo of Quality

PSI affiliate Fagforbundet has launched a quality photo competition. The invitation says: Catch a smile! A moment of caring! Of drama! Let a photo capture Fagforbundet members’ everyday work to ensure quality public services!

Fagforbundet is the union of municipal and general employees, and the largest public sector union in Norway. The union has been pioneering ways of strengthening the quality of public services. The Model Municipality experiment, which now includes ten municipalities, is based on the tripartite collaboration of politicians, administration and the unions. The key is to develop good quality services based on ideas from the municipal workers themselves. The experiment is a pro-active way of changing the balance in the municipalities by giving employees more influence. The model municipality experiment has also proved to be an anti-privatisation strategy, as Fagforbundet does not merely oppose outsourcing and privatisation but offers an alternative strategy.

The winners of the competition will be announced later and PSI will publish the photos.

Google – supporting quality public services

PSI has a new and unexpected ally at Google.org, the company’s humanitarian foundation. Directed by Dr. Larry Brilliant, this recently created foundation has identified support to quality public services as one of its key areas of action.

“Quality public services – clean water, health, and education – are vital for human welfare and a strong economy. But in many countries in the developing world, essential public services are failing, especially for the poorest members of society. Conventional approaches to tackling this challenge have focused on tracking money spent rather than results achieved. Accountability to citizens and communities has largely been absent”. 

Google.org is working in East Africa and India by supporting information projects with a range of NGOs. The aim is to provide easily accessible information to service providers, citizens and communities as well as policy makers in order to improve the quality of public services. “Better information can help governments and other providers spend scarce resources wisely. And, empowered by information, citizens and communities can demand better services from providers or develop new solutions to meet their own needs.”

Of course, the billion-dollar question is ‘And what role for trade unions?’

See www.google.org

Philippines: 26 January World Social Forum Day

The Confederation of Independent Unions in the Public Sector (CIU), a PSI affiliate, attended a World Social Forum (WSF) demonstration on 26 January in Manila.

The Alliance of Progressive Labour (APL) and other organizations that form the KONTRA coalition to oppose privatization and contracting out also participated. The police halted the march from Plaza Miranda to Mendiola.

The marchers called for action on a range of issues, including contracting out, the situation of the urban poor, deteriorating public services, human rights violations and the many other issues that reflect the reality of many poor and developing countries.

Read more Confederation of Independent Unions in the Public Sector (CIU) [Visit]

Algeria: autonomous public sector trade unions take action to call for salary increases

On 10-12 February, an Algerian public sector trade union coalition will organise a series of actions to highlight the need to increase salaries in the public sector. PSI affiliate, SNAPAP, the autonomous public administration trade union, forms part of the coalition.

Purchasing power has dropped dramatically over the last decade and the government is failing to invest adequately in public infrastructure and a modern administration. The coalition is demanding a salary increase which meets the cost of living increase; a revision of the public administration statutes so as to recognise the status of the autonomous trade unions; recruitment for posts in the public administration, which are currently vacant or filled by temporary staff; an adequate pension plan for public administration workers and minimum income for the unemployed.

PSI has sent a letter of support to the union.

India: Citizen´s Report on MDGs shows long way to go

The Citizens’ Report on the MDGs was released on 7 January 2008 at the UNDP Hall, New Delhi, at a Release Event. For this occasion representatives of civil society and the UN joined Mani Shankar Aiyar (Union Minister for Panchayati Raj & Youth Affairs), and Salil Shetty (Global Director of the UN Millennium Campaign – New York).

Speaking before the release, Salil Shetty said, “India’s progress on critical indicators such as Maternal & Infant Mortality, Food Security, School Enrolment and Retention, and Universal Access to Water & Sanitation will determine if the world as a whole will achieve the MDGs.”

The India Citizens’ Report on the MDGs has been published by Wada Na Todo Abhiyan - a network of over 3,000 development organizations across 23 states, working to hold the government accountable to meeting the MDGs and National Development Goals. The report provides an overview of the achievement of the MDGs in India, as well as focused reviews from the perspective of socially disadvantaged groups such as Dalits, Denotified Tribes and Muslim Minorities. It also focuses on 10 states, namely Orissa, West Bengal, Himachal, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. The report is the result of a concerted effort across civil society groups to track India’s progress on the MDGs.

“We are aggrieved to find that despite being on the fast track to economic progress, India still accounts for the highest number of maternal deaths in the world. India has a Maternal Mortality Rate of 301 deaths per 100,000 live births, against an average of 20 deaths in developed countries. Yet India spends under 1% of its GDP on public expenditure for health – even less than countries like Sri Lanka and Sierra Leone,” said Jagadananda, Convenor of Wada Na Todo Abhiyan.

The report is available here

The MDGs are a set of developmental targets adopted at the turn of the century by 189 member countries of the United Nations as part of a global pact to end extreme poverty and hunger, and ensure greater access to health, education, equality and peace in the world by 2015. The MDGs are time-bound, measurable and easily understood and hold both governments and the international community accountable for their achievement.

Going Global: Organising, Recognition and Union Rights

Over 200 trade union leaders from the ITUC affiliates, the global union federations and the United States met in Washington on 10-11 December at a conference to strengthen international solidarity on workers’ rights, and to develop better strategies to represent workers in the global economy. Fred van Leeuwen, General Secretary of Education International and Chair of the Council of Global Unions, opened the meeting. He identified the major priorities for the global union movement, including the need for a major commitment to quality public services and the rejection of market-based solutions. “The market can give us a price for everything”, he stated, “but not its value”. During the conference, participants discussed how to strengthen the alternative global vision of public services and the public sector. Key strategies were debated on how to revitalise quality public services, including campaigns to support the right to organise and bargain collectively in the public sector, the development of an international framework for quality services in the public sector.

Asia-Pacific Action Plan for Quality Public Services

73 delegates from PSI’s main sectoral groups: utilities, health services, municipal services and public administration, met in Manila, the Philippines, on 12-14 December to develop an action plan for quality public services, following on from the PSI Congress. The Action Plan 2008-2010 will focus on tackling the many challenges caused by the deterioration in public services, as a result of inadequate funding, deregulation and contracting out. Annie Geron, co-Chair of the Asia-Pacific region, told the meeting that the PSI Quality Public Services campaign provides the region with a powerful tool for organising and enhancing international solidarity. She also emphasised the need to strengthen communications and networking.

PSI and Asian Development Bank Dialogue

Representatives of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) met with a delegation from the public sector unions in health, water and the electricity sectors in Manila on 11^th December. Annie Geron from PSLINK led the delegation, together with Violeta Corral from the PSI Research Unit – Asia, and Jorge Mancillas, PSI Health and Municipal Services Officer. The objective of the meeting was to urge the ADB to create a labour desk and to carry out employment impact assessments of ADB projects in health, water and electricity. The meeting was also an opportunity to present the Quality Public Services Action Plan and to discuss PSI and ADB gender programmes.

Click here to access the full report.

National Power Corporation Union Philippines challenges the Asian Development Bank

On 17th October, workers from the National Power Corporation Employees Consolidated Union, a PSI affiliate in the Philippines, led a march to the headquarters of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Manila. The march was organised by the Jubilee South Asia Pacific Movement on Debt and Development, a fierce critic of the ADB power sector restructuring programme, which has resulted in thousands of job losses and huge increases in electricity prices. The union has written a closely argued letter to the ADB detailing how its power sector loan conditions have resulted in the illegal termination of employment of 8,500 National Power Corporation workers, without due compensation. The Philippine Supreme Court also declared the terminations illegal, in September 2006. In addition, the letter condemns the lack of consultation in the creation of new privatised entities, which are to be responsible for human resources, the operational budget and occupational health and safety standards.

The union estimates that since power sector reforms began in 1994, over 80% of the workforce has been made redundant. It calls on the ADB to carry out a comprehensive labour impact assessment, as outlined in the ADB’s own Social Protection Strategy, and to address issues such as what has happened to workers since they were laid off and what number of jobs, with what level of social protection, have been created as a result of restructuring.

Click here to access NAPOCOR letter to ADB.

Click here to access ADB press release.

SAMWU joins World Class Cities for All campaign

PSI affiliate the South African Municipal Workers Union , SAMWU, has joined the World Class Cities for All campaign (WCCA), which challenges the elitist approach to building World Class Cities in preparation for the FIFA World Cup in 2010. Vulnerable groups, such as street vendors, the majority of whom are women, are often the first to be affected by city “clean-up” campaigns but are the most invisible in any plans. The WCCA campaign demands that the urban poor and outdoor workers be recognised and taken into account in planning. SAMWU has issued a call to its members to negotiate a set of demands with municipalities, which include quality jobs; a halt to contracting out of services in the run-up to 2010; and that municipalities provide a written undertaking that street vendors will not be disadvantaged by urban improvements in preparation for the World Cup.

Shack dwellers are also at risk and the government is undertaking forced removals as part of the urban renewal programmes. A huge community of 5,000 shack dwellers living on the highway from the Cape Town International Airport have taken a class action against the government to try and avoid eviction.

Click here for full article.

Quality Public Services in Nepal

The civil war and struggle for democracy in Nepal have severely reduced the ability of the government to provide public services. Budgets are continuously reduced and services do not meet peoples’ basic needs. There are few municipal or local government services.

Public sector workers have no trade union rights in Nepal, the government has a bill on Freedom of Association but it has been before parliament for some time and there is no sign that it will be passed in the near future. The workers face privatisation and public sector restructuring, very low wages, poor conditions and in the rural areas their life is in constant danger.

None of this deters the unions from struggling for better public services. The energy and water unions have a strategy for opposing privatisation. Energy privatisation has been postponed. The water unions prepared an alternative to privatising Kathmandu water and when negotiations with government failed they began on-going demonstrations. Several people were imprisoned and one union leader had his leg broken in three places.

The Nepal Civil Service Employees Association, a PSI affiliate, is now preparing a questionnaire… Full article click here.

Niger: Capacity Building for Quality Public Services

A workshop aimed at training 18 instructors from six countries took place in Niamey, Niger, on 6-11 November 2007. The unions identified the following priorities:

• Union development: strengthening the capacities of the newly created national federations of public sector unions through surveys, training and campaigns to defend the check-off system; campaigns on gender issues (pay equity and maternity protection); and HIV/AIDS prevention;
• Young workers: policy development, training and recruitment campaigns;
• Privatisation and public sector reform: training in negotiation techniques;
• Quality Public Services: campaigning and commemoration of 23^rd June, Public Services Day in Africa.

These priorities will be the main issues included in the next funding phase of an on-going union development project funded by LO/TCO, Sweden, and FNV, Netherlands.

Decent Work and Quality Public Services in Argentina

The PSI affiliate National Union of Civil Personnel (UPCN) in Santa Fé, Argentina, organised an event on 7^th December, to call for increased funding for crucial public services and decent working conditions. The union is linking the need for decent working conditions, including a good working environment, adequate equipment and tools, good medical attention for workers, equal pay and opportunities and a fair salary, to the provision of decent public services. The meeting on 7^th December presented a series of proposals to the government on how best to improve public administration at the service of all.

For Public Services in Public Hands - Reconstruction of Public Infrastructure in Peru

PSI organised a regional forum in Ica, Peru, on 5-7 December, to develop a citizens’ platform for the reconstruction of public services, following the disastrous earthquake, which struck Peru on 15^th August.  The meeting also launched a broad alliance to defend public services. After the earthquake, many multinational companies have been bidding for contracts to rebuild infrastructure. However, the PSI National Coordinating Committee in Peru, which brings together seven affiliated organisations covering utilities, public administration, health services and municipal workers, is calling on the government to create public-public partnerships with utilities companies in order to benefit from their experience and knowledge and to create a cost effective, accountable public service. The forum also regretted that the government had failed to provide adequate reconstruction aid to the affected regions and noted that the 2008 national budget allocation for the regional government of Ica was only marginally higher than for 2007, despite the enormous needs. The forum also called on the regional government of Ica to recognise water as a human right. The forum included participants from many civil society organisations, medical associations, government representatives and international guests.  In August, PSI launched an appeal for earthquake victims, which received a generous response. For the full manifesto, in Spanish only, click here.

Young Union Leader promotes Quality Services in the Electricity Industry, Guatemala

Samuel Hernandez is the union representative on the Executive Council of the National Institute for Electrification in Guatemala. He was elected onto the council six months ago. He is a member of STINDE, the Institute's trade union and PSI affiliate, and an active member of the PSI Coordinating Committee in Guatemala. On 23rd November, he presented his first report to the union and invited representatives of civil society to attend. He provided a detailed analysis of the current electricity supply system in Guatemala and called for respect for workers’ rights, the sovereignty of national resources and the rights of communities. For a full copy of the report in Spanish please contact oscar.rodriguez@psi-ca.org

Judicial Federation of Argentina organises National Day of Protest

On 12 December, the Federation of Judicial Workers of Argentina organised a day of protest to call for the restitution of the collective agreement, which included national salary levels and cost of living adjustments and to oppose the threats from some of the Tribunals and Provincial Courts to limit the right to strike. In Jujuy Province, the judicial workers are among the lowest paid in the country. On the 12 December, when they tried to hand over a petition to the new Governor, Walter Barrionuevo, the demonstrators, the majority of them are women, were attacked by the police. Other protests took place in over 12 main cities of the country, including the capital Buenos Aires. See www.fja.org.ar

Portugal: STAL launches new Programme of Action 2008-2011 for Public Services

PSI affiliate the National Trade Union of Local Administration (STAL) in Portugal adopted a new Programme of Action 2008-2011 on 5^th December. The main areas of work identified in the programme include the promotion of workers’ rights, decent work, public services and campaigns to oppose privatization and contracting out. STAL plans to work together with civil society for public ownership and management of essential services, as necessary instruments for the advancement of social justice and fundamental elements of a democratic society.

For more information: http://www.stal.pt/dnw/071031_com200milMANIFCGTP_web.pdf

Sweden: Kommunal launches Campaign to Fight for Justice

Kommunal, the 500,000-member strong public sector union in Sweden, and one of PSI's affiliates there, has launched a campaign called “fight for justice,” which opposes cuts to public services. A large demonstration took place on December 6^th, where Lars Åke Almquist, Deputy General Secretary of Kommunal, addressed the crowd, outlining the terrible consequences for elderly care when profit matters more than quality. He explained how the new government seems determined to contract out public services without due attention to quality, in the belief that the market is more efficient. Kommunal is a strong advocate of publicly-funded and managed health, welfare, utilities and transport services.

Norway: Mobilisation to Oppose Privatisation

On December 12th, buses and trams ground to a halt in Oslo, the capital city of Norway, when workers from the PSI affiliate Fagforbundet, the largest public sector union in Norway, demonstrated to oppose budget cuts and privatization plans. Public childcare centres and other public services were also closed. Workers are calling for increased funding for public welfare initiatives and for public transport services.

Fagforbundet has opposed the municipal government’s decision to privatise and reduce public expenditure. Similar protests took place in other municipalities where right-wing municipal councils are calling for cuts in public expenditure. In Norway, municipal governments are responsible for education, childcare, transport and utilities.

Poverty and polluted water

On 17th October, the people of Oslo, Norway, were told to boil the drinking water and not use it to brush their teeth.
Not good news, but a good introduction to the NUMGE conference against poverty.

The Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees organised the conference as part of the Stand Up – Speak Out campaign against poverty. David Boys and Ntokozo Mbhele from PSI referred to Oslo’s temporary lack of clean water   in their speeches during the conference. Access to clean public water is one of the most serious challenges that politicians are facing all over the world. Hundreds of millions die every day because of the lack of water. Water is a human right and providing it to people all over the world is vital for the eradication of poverty. A strong public sector is essential to speak out against poverty.

Stand up
Over a hundred people from trade unions, NGOs, authorities and other organisations were together to hear and learn about The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/ and the UN International Day for Eradication of Poverty. The NUMGE takes the Stand Up – Speak Out campaign seriously and wants their shop stewards to conduct in the struggle against both national and global poverty.

Public utilities
David Boys urged the conference participants to put a lot of political pressure on politicians at local and national level to make sure that they keep not only water, but also energy, waste disposal, sanitation and infrastructure public. He said it’s very important that trade unions collaborate with the authorities to solve problems and strengthen the municipalities.
If the public sector is underfinanced, the quality will go down and private corporations will move in and offer better services – that’s why this is an ideological battle against privatisation of public services.

MDGs and trade unions
“Global awareness of poverty is very important to people in Africa,” Ntokozo Mbhele said in her speech. She added that NUMGE’s involvement shows that it’s recognised that MDGs are also trade union issues. The MGDs represent the basic minimums that municipal workers know a lot about. Ntokozo highlighted the importance of using this opportunity to hold politicians accountable even to those basic minimums. The trade unions have human capital and that’s the single most important tool to address the eradication of poverty. Therefore trade unions need to be strategic and invest in developing the capacity of their human resources through education, specific campaigns and collective bargaining. “Most important, I think,” Ntokozo Mbhele said, “is cross fertilization and sharing of experiences between unions in the north and the south.”

PSI Congress: More focus on Quality Public Services

PSI Congress focused even more on QPS. In the main resolution Congress Quality Public Services (QPS) is named the overarching theme and guiding principle for all PSI’s work. PSI is committed to campaigning for QPS as a means of promoting the union agenda and achieving social and economic justice. The essential component of PSI’s campaign is to monitor change, learn from experience and plan strategically and realistically for the future.

PSI considers that Quality Public Services:

1. Respect and reward workers; providing them with full workers’ rights, fair pay, pay equity, security and decent working conditions with appropriately trained workers.
2. Contribute to the achievement of the MDGs and social and economic justice.
3. Are essential for building fair and inclusive societies and a peaceful and secure environment.
4. Are equally available for all, irrespective of employment levels, income levels, geographic location, age, gender, religion, national identity, race or ethnicity, disability and sexual orientation.
5. Recognise the need to address gender-based discrimination and the particular reliance that women, in their role as principal carers and providers for their families, have on public services.
6. Enable women and men to participate equally as workers and service users;
7. Contribute to the protection of the physical, ecological and social environment and are sustainable in the long term.
8. Ensure user and union consultation and participation in the planning, developing and monitoring of services.
9. Provide a strong defence against privatisation when labour and community friendly alternatives are promoted in alliance with other trade unions and civil society.

Essential components of a Quality Public Service:

1. Adequate government resources at all levels to ensure sufficient financial and human resources.
2. Transparency and accountability, with workers and civil society involved in all key decisions.
3. High ethical standards free from corruption.
4. Modern equipment, systems, technology and work organisation methods.
5. Policies and systems that promote gender equality, equal opportunities and diversity.
6. The respect and recognition of the rights of workers and trade unions.
7. User involvement, participation and empowerment.

Read the full Congress resolution: http://www.psi100.org/files/congressdocuments/english/En_Draft_Reso_02_Objectives.pdf

Germany: Initiative to strengthen public services

Two big German unions, Ver.di and dbb (civil servants) have joined forces to launch a campaign to strengthen public services in Germany.  It is called “Initiative öffentliche dienste”. The campaign will aim to raise the awareness of public services and want to stop cuts in public services, privatization and deterioration of working conditions and workplaces.

With the cooperation of these two strong unions they have got a step further in defending public services.  They also see their obligation to make public services available for all, affordable and of high quality. 

Read more: http://www.genuggespart.de/initiative-oeffentliche-dienste/

The success of the Nordic countries is a mystery

The Nordic countries have strong growth despite great equality and high taxes. Traditional economic theories cannot explain this. A research group funded by the Research Council of Norway is looking for the answer.

ESOP – or the Norwegian Centre for Equality, Social Organization, and Performance - will assemble 55 researchers to find out why, writes 'Nyhedsavisen’. ESOP writes about the aims of the research work

"The Nordic model constitutes a social laboratory of general interest. Most standard theories in modern economics are developed to capture market based US-style institutions and are confronted with US experience. The Nordic lessons put economic theories to a different test which many of them may fail in the first round.

The Nordic welfare model is coming into vogue. Countries around the world want to know how to make a system work with generous welfare schemes, high taxes - and high economic growth. One of the special characteristics of the Nordic model is central, uniting employer and employee organisations which are in contact with the government. The result is a labour market with small wage differences and politicians who give priority to full employment. Highly educated manpower is thus cheap, which is a competitive advantage for the Nordic countries".

'Nyhedsavisen' [da]: http://avisen.dk

ESOP’s website: http://www.esop.uio.no/about/about.html

EU: Prison overcrowding - European action day on 28 febrary 2008

BRUTAL CONDITIONS HAVE BRUTAL RESULTS

On 14 September 2007, in Brussels, trade union delegates organising prison services from 8 European countries agreed to a European Action Day to protest at overcrowding of prisons and the deterioration of working and living conditions. This Day is part of the EPSU action plan on prison services as adopted by its Executive Committee on 4 June.

The date is 28 February 2008, set to coincide with the EU Council of Home and Justice Affairs Ministers.

A majority of prisons in the EU are facing an overcrowding problem with an average of 25% more detainees than was designed for. This means massive strains on the health and safety of staff and detainees, as well as operational and security systems. Overcrowding is affecting the basic human right of some 300.000 prison workers to work in a safe environment. This is in breach of the Council of Europe’s prison rules, which recognize prisoners’ right to human dignity and privacy. Chronic understaffing in many prisons is another related issue preventing proper supervision and rehabilitation of prisoners.

Underfunding of the criminal and social justice systems and increasing prison population in the EU – which currently stands at more than 600.000 - are the main causes of overcrowding.

The solution is not to build new prisons and resort to privateers. Instead, the aim is to improve the working and living conditions in prisons and reduce the numbers of prisoners by improving and investing in prevention, legal protection, alternatives to imprisonment and rehabilitation.

The Action day on 28 February will synchronise a European demonstration in Brussels and other activities by EPSU affiliates across Europe.

Read more: http://www.epsu.org/r/226

Germany: Ein import aus England

This is an interesting article about PPPs and how they are used in Germany with concrete examples of German PPPs. It is interesting to read that in Mülheim the leading politician also held a seat in the supervisory board of RWE which entitle her annually 116,000 euro.

Wie der Staat bei "Public Private Partnership" (PPP) heimlich alle Risiken übernimmt und sich zusätzlich verschuldet

..... In Mülheim an der Ruhr zum Beispiel soll jetzt ein Investor für 25 Jahre ein neues Medienhaus bauen und betreiben, die Stadt zahlt dafür 25 Jahre lang eine Miete. Die Stadtratsmehrheit hat wie üblich den Vertrag abgenickt, ohne ihn zu kennen. Im Stadtrat sitzt freilich seit einiger Zeit die Fraktion Mülheimer Bürgerinitiativen (MBI). Die scherte doch tatsächlich aus der Gemeinschaft der Geheim-Demokraten aus und wollte den Vertrag - besonders die Vereinbarung über die "Forfaitierung mit Einredeverzicht" - sehen, bevor abgestimmt wurde. Die Oberbürgermeisterin, eine Frau Mühlenfeld von der SPD, der "nebenbei" im Aufsichtsrat von RWE jährlich 116.000 Euro zustehen, hatte die Unterlagen aber gerade nicht da. Den Volks- und Besserverdiener-Parteien war das egal. Aber weil sie so sehr nachhakten, bekamen die MBI-Stadträte die Vereinbarung nach der entsprechenden Sitzung immerhin nachgereicht.

Read more: http://www.freitag.de/2007/36/07360401.php

UK: Worst council better, audit finds

Rossendale Borough Council is no longer the worst council in the country, according to a report by the independent Audit Commission.

Inspectors said that the Lancashire council had made good progress in improving services and its management.

In 2002 the council was criticised for not providing resources on key issues that mattered to residents. Since the 2002 report there has been a change of management, council housing and benefits have been farmed out and staff morale was found to have improved.

Rossendale is one of the top three councils in the country to work for according to a survey published by the Times newspaper. The Times Best Council’s to work for 2007 list was published on the 26th September and is based on an independent, anonymous survey of all staff in the Council.

Read more:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/lancashire/6923634.stm

Read also: http://www.rossendale.gov.uk/site/scripts/news_article.php?newsID=395

Norway: Brainstorming and cleaning

This is the story about the cleaners who have their own “temporary staff-pool”, do their own language training and struggle to organise better and safer working conditions for themselves.

The cleaners in the municipality of Moss in Norway saw the possibilities when their leader, Ragnhild Sevaldsen, told them about the model municipality-project, a union initiated project usine the workers' ideas and skills.

They knew that their working hours could be better, and a huge brainstorming showed them right.

Three-parts cooperation

Moss became a model-municipality in 2004.  Politicians, administration and Unions agreed to cooperate to give the citizens public welfare services of high quality.

All employees were challenged to send in their ideas, and the cleaners in the technical department came up with a large number of projects. Totally 60 cleaners, most of them working part-time, had great number of tasks they meant strongly about. They have taken responsibilities for a lot of changes, and they have been given great credit for they work.

Read more:  xxxxx

Public-public partnership for improving water supply in Huancayo, Peru

Luis Mario Padron of Aguas Bonaerenses (the public water utility of the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina) presented in August the new public-public partnership between his company and the water utility of the Peruvian city of Huancayo.

In an interview published on Waterjustice.org, Luis Padron explains the origins and goals of the project, an inspiring example of non-profit cooperation between public utilities in the South.

SEDAM Huancayo currently provides around 225,000 inhabitants in 6 province districts with water services, with around 62 % coverage for drinking water and 57% for wastewater. The leakage rate is 50%, because around 40% of the pipes in the network are over 50 years old. The service is not continuous, depending on the community water flows between 6 and 18 hours per day, as a result of insufficient production and storage capacity. The tariffs collected from the users do not cover the utility's total costs of operation and maintenance. On the other hand, parts of the operational expenses are unnecessarily high, for instance due to inefficient use of electricity and chemical products, as well as questionable expenses made by the utility's board.

The hope is that SEDAM can achieve operative autonomy, including efficient management, strong technical performance and financial health. The tariff structure might become more social so the poorest households can afford it, while still raising enough revenue to cover the utility's operation and performance costs, without external subsidies.

Read the full interview here:

http://worldwaterweek.blogspot.com/2007/08/public-public-partnership-for-improving.html

The two candidates for PSI General Secretary on QPS

The PSI centennial congress held in Vienna last week of September will elect a new General Secretary. There are two candidates for the positition, Keith Sonnet from Unison (UK) and Peter Waldorff, Chairman of the Association of Danish State Employees’ Organisations.

To read more about the congress, go to the PSI Congress webpage: http://www.psi100.org/

The proposal to the Congress i sthat Quality Public Services (QPS) is the overarching theme and guiding principle for all PSI’s work. PSI will be committed to campaigning for QPS as a means of promoting the union agenda and achieving social and economic justice.

Therefore the two candidates for General Secretary have been asked to give their thoughts and examples of QPS.

To read more about the election and the main statements from the candidates: click here 

Germany: Remunicipalisation in Bergkamen

When the bins are emptied in Bergkamen, a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the refuse is carried away in vehicles decorated with the blueblack logo of “Waste Disposal Managment Bergkamen” (EBB), the public company which has been responsible for waste services in the town since 3 July 2006.

Financial considerations were a crucial factor in the city council’s decision to remunicipalise waste disposal services, says Hans-Joachim Peters, EBB’s manager. It has been able to reduce costs by 30 per cent, according to consultants hired by the council, despite the fact that EBB has purchased six new vehicles and maintained the wage levels of its 16 employees.

‘We were able to make greater savings than originally expected’, recalls Peters. Three years ago the municipality decided to reorganise its waste services. Cooperation with councils in surrounding areas was discussed, as well as private and public options for the running of waste services. The latter was found to be more efficient, with cost reductions and better service.

The fees charged for waste disposal were reduced by 5.9 per cent in 2006, and by another 1.5 per cent this year. For the disposal of biological waste, citizens paid 10.6 per cent less in 2006, with a further 6.4 per cent reduction in 2007, although the council has raised the fees for garbage incineration by 6 per cent, and VAT on these services has increased by 3 per cent in 2007.

Read the full story: http://www.tni.org/detail_page.phtml?act_id=16820&username=guest@tni.org&password=9999&publish=Y

US: San Francisco launching universal health care plan

The city aims to provide basic care to 82,000 uninsured adults, but a restaurant association is fighting the plan's mandatory employer contributions. The program, known as Healthy San Francisco, is essentially an upgrade of the city's century-old public health network, which today includes 20 health clinics and one hospital. Fourteen of those clinics and San Francisco General Hospital will provide care to the uninsured. The initiative's planners also anticipate that eight private nonprofit clinics and possibly private health plans and other hospitals will participate.

The plan also requires employers in the city to contribute to the health care of employees who work in San Francisco, regardless of where they live. Companies must pay at least $1.17 an hour per employee for their health care starting, at the latest, in April 2008. Businesses with fewer than 20 employees are exempt from the mandate.

The employer contributions are expected to raise $2.1 million between January and June 2008 and significantly more the next year, said Tangerine Brigham, director of Healthy San Francisco.

But that's only if the city fends off a legal challenge to the mandate from the Golden Gate Restaurant Assn., which represents 850 restaurants in the area. The association argues that the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act prohibits local health care spending mandates. A decision in the case could come as early as this month, said Kevin Westlye, the association's executive director. Brigham said Healthy San Francisco would continue even if the mandate is struck down.

Read the full article: http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2007/08/20/gvsa0820.htm

Spain: Participatory budgeting in Seville

The city of 700,000 people is divided into 21 assemblies, which were attended by around 9,000 people in 2006. The assemblies have their own constitution, known as ‘autorreglamento’, which was drafted by a commission of delegates elected by the assemblies. Each year the council decides the amount that will be allocated by the assemblies, but at least 50 per cent of the city’s budget for local districts is within their control. Currently, the city council’s departments of public works, sport, youth, education, culture, environment, health and gender have opted to join.

Read more: http://www.tni.org/detail_page.phtml?act_id=16822&username=guest@tni.org&password=9999&publish=Y

US: Quality, Affordable Health Care for All

SEIU has a vision for health care reform in US, 10 principles to guide its expanded effort to address the nation's health care crisis

Everybody know that the US health care system is broken. As the employer-based system collapses, average Americans are getting squeezed under the weight of stagnant wages and rising health care costs while a staggering 46.6 million people have no coverage at all. The number of childeren who have no health care is 8.3 million. Did you know that 1 minute is the amount of time it takes for nearly 3 people to lose thier helt insurance in the US?

PSI affiliate SEIU representing nearly 1 million health care workers, launched earlier this year its Vision for Reform: Ten fundamental principles that will guide SEIU's work to promote health care solutions that move a new American health care system in the right direction.

The Health Care Solution: SEIU's Vision for Reform

1. It is time for our nation to guarantee affordable health care coverage for all Americans. Piecemeal reform is not a solution.

2. The current employer-based health care system is not the foundation for 21st century health care reform, particularly given the competitive challenges of a global economy.

3. A universal health care system must ensure a choice of doctors and health care plans without gaps in coverage or access, and the delivery system must meet the needs of at-risk populations.

4. A universal health care system must include a core health care benefit similar to one that is available to federal employees.

5. Preventive care must be a part of any basic benefit plan to promote health, control costs, and eliminate economic and racial disparities.

6. Any plan for health care reform must control costs by providing care that is cost efficient and medically effective.

7. Secure electronic medical records that consumers control are necessary to increase quality and reduce costs.

8. Hospital and physician quality, outcome, and cost data must be available to consumers.

9. A universal health care system must integrate long term care services, reduce out-of-pocket costs, and maximize opportunities for individuals to receive assistance in home- and community-based settings, rather than in hospitals and nursing homes.

10. Employers, individuals, and government must share responsibility for financing the system.

Read more: http://www.seiu.org/issues/affordable_healthcare/notebook.cfm

Serious attacks on public health services drives the formation of a Health Sector Network in English speaking West Africa 

In October this year the first union funded West Africa Health Sector Conference is to be hosted by PSI Nigerian affiliates. Not all unions have the resources to attend so representatives from Sierra Leone will be funded by the Ghana unions and Nigeria will fund representatives from Liberia. The neo liberal agenda for health services impacts negatively on workers, unions and health service users, especially in the areas of migration, HIVAIDS and sector restructuring. Sub regional union networking is seen as an effective tool to counteract government policy.

In response to this the Nigerian Medical and Health Workers Union and the Health Service Workers Union of Ghana began cooperation through discussions and exchanges on health sector issues but by 2005 knew that the network could only be effective if all health sector unions were involved. The same year unions drafted a memorandum of understanding at a workshop supported by the PSI Sub Regional Office. It recognised the importance of understanding the reforms and formulating alternatives to negotiate with government, form alliances with civil society, learn from each other and work collectively. Following this the FNV sub regional project activities provided a forum to continue discussions and plans to expand and strengthen the network. PSI will support the network with information and data and link it with the PSI International Health Task Force.

People will need to save more as reforms cut pension promises, says OECD

OECD report Pensions at a Glance 2007 notes that in only two countries, Hungary and the United Kingdom, did pension promises increase on average. In France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Sweden, future benefits will be cut by between 15 and 25% and in Mexico and Portugal by over 30% from what people would have been entitled to before the reforms.

The impact on workers varies widely across the OECD. Several countries moved towards greater targeting of benefits on poorer pensioners, notably Mexico, Portugal and the United Kingdom. Austria, France, Germany and Sweden also protected low earners. 

Government-mandated pension and retirement policies have changed dramatically during the past decade. Pensions at a Glance presents a consistent framework for comparing public-pension policies across OECD countries, as well as reliable data. The report thus provides the basis for not only evaluating existing pension systems, but also designing and implementing future reforms. 

This second edition updates in-depth information on the key features of mandatory pension systems—both public and private--in the 30 OECD countries, including projections of retirement income for today’s workers.

Find the full report here: http://www.oecd.org/document/35/0,3343,en_2649_201185_38717411_1_1_1_1,00.html

Music and Migration

- It’s very important that children with minority language-background are encouraged to use their own mother tongue and also learning Norwegian.

Preschool teacher and music therapist, Åshild Andreassen is the creator of the model municipality project named MigMus.

Moss became a model municipality in 2004.  Politicians, administration and unions agreed to cooperate to give the citizens public welfare services of high quality. All employees were challenged to send in their ideas, and Åshild grabbed the opportunity. Her project turned out to be very successful and MigmMus are now the model for integration work in all kindergartens in Moss.

To the point  

MigMus is a short term for migration and music. The purpose is to motivate the children to learn Norwegian in a funny and exiting way. The whole idea is to encourage the kids to use the language, and at the same time give them activities such as music, singing, playing, dancing and movements.

The basic idea is to stimulate the language. The method is called Total Physical Response (TPR).

Read more:

PSI: More focus on Quality Public Services

The Public Services International Executive Board at its meeting on 9-10 May endorsed the overall direction and concept of the 5 year programme of work on quality public services for the next Congress period.

The programme includes materials development and trade union capacity building, in order to campaign against and present alternatives to privatisation and public service restructuring. The second main element is to provide practical tools for trade unions in their work to contribute to the development and provision of quality public services, particularly within a development context. The programme proposal is supported by two concept papers: the PSI vision of quality public services and the PSI vision of achieving equality through quality public services. 

To dowloading the document and read more click here

The Accountability Issue

The second quarter 2007 edition of Tax Justice Focus (TJF) is a special edition on accountability have a central theme of this issue is that taxation helps foster political accountability and that this outcome has been all but forgotten, especially in respect of poor countries.

Illustration from "How tax affects governance".

In the editorial, "Wake Up, Donors", we consider why aid donors have been so reticent about engaging on tax. By and large this is a field that has been left to technical specialists, who frequently treat the issue in isolation from its political dimension and therefore seldom pay attention to the vital role that taxation plays in maintaining lines of accountability between governments and the citizens they rule. We argue that donor agencies need to wake up to this issue, not just because good taxation fosters better governance, but also because the endgame for the donor community should be to reduce reliance on external funding and increase the ability of poorer countries to finance their public services from tax revenues.

“Paying tax reflects, to a significant degree, a desire to participate in society, not just economic maximisation.” (Alex Cobham)

Read many interesting articles in this Tax Justice Focus: http://www.taxjustice.net/cms/upload/pdf/TJF_3-2_Final.pdf

The Millennium Goals Report 2007

At MDG midpoint the UN report shows some progress. But currently, only one of the eight regional groups cited in this report is on track to achieve all the Millennium Development Goals. In contrast, the projected shortfalls are most severe in sub-Saharan Africa. Even regions that have made substantial progress, including parts of Asia, face challenges in areas such as health and environmental sustainability. More generally, the lack of employment opportunities for young people, gender inequalities, rapid and unplanned urbanization, deforestation, increasing water scarcity, and high HIV prevalence are pervasive obstacles.

Water and sanitation essential

An estimated 1. billion people will need access to improved sanitation over the period 2005 -2015 to meet the MDG target. Yet if trends since 1990 continue, the world is likely to miss the target by almost 600 million people.

Only Eastern, South-Eastern and Western Asia, Northern Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean are on track to halve the proportion ofpeople without basic sanitation by 2015 . All other developing regions have made insufficient progress towards this target. In sub-Saharan Africa, the absolute number of people without access to sanitation actually increased – from 335 million in 1990 to 440 million people by the end of 2004 . This number may increase even further if trends do not improve.

The health, economic and social repercussions of open defecation, poor hygiene and lack of safe drinking water are well documented. Together they contribute to about 88 per cent of the deaths due to diarrhoeal diseases – more than 1.5 million – in children under age five. Infestation of intestinal worms caused by open defecation affects hundreds of millions of predominantly school-aged children, resulting in reduced physical growth, weakened physical fitness and impaired cognitive functions. Poor nutrition contributes to these effects. As the intensity o f infection increases, academic performance and school attendance decline substantially. Intestinal worms can also lead to anaemia, which, for girls, increases the risks later of complications in childbirth.

Read the whole report by clicking here

Measuring healthcare quality

The Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs (DELSA) at the OECD works on labour markets, social policy, international migration and health. The fourth issue of the Directorate's newsletter focuses on healthcare, describing our progress in developing indicators of healthcare quality and some results from the latest health database. 

Healthcare quality indicators The HCQI project aims to find scientifically sound, clinically important, policy-relevant comparable measures that can be used to raise questions on healthcare quality and can be reliably reported by different countries.

The quality of healthcare is vitally important: patients may die as a result of poor quality care. Many countries already compare healthcare outcomes for different providers, although most national quality indicator systems are in their infancy. There are potentially important lessons to be learned from international comparisons of quality of healthcare. Differences in health have a number of causes, only some of which are in the control of the health system.

Read the full newsletter here:

http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/1/51/38484880.pdf

United Nations Public Service Awards 2007

“In this changing world of new challenges, we need, more than ever before, dedicated and talented individuals to enter public service. More than ever before, we need people like you sitting here today, to make the choice of service to humankind.”   Kofi Annan, 1998 World Youth Forum

The United Nations Public Service Awards Programme is the most prestigious international recognition of excellence in public service. It rewards the creative achievements and contributions of public service institutions to development in countries around the world. Through an annual competition, the UN Public Service Awards Programme promotes the role, professionalism and visibility of public service.

The Awards aim to:

• Discover innovations in governance;
• Reward excellence in the public sector; 
• Motivate public servants to further promote innovation; 
• Enhance professionalism in the public service; 
• Raise the image of public service; 
• Enhance trust in government; and 
• Collect and disseminate successful practices for possible replication.

Read more: http://www.unpan.org/dpepa_psaward.asp

See the 2007 winners per region here: http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/un/unpan026042.pdf

QPS day Rodrigues Mauritius

It is with great pleasure that we are submitting to you the report of the QPS Day celebrated in Rodrigues.

Rodrigues Public Service Workers Union the celebration started with a rally from our  proposed construction site at Mont Lubin to end at Malabar Human Resource Centre where we held a symposium on the them Water in Public Sector -Our Right.

On this occasion we distributed to the public and our participants a translated copy of the PSI materials on Water Policy. Even though our Trade Union is not used to this type of activity, the rally was a very fruitful one as it create a public awareness about the water situation in Rodrigues.

Read more here

SF: Municipal employees fights global warming

Citing environmental concerns, Mayor Gavin Newsom has issued an executive order prohibiting city departments from buying bottled water.

In a decision announced Thursday, Newsom said the ban would take effect July 1 and extend to all city and county water coolers by Dec. 1.

Tony Winnicker, spokesman for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, said Newsom's decision would save taxpayer money and combat global warming.

More than 40 million gallons of oil are needed to make the plastic water bottles Americans purchase each year, according to data cited in the mayor's announcement.

The news release also cites the environmental effect of transporting and disposing of the bottles, more than a billion of which end up in California's landfills each year.

In addition, the mayor says municipal water is often better than bottled.

When the ban goes into effect, city and county offices will dispense municipal tap water from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir.

Winnicker said exceptions will be made in cases where potable water is not easily available or poses health concerns.

The mayor's ban on bottled water applies to city and county offices unless it is changed by the next administration, said Joe Arellano, Newsom's spokesman.

"We're hoping to set the example for the private sector and other cities in getting off the bottle," Winnicker said.

First published:

http://www.latimes.com/business/careers/work/la-me-water23jun23,1,3014983.story?coll=la-headlines-business-careers&ctrack=1&cset=true

QPS day in Zambia

PSI affiliates in Zambia welcomed the opportunity of Africa public services day to underscore the importance of quality public services. With PSI support, therefore, affiliates in Zambia lined up a number of activities for the commemoration of public services day. This narrative reports both on planned and realised activities. A financial report associated with activities in this report is going to be submitted separately and in accordance with standard reporting formats or as separately agreed.

Read and download documents here.

EU: Public services safeguarded?

According to EurActive.com a broad alliance of organisations, ranging from the Committee of the Regions to trade unions, has welcomed provisions on public services in the draft mandate for the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC), which will negotiate a new EU Treaty.

Carola Fischbach-Pyttel, secretary-general of the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU), said: "It is now politically and legally urgent to clarify the rules applied to services of general economic interest in Europe, to guarantee that they will not be submitted to the sole logic of the internal market and competition. We ask the European Commission once more to stop launching largely non-committal, cosmetic and non-legislative initiatives in this respect. We need a concrete EU horizontal legislative proposal on public services."

Read the full article here.

Honoured For Homelessness Initiative

Allan Ebedes, President and CAO of the National Quality Institute and Canada Award of Excellence, presented the award which recognizes Peel's efforts to prevent homelessness and to support individuals and families who become homeless.

Under the direction of Regional Council, a cross-departmental team steering committee of senior managers has co-ordinated the Region's approach to homelessness since 2004.

"We are very proud of the staff – public health nurses, child care workers, Ontario Works and social housing caseworkers and many others – that are committed to eliminating homelessness.Their collaborations, with each other and with our community partners, has made a difference to many Peel residents," Janet Menard Executive Director of the Human Services Department  said.

Read more here.

Alternatives for public sector reform in Europe

We were very against privatisation,’ recalls Norwegian trade unionist Rolv Hanssen. ‘Then somebody asked us, “We know exactly what you are against, but what are you for?”’ It is a question that, as it pauses for breath in the midst of the neoliberal onslaught across Europe, the Left has increasingly come to ask itself. ‘Defend’ and ‘oppose’ have becoming depressingly familiar fixtures in the Left’s lexicon over the past 20 years. ‘Transform’ has not been. But across Europe trade unions, municipalities and social movements, orphaned by the defection of Social Democracy to the cause of marketisation, have begun to search for new ways to run public services as an essential part of the drive to keep them public. Worker involvement, citizen participation and the mobilisation of civil society have all been utilised in an attempt to wrest the agenda of change from the Right. The inexorable march of the privatisers has been slowed and, in some places, halted in its tracks.

Read more about the positive transformation of public sector and the way Norwegian trade unions managed to engage citizens to bring a new policy into power.

http://www.tni.org/detail_page.phtml?&act_id=16819

(From Eurotopia 4/07)

Why use consultants when their own staff have the necessary skills and are less expensive?

MINISTERS were accused of "sheer profligacy" today as it emerged that the public sector has spent more than £7.2 billion on private consultancy firms over the past three years.

A report by MPs says many government departments were not sure how much they spent on outside advisers. In two out of five cases, departments admitted they had used consultants "when it was not necessary" and that, in many cases, the department's own officials could have done the same job for less money.

The report says departments "do not know routinely how much money is spent on consultants".

It criticises departments for spending millions on consultants when their own "staff have the necessary skills and are less expensive".

Read the full story in Telegraph.co.uk:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/06/19/nwaste119.xml

OECD: Africa is unlikely to reach the drinking water and sanitation Millennium Development Goals

Ten million people annually have gained access to improved drinking water over 1990-2004 in sub-Saharan Africa. However, the population has grown even faster with the result that the absolute number of unserved people has increased by about 60 million over the same period. Consequently, the number of additional people obtaining access to drinking water annually would need to triple to reach the water MDG by 2015.

The situation is even worse for sanitation, both in the low level of access and the limited progress made since 1990. For the region to reach the MDG, 35 million more people annually need access to improved sanitation, compared with the current rate of 7 million.

Read more in OECD Policy Insights:

http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/27/2/38563239.pdf

Health care for ALL, not just the rich

Toh Kin Woon traces the history of the health system in Malaysia, and notes with concern  the current mismatch of resources between the public and private health care system. It is a situation that allows the rich to obtain quality health care of their choice while the poor have to put up with an overstretched public health care system.

For a long time till around the mid-eighties, the Malaysian government did a reasonably good job of providing satisfactory health care services to all, irrespective of geographical location, gender and even class. This was achieved through the setting up of rural health clinics, including maternity clinics, hospitals - which were all publicly funded except for a few not-for-profit private ones - private clinics in urban areas, as well as the government’s stress on primary health care. There was also an effective public health system. Public health activities include disease control, family health, school health programmes, food quality control and health education.

Since the mid-eighties, however, problems and challenges began to emerge as a result of increasing privatisation and marketisation of health services. The provision of health services is to be shared with the private sector. Likewise, the burden of financing the total costs of health services through the co-payment of certain services by the general public has now been introduced - instead of the government financing it all through general taxation Without a doubt, such increasing reliance on the private sector in health care provision and financing has been very much influenced by the neo-liberal economic ideology advocated by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Under the principle of co-payments, patients are now required to pay high collateral payments for the treatment of several conditions. This has in turn jeopardised the principle of equitable access to health services for all Malaysians, some of whom, especially the poor, may not be able to afford these payments and hence may have to forego these treatments.

Read the full story: http://www.aliran.com/content/view/250/10/

Canada loses top world ranking for public service delivery

The report focused on four key areas of service: knowing the needs of citizens, making connections, providing competent, well-equipped frontline workers to deal with citizens and developing relationships with citizens, businesses and non-governmental organizations to provide effective services.

The report is issued annually by the international consulting firm Accenture.

Comment by Canadian PSI-affiliate NUPGE

Direct feedback

This year, for the first time, the report incorporated direct feedback from citizens as a means of providing a more accurate assessment of the quality of services provided by governments. Citizens were asked to assess factors such as user-friendliness, online services and overall satisfaction.

Nearly 80% of Singapore residents surveyed felt services had improved over the past three years compared to just 2% who felt they had deteriorated. In Canada, only 41% felt services had improved while 18% felt they had deteriorated.

Canadian Conservatives not rated as highly as previous Canadian governments

Canada has lost its top world ranking for delivering public services to citizens since the Harper Conservatives took power in 2006, says the new international report.

Canada ranked first among 22 countries surveyed when the last ranking was issued for the year 2005. It also ranked first in each of the previous four years.

For 2006, Canada has been replaced at the top by Singapore. The United States ranks third, Denmark fourth and Sweden fifth. In terms of the citizens' perceptions of the services they receive from their government, Canada has dropped much lower - to ninth place overall.

The 22 countries surveyed include Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, the United States and the United Kingdom.

Read the full report:

http://nstore.accenture.com/acn_com/PDF/2007LCSDelivPromiseFinal.pdf

QPS at the ETUC Congress in Seville

Gloria is a former President of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), and, following her election in September 2005, became the first black woman to hold the post. At the ETUC Congress in Seville she spoke on Quality Public Services. Gloria Mills is also Chair of the PSI European Regional Women's Committee and a member of the PSI Executive Board and Vice-Chair of the World Women's Committee.

The TUC supports the ETUC’s petition on quality public services she started and continued:

We believe the ETUC, EPSU and other federations are right to take up the fight on public services and to lead the campaign to achieve this.

Essential, but low paid

Major changes affecting the way public services are delivered and organised are taking place.  We provide an independent voice for millions of people working in those services.  People who work in the front line of public services delivery and in the absolutely essential back offices.

Many of them among the lowest paid workers in the economy; working part-time or irregular hours, often with little prospect of career development and training opportunities.  The majority of them women, and a high proportion from migrant and ethnic minorities.

Reform must be about protecting the publics' interest

We are told that Europe’s economy needs reform. Labour markets need reform and public services need reform.

But too often in this debate the notion of ‘reform’ has been reduced to a simple question of constructing market mechanisms and increasing private provision – putting profits before people.

This drive to reform is about lowering costs at the expense of improving quality.  And it discredits the very notion of reform.

Reform must be about improving the quality of public services and and investing in quality public services - not about increasing profits or the interests of multi-national companies.  Reform must be about protecting the publics’ interest.

Read the full speech: www.world-psi.org//TemplateRedirect.cfm?Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=17931

Action Day 070707 - Eradication of poverty - Water as public service

PSI is part of the  Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP). PSI affiliates are requested to join the world wide actions on July 7, 2007 (07.07.07). This date has been chosen as a day of action as it is the half way point to the achievement of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s), which aim to cut poverty by  half in 2015.

PSI believes that the MDGs will not be achieved without public investment, a strong public sector and a well-trained and well-valued workforce.

PSI  's focus for the 7th July day of action is ‘Water as a public service’.

Read more here.

Irland: Frontline Quality, Backroom Dedication

Impact's campaign ‘Public Services: Frontline Quality, Backroom Dedication’ aims to defend Ireland’s public servants, who are being unfairly criticised in an imbalanced debate about service quality and staff performance.

This Impact webpage give you the answers how this have been done. It also contains a complete campaign pack - including the six truths and the six myths about public sector.

Read more: www.world-psi.org/TemplateRedirect.cfm?Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=17151

Your Voice Against Poverty

Ahead of the G8 and EU Summits in Germany in June, we are coming together, calling on supporters to raise Your Voice against Poverty, with the message to political leaders that The World Can't Wait: they must act decisively and with urgency on poverty.

The World Can't Wait is a group of  organisations calling on the world’s leaders to meet their commitments to end poverty. They invite supporters to come to London for an exciting rally on 2nd June.

"On 2nd June, we will gather on the banks of the Thames near Parliament - as simultaneous rallies take place in Germany and Canada - to tell the Prime Minister and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel that the world can't wait for:

• debt cancellation and increased aid,
• trade justice,
• healthcare, education, water and sanitation for all,
• firm plans to prevent catastrophic climate change."

More information here http://www.yourvoiceagainstpoverty.org.uk/

The Nordic Model

Sorry for giving you only half the link to story Nordic Model in the last newsletter.

This is the link to follow:  http://www.nordicmodel.info

Mozambique: No more clinics for the rich in public hospitals

Mozambican Health Minister Ivo Garrido has announced the scrapping of the current two-tier system in the country's public hospitals.

Speaking at the opening of the Fourth Meeting of his Ministry's Hospital Council, Garrido promised that the "special clinics", at which those who can pay for treatment jump the queue, will disappear.

People who want special treatment can go to private clinics, said the Minister. But in public hospitals all Mozambicans, regardless of their social standing, must have access to quality services.

Read the full story here: http://allafrica.com/stories/200702070686.html

Privatisation near record levels in 2005

According to a summary report by the World Bank's private-sector development department, the total value of privatisation transactions in developing countries increased by 72 per cent between 2004 and 2005, the fourth consecutive year of increase. 

However the data, which is presented in current (non-deflated) US dollars, shows that the 2005 level is still below peak levels of privatisation reached in the late 1990s.

Read more: www.World-psi.org/TemplateRedirect.cfm?Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=17133

Stakeholders urge EU legal framework for public services

Services of general interest were excluded from the scope of the final version of the controversial Services Directive, and as a reaction to the Commission's 2004 White Paper, the Parliament is currently calling on the EU executive to adopt "appropriate legislative initiatives" to guarantee high quality and affordability of public services

The European Socialists, backed by unions and social NGOs are urging the Commission to come up with a concrete EU legislative proposal on public services to ensure that public interest comes before commercial profit.

Read more: http://www.euractiv.com/en/socialeurope/stakeholders-urge-eu-legal-framework-public-services/article-163283

Read from the European Socialist Group: http://www.socialistgroup.eu/gpes/newsdetail.do?lg=en&id=35530&href=home

Bribery in Public Procurement

Public works contracts mean big business. From road-building to high-tech communication infrastructure, public procurement averages 15% of GDP in OECD countries--substantially more in non-OECD economies--and it is a major factor in the world trade of goods and services. Given the growing complexity of bribe schemes in today’s globalised markets, the problem is how to identify corruption in public procurement so governments can work toward effective prevention and apply sanctions if necessary.

Read more: www.world-psi.org/TemplateRedirect.cfm?Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=17158

Historical collective agreement for bus drivers in Norway

Four different unions, three members of the Trade Union Federation and one member of the Confederation of Vocational Unions, have joined forces and achieved one collective agreement for all bus drivers in the country. 
Earlier, unions had the tendency to split between the different federations and between private sector and public sector unions. As a consequence, competitive tendering always was a race to the bottom, to the cheapest collective agreement for the employers.  This is also a unique agreement on competence.

Read more: www.world-psi.org/TemplateRedirect.cfm?Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=17134

Czech unions defends quality services

Alena Vondrova, spokeswoman for the budget and subsidised organisations' trade unions (ROPO), said that trade unions are not opposed to the optimalisation of the number of public sector posts, but that it must be systemic and that the availability and quality of services must be preserved.

According to available data, some 13,800 posts should be scrapped annually in education, health care, police, the firefighters corps, cultural institutions and the customs administration.

The day after this protest, Finance Ministry spokesman Ondrej Jakob told that the Czech public sector should be slimmed down by 9,000 people, not by 40,000 as planned originally, by 2010.

Read more:

http://launch.praguemonitor.com/en/70/czech_national_news/5337/

http://www.ceskenoviny.cz/news/index_view.php?id=249152

SA: Street vendors, hawkers, unions and social movements join forces

On 7 and 8 March 2007, 25 organisations representing street vendors, sex workers and other constituencies of the urban poor from 6 provinces met to discuss and plan a  programme for the WCCA (World Class Cities for All) campaign.  Spearheaded by the Durban-based StreetNet International, the WCCA campaign was launched on 28 November 2006 to challenge traditional elitist First-World approaches to building World Class Cities, and create a new, more inclusive concept of “World Class Cities for All”.  This campaign will run from 2007 leading up to the FIFA World Cup in 2010.

Read more: www.world-psi.org//TemplateRedirect.cfm?Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=17157

UK: Reform fatigue

Dave Prentis, General Secretary UNISON writes in this article that in Whitehall and Westminster there seems to be a fixation with imposing internal market structures on almost every territory of our public services. Meanwhile, the relentless treadmill of top-down organisational change has left many public workers battered and bewildered by ‘reform fatigue’.

Instead of engaging and supporting workers at the coalface and tapping into their expertise to identify, share and disseminate best practice, public services are being systematically broken up and forced to compete with each other (and often with private sector providers) for customers or contracts.

There is so much to be proud of about our country’s public services. But few are celebrating. Instead there is a perception of daily crisis. Polls and surveys tell us that voters are losing faith in the government’s ability to manage them.

Read the full article here: http://www.egovmonitor.com/node/9301

Privatisation studies

The Global Policy Network's pilot study of privatisation was made possible with funding from the American Center for Labor Solidarity (Solidarity Center). Five countries, with strong GPN partners, were chosen and the partner in each country was asked to choose a sector of the economy that had high political and economic importance. The researchers collectively chose to not study water because so much attention is already being directed to water privatisation.

Bulgaria chose to study health services. Turkey chose the petroleum and petro-chemical sectors. Bolivia, El Salvador and South Africa all chose electricity.

Read more: www.world-psi.org/TemplateRedirect.cfm?Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=17159

Impact campaign to defend public services

The Irish trade union IMPACT has launched a campaign to defend public servants, who it says are unfairly criticised in an imbalanced debate about service quality and staff performance. The union has produced a campaign pack to help its members, often dismissed as “bureaucrats, pen-pushers, bean counters and file-pullers". The campaign denounces “six myths” about the numbers, performance and pay of public servants. It provides information on how Irish public sector staff work hard to deliver more and better services to the people and communities they serve. For more information on the campaign see www.qualitypublicservices.ie.