PSI in Europe
 The European region has experienced major economic and political changes over the last decade. These have been dominated by the expansion and integration of the European Union and the momentous changes in Central and Eastern Europe. The latter has resulted in a rapid expansion of PSI membership and
with that expansion a whole new set of challenges. To read more about PSI involvement in the region, and our co-operation with the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU), click here 
PSI affiliates directory
PSI programme of events
EPSU-PSI Integration
EPSU-PSI Cooperation Agreement
Towards a single Federation of European Public Services Unions (background documents)
Analysis
The following section contains links to articles and opinion pieces of strategic interest to trade unionists operating in the European region. Below this you will find a collection of PSI and other publications related to the region.
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Norway signs agreement on quality
Partly as a result of the PSI Quality Public Services campaign to promote quality, three parties in the Norwegian labour market have entered a historical co-operation agreement to enhance quality in the municipal sector. The government plans to invest in welfare and has allocated the equivalent of 2.2 billion euros more to the municipalities over a two-year period.
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IMF: the wrong business model - or the wrong business?
Outstanding loans to the IMF have fallen from $90 billion to $66 billion in 18 months and are forecast to fall to $35 billion by the end of 2006. The reduction has been sharply increased by Argentina and Brazil, who have both decided to repay their loans early. This poses a problem for the Fund which relies on interest from its lending to fund its operational costs. Jubilee Research, UK, has published a paper that argues that it is not just a question of whether the IMF is using the wrong business model, but whether the Fund is the wrong institution trying to do the wrong job in the wrong way.
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What makes a good job?
Job satisfaction was once a hot topic in academia. From the 1960s through till the late 1980s, management theorists looked at the question from every angle they could think of, trying to find ways to create a contented labour force: “one less concerned with money rewards and less inclined to unionise”. Researchers expected to find a strong correlation between job satisfaction and productivity. But when these results proved elusive, research funding dried up. Unions have never let the question drop.
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Measuring resistance to privatisation
 The process of privatisation in water and energy has proved hugely unpopular and encountered strong political opposition around the world. A new report from PSIRU examines the role of popular opposition in delaying, cancelling, or reversing the privatisation of water and energy.
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Privatisation and restructuring of water supply in Russia and Ukraine
This PSIRU analysis of the pressures for privatisation in the water and sanitation sector in Ukraine and Russia focuses on the key agents of privatisation, notably the national and multinational corporations that are trying to turn an essential public service into a source of private profits; the international banks and donor agencies that are using their loans to impose an ideologically motivated privatisation; and the different levels of government that are turning to privatisation.
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Trade union reform
 In this article (and linked resources) PSI looks at unions’ attempts to reform themselves and to adapt to an environment where change is the only constant.
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2005 - A year of challenge
 What if:
Everyone could eat when they were hungry?
Everyone had clean water?
Everyone was guaranteed a basic education?
Everyone was equal regardless of gender, ethnicity or religion
AIDS and other serious diseases disappeared?
All mothers and children survived the miracle of childbirth?
Environmental resources were here for generations to come?
Everyone worked together as a global community?
In 2005, unions have a chance to play their part in making it happen.
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Unchartered territory
Over the last twelve years, Alan Leather has written numerous reports on developments in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. In this personal account he discusses his impressions of the region today.
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 Publications
PSI has produced a large range of publications relating to public
sector unionism in Europe. Below is a selection. We are still adding to
this list, so watch this space.
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Administration documents
This is a collection of the central documents which define PSI work and priorities.
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Charting a Union's Future
Some pointers on the planning process
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Closing the Gender Wage Gap - PSI/EPSU Survey
PSI/EPSU have produced a survey on equal pay in the public sector across Europe. The survey shows that while the 12% average pay gap in the EU’s public sector is not as wide as in the private sector, recent trends to reduce the pay gap are stagnating. In some countries the pay gap goes up to 50%. It also confirms that cuts in public services, attacks on the right to collective bargaining and privatisation have had a negative impact on gender equality and threaten to undermine equality achievements.
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European Social Partners sign an agreement to fight against harassment and violence at work
In the presence of Commissioner Spidla, the secretaries general of ETUC, BUSINESSEUROPE, UEAPME and CEEP officially signed an autonomous framework agreement to fight against harassment and violence at work. Negotiated during ten months, the text commits the members of the signatory parties to combat all unacceptable behaviour that can lead to harassment and violence at the workplace.
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Focus online
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Growing Together
This handbook has been designed as a guide to help unions, large and small, think about how they can work together – or ultimately merge – with other unions and, if they decide to do so, how they can set about managing the
process.
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Introduction to PSI
This Powerpoint presentation is intended as a basic introduction to Public Services International. It explains who we are, what we campaign for, and how we work.
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PSI European Youth Charter
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PSI Women
The latest issue of PSI Women - a quarterly publication celebrating the work and struggles of women activists in public service unions around the world.
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PSI-EPSU Co-Operation Agreement 2004
This agreement (approved by the PSI Executive Board in December 2004)explains to co-operative relationship between PSI and the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU).
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In reaction to the international financial crisis, initatives are multiplying around the world to make a financial transactions tax a reality.
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PSI affiliate the FDA, the senior public servants' union in the UK, has reacted to the government's proposal to freeze the pay of senior staff in the civil service, the military, the judiciary and the health service, alongside the pay of GPs and dentists and salaried NHS consultants.
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PSI general secretary Peter Waldorff is a keynote speaker at the Euromediterranean Conference, 16 March, in Bari, Italy. PSI affiliate members will be participating in this important conference.
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Seher Tümer appeared in court in Ankara, Turkey on 9 March. A total of 8000 signatures had been collected and presented to the Ministry of Justice on 8th March, petitioning for her immediate release. Her trial has now been postponed until 18 March. Ms Tümer’s lawyers are optimistic that she may be released at that time. Meanwhile, keep sending letters and signing the petition. Tümer continues to need international support in her bid for freedom..
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An increasing number of female workers are joining the ranks of trade unions throughout Europe. According to this year’s European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) 8th March Survey, women account for around 45% of the trade union membership of ETUC. The study shows that women are important for trade unions’ future growth and sustainability and that trade unionism is key in the promotion of gender equality in employment and society at large. Nevertheless, women do not appear to be effectively represented in trade unions’ decision-making positions, with only 7% of the top trade union positions being occupied by women.
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More than a quarter of a million public sector workers in the United Kingdom are voting on whether to strike over proposed cuts to pension plans.
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PSI will present the first annual Public Service Trade Union award at the Quality Public Services Conference in Geneva this October. Nominations must be sent to PSI before the end of April 2010.
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Hospital cleaners create more value for society than financial managers – it’s all in how you calculate it, says a new report from the New Economics Foundation.
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Since the start of the economic crisis, PSI has consistently warned that workers should not be made to pay the price for a crisis they did not create but also that this could lead to a major social crisis.
It is unacceptable that public sector workers and their families should foot the bill for the lack of government policies which now result in the current financial crisis in Greece. PSI fully supports its affiliate's action in opposing the planned government reforms that limit workers' benefits without improving the system. PSI and EPSU urge the Greek government to review to review the impact of these measures and to ensure that the affected workers are guaranteed a decent standard of living.
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Millions of people have joined the general strike action today and protest actions are being organised all over Turkey. The six trade union confederations representing the interests of the Tekel workers in Ankara decided to launch a one-day strike following a breakdown in negotiations between the government and the representatives of Tekel workers.
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 Contact details
European Federation of Public Service Unions
EPSU
Brussels, Belgium
Email epsu@epsu.org
Tel +32 (0)2 250 1080
Central-Europe Office
Prague, Czech Republic
W. Churchill Sq. 2
Email krejbych.josef@cmkos.cz
Tel +42 (0)2 3446 3559
Fax +42 (0)2 3446 3557
North-East Europe
c/o Vasyl Shylov
House of Trade Unions, Room 555
Maydan Nezalezhnosti 2
Kiev, Ukraine
Email shilov@fpsu.org.ua
Tel/Fax +38 (0)4 4278 1249
Russia and Central Asia
Leninsky Prospekt 42
Moscow, Russia
Email olga.zhankevich@cq.ru
Tel +7 (0)9 5938 7912
Fax +7 (0)9 5938 8122
South East Europe
Str. Piata Amzei 10-22
Sc. B, Et.5, Ap.26
Bucharest, Romania
Email irimie@ping.ro
Tel/Fax +40 2131 97296
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