US: Obama declares Influenza A H1N1 a national emergency

On 23 October, US President Obama declared Influenza A H1N1 a national emergency, allowing hospitals and local governments to set up alternate sites for treatment and triage procedures if needed to handle any surge of patients.
The declaration came as thousands of people lined up in cities across the country to receive vaccinations. Influenza is now widespread in 46 states, a level that federal officials say equals the peak of a typical winter flu season. Millions of people in the United States have already been affected, and unofficial figures count 1,000 deaths and 20,000 hospitalisations due to H1N1.
Mr. Obama’s declaration means that hospitals that are in danger of being overwhelmed with influenza patients can execute disaster operation plans, including where necessary transferring patients off-site to satellite facilities or other hospitals.
A few hospitals have set up triage tents in their parking lots to screen patients with fever or other flu symptoms.

Read more in the New York Times article here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/us/politics/25flu.html?_r=1

See the PSI health blog's page on tools and resources to deal with Influenza A:
http://healthblog.world-psi.org/influenza-a-h1n1---swine-flu-information-and-resources.html

Flash Mobs: a new form of industrial action

Ver.di, one of Germany's largest unions and a PSI affiliate, is using Flash Mobs as a method to fight labour disputes. The protest had been organised as a result of disagreements over pay and conditions between Verdi and retail sector bosses in the states of Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and Saxony. "With this new form of strike we wanted to draw attention to our problems. But we also wanted to let our colleagues in other sales areas know about our problems," union secretary Doris Finke told local newspaper Mitteldeutsche Zeitung. It was an action organised via the Internet that brought together union members in a shopping centre, where they proceeded to load up shopping carts with an assortment of goods before simply leaving them standing in store aisles. Business came to a standstill for about an hour and staff told reporters it would take them all day to put the goods back on the shelves. Although police will press charges against some of the flash mobbers for disturbing the peace or damaging property (frozen goods), the protest was peaceful, and above all, legal.
For more details see http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,652867,00.html.

Public Services: Transformation not cuts

PSI affiliate IMPACT in Ireland has launched a campaign for a transformation in public service delivery to preserve the quality and range of public services while budgets decline. Research has shown that over half of the population (52%) fear they will be personally hit by cuts in public services next year, with the figure rising to 60% among those in the 35-54 age group.
Although 58% of respondents said they believed spending cuts were necessary to reform public services, over half (52%) disagreed with the proposition that public servants should suffer further pay cuts.
IMPACT's campaign defends public services and the people who use and provide them. Full-page newspaper ads have appeared in national newspapers and the union unveiled a massive billboard advertising campaign in major cities and towns across the country. Leaflets will be delivered to a million households, as well as ‘commuter’ advertising inside buses and DART trains.
Under the slogan ‘Public Services: Transformation Not Cuts,’ the campaign aims to transform public services bringing about changes in work practices, identifying and cutting waste, and vastly increased productivity and mobility to ensure that services are maintained as resources decline and staff numbers fall. See the campaign website www.7STEPStoTRANSFORM.ie.

New GLU short training course for trade unionists

PSI regularly publishes information about the Global Labour University and its one-year Masters Programme for young trade unionists.
Now, for the first time, the GLU will offer a new short term training course for trade unionists from Brazil, Europe, India and Southern Africa, entitled ENGAGE. It is a six-months training programme, to be held from April to September 2010.
The Diploma Course “Labour Policies and Globalisation” constitutes the core of the activities of ENGAGE. In addition, international conferences, e-learning modules, networking and alumni activities will be offered.

The application deadline is December 1st 2009. For more information, see http://www.global-labour-university.org/216.html

No to nuclear weapons !

PSI supports the global campaign for an end to nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction. PSI believes that the world needs to take urgent action to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, and to make the world free of nuclear weapons, as part of the overall drive for worldwide peace and the transfer of military spending to socially-useful ends.

PSI urges affiliates to sign the on-line petition to Mr Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations. The link to the on-line petition can be found on the ITUC website by clicking here.

PSI also supports the actions of the “Mayors for Peace”, headed by the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in calling for abolition of all nuclear weapons by 2020.

Information on the 2020 Vision Campaign of Mayors for Peace can be found here: http://www.2020visioncampaign.org/

A user-friendly projects handbook for trade unionists

A writing team of GUF representatives including PSI have produced a user-friendly Projects Handbook for Trade Unionists. It contains instructions and suggestions on how to develop, implement, monitor and evaluate projects and includes the reporting guidelines of FNV, LO/TCO and SASK.
The handbook can help unions gain maximum benefit from a project, and offers a series of useful annexes, available in Word or PDF format. We encourage all affiliates to download the handbook and hope you will find it useful.

See www.world-psi.org/handbook

Romanian public sector workers strikes and protests

On October 5 up to 800,000 public sector workers struck in Romania to protest new legislation on salaries, including a freeze on public sector wages. The government of Prime Minister Emil Boc also plans to scrap many bonus schemes and introduce mandatory unpaid leave.
During the one day strike a demonstration was held in the capital, Bucharest. With up to 30,000 people in attendance the protest was the largest in the city for a decade. Public sector workers are campaigning for a minimum salary of 155 euros a month in 2010. The current minimum wage is around 145 euros.
Many demonstrators demanded the resignation of the government chanting slogans such as “Down with the government,” “Shame on you” and “Thieves! Thieves!”
The government is imposing a raft of austerity measures in order to slash its budget deficit. As well as attacks on wages, it plans to introduce a pension bill raising the retirement age to 65 by 2030. The current retirement ages are 63 for men and 58 for women. The measures are being implemented as part of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Union 20-billion-euro rescue plan.

A further three-hour rally involving thousands of public sectors workers was held Bucharest on 7 October to commemorate the World Day for Decent Work.

WDDW in Colombia and Guatemala

The PSI Andean sub-regional office prepared a campaign kit especially in support of municipal sector employment rights on the occasion of the World Day for Decent Work. The kit comprises of a brochure that was distributed among workers of the municipal sector, posters, postcards, a calendar, and various banners.

In Guatemala, on 7 October more than 80 union leaders from various labour and peasant organizations from around the country of Guatemala, PSI affiliates and members of the Mario Lopez Larrave Foundation held a Forum entitled "Challenges and Challenges of Decent Work in Guatemala." Union leaders in the energy sector in Latin America and the Caribbean also participated in the forum. That morning, Guatemalan PSI affiliates organised a major rally in front the National Congress of the Republic to demand better working conditions and occupational health for Guatemalan workers.

For more details of 7 October activities, see the dedicated website www.wddw.org.

Australian prison officers strike against privatisation

At the end of September, thousands of Prison Officers in Australia's largest State, New South Wales, took part in a series of rolling stoppages to protest the decision of the NSW State Government to privatise another of the State’s public jails. 
The Prison Officers are members of the PSI Affiliate, The Public Service Association of New South Wales, the PSA, and the national public sector union- the CPSU-SPSF group.
Over a series of three days, the prison officers voted jailed by jail, to strike in every jail to protest against the government decision to hand the running of a current public jail (Parklea Correctional Complex) to the multinational security and corrections company operating in Australia as Geo Group, and the successor to the notorious Wackenhut company from the US.
The decision to privatise one of the State's 30 correctional institutions is widely seen as a direct attack on the public sector unionised prison workforce.  The decision comes along with a package of other "cost savings" that the government has insisted upon, such as privatising the prison transport and Courts security system, which has been resisted by the prison officers union for the past year. 
The Prison Officers Union has told the NSW Parliamentary enquiry that the privately operated jails have had a poor record both in Australia and overseas. The union has campaigned on the poor safety record, both for inmates and public, when jails have been handed over to private operators.  They pointed to several of deaths in custody recently in privately operated jails in other Australian States.

For more information visit the union’s website:-   http://www.stopthecelloff.org.au/

New ACTRAV website

The mandate of the Bureau for Workers' Activities (ACTRAV) of the the International Labour Organisation (ILO) is to strengthen trade unions and enable them to play their role effectively in protecting workers' rights and interests.
The new ACTRAV website offers lots of information on how ACTRAV functions, including a list of upcoming meetings and resources. There is also a link to the ACTRAV Helpdesk on the Financial and Economic Crisis.

See http://www.ilo.org/workers.

Informal employment curbs trade benefits for developing countries

A joint study from the International Labour Organisation and the WTO has found that high incidence of informal employment in the developing world suppresses countries' ability to benefit from trade opening by creating poverty traps for workers in job transition. "Trade has contributed to growth and development worldwide. But this has not automatically translated into an improvement in the quality of employment. Trade opening needs proper domestic policies to create good jobs. This is all the more evident with the current crisis which has reduced trade and thrown thousands into informal jobs," said WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy.

Read the WTO press release here: http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/pres09_e/pr574_e.htm

Read the UN press release here: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=32505&Cr=international+labour&Cr1=#

World Day for Decent Work 7 October

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

PSI and other global union federations have chosen to use the day to highlight the growth in precarious work and the resulting erosion of workers' and trade unions' rights.
Activities include a joint global unions press conference to be held in Istanbul on 2nd October; action by Colombian affiliates in reaction to a government decision to rescind a bill which would have extended employment rights and protections to temporary workers; and a regional activity led by the Guatemala electricity workers' union.
 
The International Metalworkers' Federation has planned a global week of action against precarious work on 3-10 October. PSI is pleased to support this action and has associated with the IMF and the other Global Unions. Please click on the following links to download

• the campaign poster  (low resolution)
• the campaign leaflet.

Additional language versions of the poster and leaflet, as well as a high-resolution version of the poster, suitable for printing, are available on the IMF website: http://www.imfmetal.org/index.cfm?c=20592&l=2

UN Leadership Forum on Climate Change

PSI General Secretary Peter Waldorff is in New York to participate in the UN Leadership Forum on Climate Change on 22 September. PSI will also be present at the UN conference on climate change, COP15, to be held in Copenhagen on 7-18 December 2009.
PSI has published a statement on climate change that urges governments to agree in Copenhagen on an ambitious and equitable agreement that would keep global temperature rise to below 2⁰C. PSI endorses greenhouse gas emission reduction of 30% by 2020 for developed nations, and urges them to provide support to developing countries to help them to deal with the consequences of climate change.
PSI recognises that a major strengthening of public services is essential in order to contribute to fair and efficient climate policies.

New PSI Deputy General Secretary

We have the pleasure to welcome Alexandre Kamarotos as the new PSI Deputy General Secretary. Alexandre is 46 years old and is of Greek/French nationality. Over the past 16 years, he has been working for the UN, for different NGOs in the field of sustainable development and humanitarian aid and development.
He has held senior management positions in “Enfants du Monde – Droits de l’Homme” and in “Médecins du  Monde – International”.
Since 2004 Alexandre has been managing large European Union programmes in France and Italy. He has very strong experience in international affairs, a long experience in international high-level management, he has knowledge in strategic planning and a wide expertise in the public sector. Alexandre Kamarotos will officially start work on 1st October. We look forward to welcoming him to PSI.

Indian power workers strike against privatisation plan

The Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL) employees and engineers will observe a one-day strike on October 8 against the scheduled transfer of power distribution system in the cities of Agra and Kanpur to Torrent Power, a private power company, member of the Rs. 45 billion Torrent Group.
As a prelude to the strike, the power workers will hold a 48-hour work boycott on October 6. They have warned that they will take immediate action if the power distribution was transferred before the strike.
UPPCL staff, under the banner of Power Employees Joint Action Committee (JAC) – (of which PSI affiliate Vidyut Karmachari Morcha Sanghathan is a vital partner), alleged UPPCL was proceeding with the franchisee-based power distribution although there had been significant reductions in line losses of late. JAC spokesperson Shailendra Dubey said revenue generation in Kanpur during 2008-09 had improved compared to 2007-08. In fact, the improvement in revenue is close to the rates quoted by Torrent Power in its bid. Sources said UPPCL engineers pointed out to the Torrent officials that the average tariff of Rs 2.87 quoted by Torrent for Agra would actually come to Rs 4 per unit for consumers.
Torrent was selected through competitive bidding in February 2009 and a formal agreement signed on May 18.
Although Torrent had promised perquisites over salary to power workers, JAC remains committed on its demand not to implement the franchisee power distribution model. Seven other cities are also under study, namely Bareilly, Moradabad, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Allahabad, Aligarh and Meerut.

Swiss public sector workers demonstrate to protect their income

30,000 Swiss workers demonstrated in the capital Bern on 19 September in favour of a raise in salaries, or at least against salary decreases.
The Syndicat des services publics (SSP), a PSI affiliate, also calls for the reduction of working time, longer paid leave, creation of more jobs and an increase in annuities and similar bonuses.
The Deputy Genral Secretary of the SSP, Judith Bucher, said, "Over the last few years, national, regional and local government departments have seen a strong rise in income. However, instead of creating reserves, many of them have preferred to offer the gift of tax reductions to companies and speculators, to the rich and the super-rich."
The rally was held in the context of a historic economic crisis for Switzerland. The research centre of Zurich (KOF) foresees an unemployment rate of 6% for 2010, against a probable maximum of 4.5% this year. The present numbers of 150,831 unemployed will likely go beyond 200,000 in 2010. In parallel, the GDP will go down by 3.3% this year and 0.6% in 2010.

See the union website here: www.ssp-vpod.ch.

Canadian unions say NO to the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement

The Conservative government of Canada has tried for the second time to force a vote in parliament to implement the Canada Colombia Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA). However, pressure from opposition parties and civil society resulted in the government withdrawing the bill from the Parliamentary order paper. PSI affiliates in Canada (CUPE, NUPGE, PSAC), together with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, have been leaders in the fight against the agreement and remain on alert as it is expected that the agreement will be brought back yet again.
The Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement was not written to protect labour and human rights. It is more than a “trade” agreement. It is a trade and investment agreement underpinned by tacit Canadian support for a security agenda that defends the extractive industries, the drug cartels, and the internal security forces of Colombia.
Authentic democracy and the respect for human rights are not the direct outcome of free trade. If human rights and the security of the person are not upheld, neither are the democratic rights of millions of Colombians. Since January 2007, there have been 115 trade unionists murdered. Colombia has four million internal refugees. This bilateral agreement is likely to intensify Colombia’s refugee crisis because the investment provisions will further open up Colombian territories to foreign investment in the resource extraction sectors.
The Canadian labour movement has asked Canadian parliamentarians to reject the Canada-Colombia agreement at least until a comprehensive, independent Human Rights Impact Assessment is completed, its findings broadly circulated and acted upon, and until the provisions of the investment chapter are withdrawn.

Click here to download the brief on the CCFTA recently published by the Canadian Labour Congress.

Argentinean health workers on strike on 23 September

Faced with growing tensions due to inadequate salaries and precarious work for thousands of health workers, the national council of FESPROSA (Federación Sindical de Profesionales de la Salud) has decided to launch a strike in the Argentinean health sector on 23rd September.
The epicentre of the conflict is located in the northern province of Tucuman, where health workers are leading a massive social rebellion against governor Alperovich, with the full support of the local population.

The forthcoming strike and national mobilisation in the health sector will present the following claims:

• Resumption of negotiations on health workers’ salaries to reflect cost of living
• Permanent and formal contracts for health workers currently employed in precarious conditions
• Higher benefits for retired health workers
• Halt to repression against professional health workers
• Solidarity with those who are fighting in defence of health workers and patients’ rights, including various FESPROSA leaders.

During the 24-hour strike, each trade union branch will decide on the practical aspects of their labour action based on the health situation in their province.

Global Unions statement to IFI meetings

Please find attached the statement, prepared jointly by the ITUC, the Global Union Federations and TUAC, for the 2009 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. These meetings will be held in Istanbul on 6 and 7 October 2009.
The statement proposes that the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) must emphasize the creation of decent work as the key to economic recovery. In its latest assessment of employment trends, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) determined that the global number of unemployed could be as much as 59 million higher in 2009 than in the pre-recession year 2007. It is evident that workers around the world, who are not to blame for the global economic crisis, continue to shoulder the greatest burden. 
We ask you to call on your government to endorse the propositions contained in the statement. The ITUC has published a model letter that you may find useful to accompany the statement when you send it to the government. Please keep PSI informed of your actions and any response you receive.

French government to order 40,000 electric vehicles

During the presentation of its "clean vehicles" plan on 23 September, the French government will be announcing an initial order of 40,000 electric cars to be used in administrations and public enterprises.
This tender will be the first installment of a larger order, they added, providing a welcome boost to the electric vehicle market.
According to Le Parisien newspaper, the French post office, train service, airports, Électricité de France, state departments and large urban communities will all benefit from the vehicles.
President Sarkozy has indicated that the Ecological "super bonus" of 5,000 euros, already available for any vehicle emitting less than 60 g / km CO2, would be extended to light commercial vehicles and maintained until 2012.

Young Workers: A Lost Decade  

In the past 10 years, the lives of young workers in the US have changed dramatically. Since 1999, more of them now have lower-paying jobs, if they can get a job at all; health care is a rare luxury and retirement security is something for their parents, not them. In fact, many—younger than 35—still live at home with their parents because they can’t afford to be on their own.These are the findings of a new report, “Young Workers: A Lost Decade.” Conducted in July 2009 by Peter D. Hart Research Associates for the AFL-CIO and Working America, the nationwide survey of 1,156 people follows up on a similar survey the AFL-CIO conducted in 1999. The deterioration of young workers’ economic situation in those 10 years is alarming.

AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka summed up the report’s findings this way: "We’re calling the report “A Lost Decade” because we’re seeing 10 years of opportunity lost as young workers across the board are struggling to keep their heads above water and often not succeeding. They’ve put off adulthood—put off having kids, put off education—and a full 34 percent of workers under 35 live with their parents for financial reasons."

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said, "Young workers in particular must be given the tools to lead the next generation to prosperity. The national survey we’re releasing today shows just how broken our economy is for our young people…and what’s at stake if we don’t fix it."

According to the report, more than half of young workers say employees are more successful getting problems resolved as a group rather than as individuals, and employees who have a union are better off than employees in similar jobs who do not.
 
Read more here: http://blog.aflcio.org/2009/09/01/young-workers-a-lost-decade/

Download the full report here: http://www.aflcio.org/aboutus/laborday/upload/laborday2009_report.pdf

A Million Voices for Change

UNISON has launched a campaign highlighting the importance of public services for helping people through the recession and laying the foundations for our economic recovery. This has become even more urgent as hostile politicians and commentators seek to use the crisis as the occasion for more privatisation and cuts.

The campaign is called "A Million Voices for Change" and the core messages and objectives are set out on the UNISON website here http://www.unison.org.uk/million/.

The website also contains a wealth of information on the campaign, including a large range of printed resources. You can also send your own message to the campaign, and add your voice to the Million Voices for Change.

Finnish Workers in state-owned enterprises STOP on 11 September

Employees of state-owned enterprises stopped work for six hours on 11 September 2009.  Destia’s, Raskone’s, Labtium’s and Finavia’s employees, members of PSI affiliate JHL, stopped work in protest against the proposed selling of company shares. Destia and Labtium as well as the majority shares of Raskone are the first in line. Finavia will be incorporated at the beginning of 2010.
In JHL’s opinion the sale will, at worst, endanger the maintenance of the country’s basic infrastructure, and in the worst-case scenario cause natural resource know-how and national defence maintenance operations to be steered into the hands of foreign listed companies.
In any case the intention to sell is short-sighted politics: a quick way of procuring money to fill up the hole left by tax concessions, and also an indication that the State is trying to wriggle its way out of its basic responsibilities as an owner.

The work stoppage involves:
• Destia’s workplaces around Finland, including ferries
• airports
• Labtium’s workplaces in Rovaniemi, Kuopio, Sodankylä, Raahe, Espoo and Outokumpu
• Raskone’s repair workshops around Finland

For more details see the JHL website: http://www.jhl.fi/uutinen/5449

Indonesia: PLN Union rejects new electricity law

The Indonesian House of Representatives again passed its new controversial electricity law on 8 September,  to allow the free market economy to come into play in the power sector and to fully privatise power generation, distribution and supply. Over 2000 workers, members of the PLN union, took part in a rally to reject the law. The former electricity law (No. 20/2002) was annulled by the Indonesia Constitutional Court with  their landmark decision of December 2004. In its judgment, the Court made reference to international experiences that privatisation of electricity has failed in other countries and quality public services in electricity need to be provided through the public sector.
The PLN union has threatened to call for a national strike if the government implements the new law. Indonesia President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has set up a meeting with the union on 8 October. PLN has a strategic position in the Indonesian electricity generation sector, and they have a significant social, economic and political role. The union will continue to support and protect the interests of the public for accessible and affordable electricity.

Anti-racism committee meets and supports Brazilian projects

Representatives of the Committee to Combat Racism from PSI Americas met on August 25 and 26, in the city of Brasilia. Among the major decisions were:

• the support to the Convention under discussion at the Organization of American States (OAS) against all forms of discrimination
• the implementation in the region of the goals established by the Durban Conference, including its revised version; 
• the integration of PSI in the activities developed by INSPIR (Inter-American Trade Union Institute for the Promotion of Racial Equality); and
• the preparation of the III Regional Meeting to Combat Racism, to be held previously to the IAMRECON in October 2010.

Bill Lucy talking with José Sarney, President of the Brazilian Senate

NUPGE wants respirators for health care workers

PSI affiliate National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) in Canada says all health care workers exposed to a pandemic flu virus like H1N1 should be given fit-tested NIOSH approved N95 respirators to protect them on the job.
More than 100,000 of the union's members across Canada are health care workers, including over 70,000 health sciences professionals who deliver diagnostic, clinical, rehabilitation and preventive services.
The recommendation is made by James Clancy, NUPGE president, in a letter to the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) dealing with weaknesses in Annex F of the Canadian Pandemic Influenza Plan (CPIP). "In our view Annex F does not go far enough to protect health care workers in the event of a pandemic influenza outbreak such as the H1N1 virus," Clancy writes. "We believe there is ample current available scientific evidence suggesting that an influenza virus like H1N1 is capable of being spread through airborne transmission. However, we understand that PHAC’s position is that there is not yet a scientific consensus on this issue," he notes.
"We argue, however, that in light of any scientific uncertainty, and given that any consensus is likely to emerge later rather than sooner, that our governments and health care employers have a legal, moral and ethical responsibility to put safety first and provide all potentially exposed health care workers with the highest quality and safest personal protective equipment that is available."

Read the letter here http://www.nupge.ca/files/publications/MiscPDFs/nupge_pandemic_letter_annex_f_aug09.pdf

Link to NUPGE's "Watch list" http://www.nupge.ca/taxonomy/term/128

For more details and advice on H1N1 influenza, read the PSI health blog http://healthblog.world-psi.org/.

The ILO Global Jobs Pact and the global economic and financial crisis

For more information access the PSI financial crisis blog.

Ask the ILO Helpdesk!

Do you have questions about putting decent work principles into practice? Or how to prevent trafficking of migrant labour? Or how to observe labour standards? The ILO Helpdesk can answer these and other questions about the respect of workers' rights.
The ILO has launched a Helpdesk  with an aim to provide guidance to unions and companies on questions related to international labour standards, based on the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, the ILO MNE Declaration, as well as other ILO instruments, tools and guidelines. 
To get assistance from the Helpdesk, send your question by email to assistance@ilo.org.  Users receive a comprehensive response drawing on the whole range of ILO expertise concerning protection of workers' rights, sustainable enterprise development, conditions of work, social safety nets, and industrial relations.
 
Please find attached a flyer with more information on the Helpdesk.
 
We encourage PSI affiliates to make use of this valuable resource.

NHS under fire in the US: UNISON counter-attacks

Obama's health reform plan has come under fire from the anti-reform campaigners who have chosen the UK National Health Service (NHS) as the target of their criticisms.
PSI affiliate UNISON has sent an "NHS fact sheet" to its sister unions in the United States, which include PSI affiliates  SEIU, AFSCME, AFGE, AFT, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Utility Workers Union of America and United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America.

UNISON General Secretary, Dave Prentis, referring to the misrepresentation of the NHS in the US said:
“I, like so many other people in the UK, owe my life to the NHS. We are outraged by the gross lies and distortions, being spread in the US about our NHS. A universal health system that is free at the point of need is something that we can all be proud of - it is a mark of a civilised, caring society.
“People love the NHS in this country because it is always there for them when they need it. Regardless of your income, the NHS provides peace of mind even at the most uncertain economic times, like those we’re experiencing now. In the US losing your job, means losing your health insurance.
“America may be the world’s richest nation, but almost 50m people there are not covered by health insurance, so President Obama is to be congratulated for trying to bring in health reform."

Read the UNISON article here.

Read more from the BBC website here.

Show solidarity with the NHS and tweet your support on http://twitter.com/search?q=%23WeLoveTheNHS.

Protests continue in Honduras

Photo courtesy of CEMH (Centro de Estudios de la Mujer–Honduras) and CAWN (Central America Women’s Network)

Click here for more details.