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Public Funding/Tax Justice

The gap between the rich and the rest of us is growing rapidly. In many countries, the richest 1% pay less tax than everyone else. Profitable multinational corporations use loopholes and tax havens to avoid paying their share. Around the world, inequality is growing. A taxation system based on fairness and ability to pay is the first step in reversing this attack on the middle class.

23 June Public Services Day: A global tax justice movement to end inequality

23 June 2013

On 23 June, World Public Services Day, PSI stands with the world’s largest labour and non-governmental organisations in “putting world leaders on notice – members of civil society are uniting for tax justice everywhere.”



Public Services International leader Rosa Pavanelli says, “We are proud to be working at the forefront of the rapidly growing global movement to demand tax justice and accountability in public spending for the common good. Redistributing the wealth that workers help to create is not an option, it is an imperative.”

The day Greece’s TVs went dark

20 June 2013

At 11.30 on the evening of 12 June, the TV screens in the Thessaloniki office of the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) went blank. Black. For a few moments there was the silence of shock and disbelief.

19 June : European Day of Action - No Austerity, Yes Tax Justice !

18 June 2013
No tax havens, yes tax justice

As part of its campaign “ Europe’s missing € 1000 billion every year: we want it back” the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) coordinates a European tax justice week of actions 17-23 June to make the rich and transnational corporations pay their fair share of taxes.

Video: PSI Anti Corruption Forum ILC June 2013

17 June 2013

Public Services International hosted this forum as an official side event of the International Labour Conference in Geneva, Switzerland.
Participants discussed how corruption undermines public services and democracy. Corruption wastes public money by diverting it into the hands of corrupt politicians, businesses and their agents.

Report: Public Finance Control and Anti-Corruption Strategies Forum (2013)

14 June 2013

Public Services International leader Rosa Pavanelli opened the Public Finance Control and Anti-Corruption Strategies Forum on 13 June 2013 by saying: “Corruption is one of the sicknesses of our society. We believe that one of the best alternatives to austerity and cuts to public spending is to seriously fight against corruption. We also link this new PSI campaign against corruption to the fight for global tax justice.”

Brochure: "Your Future in Public Hands"

07 June 2013

A compilation of PSI statements and background information for use by PSI delegates at the International Labour Conference ILC

Take action for tax justice. Sign the pledge!

05 June 2013

Public Services International is at the forefront of supporting the growing global movement for tax justice.

Join with the world’s foremost labour, NGO, faith, environmental and other civil society organisations in the growing global campaign for tax justice. Please sign the pledge now to support this campaign, and send a strong message to world leaders about the united strength and commitment of our organisations in working together to achieve tax justice.

Call to PSI affiliates to join the campaign for tax justice

24 May 2013
Rosa Pavanelli and demonstrators in Geneva

While PSI members and the people they serve are being forced to take cuts in jobs and public services, multinational corporations, financiers and the obscenely rich hide their piles of money in offshore tax havens. The governments we work for are handing ever more generous tax giveaways to banks, big business and the wealthy.
It’s deeply unfair. It shifts the burden away from those who already have the most and drops it on ordinary people. Unfair taxes create poverty and inequality as they relentlessly shift wealth to the elite 1%.

Urgent! Stop George Osborne from derailing the European FTT

07 May 2013
This man has mounted a legal challenge to stop other countries introducing Robin Hood Taxes - photo of George Osborne

The UK's Chancellor George Osborne has lodged an application at the European Court of Justice to challenge the decision allowing 11 members of the European Union to press ahead with a Financial Transactions Tax.

Crisis shockwaves reverberate in European public sector

03 May 2013
ILO logo

The public sector in many European countries has been hit hard by the economic crisis, leading to big cuts in spending, jobs and wages. In this article, ILO Senior Economist, Daniel Vaughan-Whitehead, analyses the impact on the public sector, of policy responses to the crisis.

Rosa Pavanelli joins thousands in FTT rally in Washington

22 April 2013
Rally against FTT in Washington with Rosa Pavanelli holding banner

Nearly 2,000 people, including PSI affiliates from across the Inter-Americas, gathered in Washington on 20 April to demand President Obama and Treasury Secretary Lew stop pursuing austerity and instead support a financial transaction tax on Wall Street, commonly referred to as a “Robin Hood Tax.

Global trade strategy meeting

16 April 2013

Public Services International had the strongest global union presence at the World Social Forum 26-30 March 2013 in Tunis, Tunisia. PSI hosted and co-sponsored numerous events on trade union rights, youth, water, women’s issues, tax justice, energy and climate change. PSI attended the Our World Is Not For Sale (OWNFS) global strategy meeting in Tunis in the days leading up to the WSF and co-facilitated the workshop on the International Services Agreement (ISA).

Public Services International at the World Social Forum, Tunis 2013

15 April 2013

Public Services International had the strongest global union presence at the World Social Forum 26-30 March 2013 in Tunis, Tunisia. PSI hosted and co-sponsored numerous events on trade union rights, youth, water, women’s issues, tax justice, energy and climate change.

Tax Justice and Financial Transaction Tax Forums

15 April 2013
Tax justice and FTT workshop

International FTT strategy session

PSI affiliate members from Tunisia, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and the United States participated in the global financial transactions tax campaign strategy meeting hosted by PSI in Tunis on 26 March. FTT will continue to be a pillar of the broader tax justice campaign, and campaigners are looking to collaborate on EU FTT, post-2015 MDG Summit, G20, World Public Services Day-23 June, and other upcoming advocacy opportunities. The meeting was co-organised by PSI affiliate National Nurses United.

A trade union guide to understanding the Asian Development Bank (ADB)

12 April 2013
Cover page toolkit "Engaging with the ADB for workers' rights"

This toolkit traces the advocacy measures the global unions federations (GUFs) have undertaken so far in engaging with the ADB in the implementation of Core Labour Standards in all loan operations. Global unions have been engaging in dialogue and negotiating for the creation of a Labor Desk or a similar structure at the ADB for some time now, so that there can be more responsive two-way engagements in the implementation of Core Labor standards (CLS) in all loan operations