Privatisation

Several years ago, the Geneva office in charge of public buildings in the Canton took the decision to contract out the cleaning work in the buildings to private companies. This has resulted in a huge loss for the workers, and they are campaigning for the cleaning to return to the public sector.

PSI Global Labour Remunicipalisation workshop is taking place at the ILO in Geneva from 4-5 December. Trade union affiliates from around the world are showcasing local experiences of remunicipalisation and giving union strategies to bring public services back in-house.

A new publication by the ILO confirms PSI’s long-held position: the privatisation of public pension systems has delivered vast returns to a tiny financial elite while diminishing the incomes of workers in retirement.

New report on "Extreme poverty and Human rights" finds that "widespread privatisation of public goods in many societies is systematically eliminating human rights protections and further marginalising those living in poverty".

20,000 Government and global financial leaders met in Bali, Indonesia, as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund held their Annual Meeting on 12-14 October 2018.

A new IMF study concludes that Britain’s underlying public finances are among the worst in the world, thanks to the cost of bailing out the banks after the financial crisis and because “the UK has done more to sell off public assets and consequently reduce the possible income from assets that could offset demands on the public purse” says The Guardian.

On August 30 the Brazilian Supreme court voted 7-4 to legitimize last year´s labour reforms that allow for unrestricted outsourcing. Previous Brazilian legislation had limited outsourcing to non-core activities like property services.