The recent exposure of the scale of the government’s toxic healthcare privatisation plans has reignited the debate on in whose interest should the NHS be run – patients or shareholders. NHS deficits, caused in part by extortionate Private Finance Initiative (PFI) schemes, are providing the…Read more…
Government told to rethink promotion of private healthcare
UNISON report shows up role of Department for International Development in promoting healthcare privatisation to some of the world’s poorest countries
The article Government told to rethink…Read more…
Indian trade unions on general strike this Friday
The TUC has sent a message of solidarity to Indian trade unions who have called a general strike this Friday 2 September. The strike has been called by up to ten national trade union centres in an…Read more…
Privatisation fight
Unite and the local Bromley community stood firm in solidarity against cuts to council services and privatisation at a packed demo on Saturday (July 23), which was also attended by Unite general…Read more…
‘One way ticket to disaster’
Network Rail – a public body operating UK rail networks – has begun selling off assets valued at £1.8bn in a bid to make up for a massive government funding shortfall. But a new report…Read more…
UNISON will promote ‘public interest test’ to combat outsourcing
Union remains committed to stopping the march of privatisation of public services
The article UNISON will promote ‘public interest test’ to combat outsourcing first appeared on the…Read more…
Delegates vow to fight against social work privatisation
Delegates queue up to reveal the scale of the crisis affecting a vital service
The article Delegates vow to fight against social work privatisation first appeared on the UNISON National site.Read more…
23 June: five key questions on the EU referendum
When you’re considering how to vote in the EU referendum later this month, here are five key points to have in mind
The article 23 June: five key questions on the EU referendum first appeared on the…Read more…
Cancel all sell-offs call
Tory efforts to privatise Whitehall back office functions to save £500m a year have instead cost taxpayers an extra £4m – and are riddled with problems that will be expensive to fix, the National…Read more…
Report from Labor Notes conference and the Chicago Teachers’ Strike
At the start of April I was lucky enough to be part of a small delegation from the UK to the Labor Notes conference in Chicago, which brought together over 2000 activists for an inspiring, stimulating and useful set of plenaries and workshops. The trip…Read more…
Privatisation: one of the greatest scourges of our NHS
Our union has always fought to defend our publicly-funded health service, free at the point of delivery. As long as that is under threat, we have to make sure the government hear our voices loudly…Read more…
Our Services Our Say – and UNISON members at the sharp end
UNISON has always argued that public services must stay public unless there is an evidenced ‘public interest case’ to prove otherwise. So we welcome the Our Services Our Say campaign which puts the…Read more…
MPs warned of short-termist threat to NHS support roles
NHS needs top operate as one team in the interests of joined-up, high-quality patient care
The article MPs warned of short-termist threat to NHS support roles first appeared on the UNISON site.Read more…
Shrinking state
The present government has surpassed a record set by Margaret Thatcher after selling off public assets in 2015 worth 26.4bn, beating the previous highest figure sell-off year, 1987, by £6m. …Read more…
New financial powers could save Scottish councils £50m, says UNISON
Wed 27 Jan 2016
Public services union UNISON has today (Wed 27 January 2016) urged the Scottish Government to push ahead with proposed new financial powers for Scottish councils to relax the rules for borrowing, lending and the repayment of loans. These proposed changes to Scottish councils’ financial powers should now be used for greater flexibility to deal with the funding crisis in ScottishRead more…
How Osborne’s Fake ‘Living Wage’ Could Trap Many in Poverty
The government are introducing a ‘national living wage’, but beware – it won’t pay people what they need to earn to live on.
The article How Osborne’s Fake ‘Living Wage’ Could Trap…Read more…
Support the Junior Doctors and Student Nurses
For years the government has been slashing at the NHS, cutting and privatising to boost the profits of the private health vultures (many of whom have unsavoury links to MPs and other decision makers).
Now Cameron and Hunt have decided to take on both …Read more…
Unfair fares are up
This week (January 4) rail fares increased to the anger of commuters, who have been left to pick up the cost of rail privatisation. The increase of one per cent increase to season tickets and…Read more…
‘Ultimate market madness’, UNISON’s statement on privatisation Scottish Water services
Date: Tuesday 6 October 2015
Dave Watson, head of UNISON Scotland bargaining and campaigns, said: “UNISON is deeply disappointed that the contract for Scotland’s public sector water and wastewater services is to be awarded to a privatised utility. In fairness, the Scottish Government had few options because the system of retail water competition is the ultimate in market madness. £350m willRead more…
Public services? “Shareholders first” say CBI
In one of his occasional speeches on public services last month, David Cameron eulogised the role that private companies play in revamping things: What energises many markets are new insurgent companies, who break monopolies and bring in new ways of do…Read more…