London Unison AGM

The London Unison AGM will be held on the 9th this month. The event promises to be colourful and interesting, looks like people are now more united than ever before given the attacks we face in the public sector. I am hoping it will be a good one.

Louis Theroux on Arab Israeli conflict

I watched the documentary this week on BBC2 made by Louis Theroux on the Palestinian Israeli conflict. I find his programme making very interesting I like the way he approaches some subjects. But he covered the issues quite well last night.

The documentary was about the longest running conflict on earth and the way the cycle of hate between Palestinians and Israelis continues without any interruption and any hope of resolution.

It was ridiculous to see settlers taking over land in what the international community recognises to be Palestinian territory perhaps the Israeli government should be more forceful when imposing the rule of law?

I know for a fact that the great majority of those on both sides would like to live in peace and harmony and have no doubt that the average 20 year old on either side would prefer to do normal things that an average (whatever that means) 20 year old does rather than be drafted in the army for years but the constant recycling of violence and hatred prevents everyone, especially the Palestinian population, from ever getting fair treatment or justice. The meaningful recognition of a workable Palestinian state by Israel is a must and a priority with the international community helping to develop the new state.

Tunisian unions call for wide-ranging reforms

The Tunisian trade union movement, the UGTT, released a statement on 27 January 2011, calling for the end of repression and violence and for wide-reaching political and economic reforms.

http://www.tuc.org.uk/international/tuc-19083-f0.cfm

Assassination of Manuel Esteban Tejada

The TUC General Secretary has written to the Colombian Ambassador in London to protest at the killing of Manuel Esteban Tejada. Manuel is the 25 teacher to be killed in Colombia over the last 12 months.

http://www.tuc.org.uk/international/tuc-19087-f0.cfm

Equality Act 2010

Under the new amended version of the Equality Act 2010, employers will be able to treat applicants with a 'protected characteristic' differently (i.e. more favourably) during the recruitment and promotion stages when dealing with a number of candidates of equal merit. This distinct treatment will only be lawful if the different process applied is intended to address under-representation in the workforce. The single public sector equality duty will also come in and both provisions will become the law as from 6 April 2011. Unions have been consulted and I would expect to see a detailed response to how this will work soon from Unison and the TUC.

Equal treatment for agency workers

Another interesting change coming in from 1 October 2011, concerns the way employers deal with agency workers they will now be entitled to equal treatment on basic employment conditions, such as pay and holidays, after they have worked in a role for 12 weeks.

Trades Unions have of course been arguing that all staff should be permanent but the area and the way in which some employers use agency workers has become very complicated. I remember many difficulties we had on the ground when we were dealing with permanent staff being made redundant and the employer replacing them almost immediately with agency staff that they would just bring in. There was then a conflict of interest between the two. Agency staff now will have to be treated the same way but isn't the agency the employer?

Egypt. Dictatorships will fall !

I have been Watching the news on television, like many others and the huge demonstrations of people who have flooded the streets of Cairo and other major cities in Egypt.

This reminds me so much of the scenes on the streets of Athens in August 1974 when the military junta was just about to collapse following the invasion of Cyprus and the 7 years of repression. And it was younger people and students again who took to the streets and said enough is enough and that dictatorships have no place in modern society. It was also the students at the Athens polytechnic who occupied the college the year before and refused to surrender to the tanks who started the movement that would eventually bring down the regime, many of them were killed by troops loyal to the colonels but this gave rise to an unstoppable movement. There was more than a million demonstrators on the streets of Athens in August 1974 for a whole week which then led to the collapse of the colonels regime and their immediate arrest, the army there refused to fire on its people a situation very reminiscent to the events today in Cairo.

So the same is now happening in Egypt a country ready for change and a state that rejects dictatorship, people demand more.