Unions Plan Action to Defend Public Sector

Unite representatives participated in the USW Public Employee Conference in mid-May to jointly develop plans for defending the public sector and its employees.

Unite representatives participated in the USW Public Employee Conference in mid-May to jointly develop plans for defending the public sector and its employees.

Fiona Farmer and Frank Keogh, representatives from the Unite health sector, joined with over 100 USW public sector delegates for the conference in Pittsburgh.

The USW represents about 25,000 members who work for state and local governments. Unite represents over 80,000 in the publicly run National Health Service. It represents many thousands more in the broader public sector.

The conference uncovered similarities between attempts to weaken the public sector in the U.S., Canada and the UK. For instance, conservative governments in all three countries are trying to undermine pension benefits for public sector employees.

A number of workshops were held to facilitate development of action plans. One focused on maximizing our unions’ leverage through doing power analysis of the public sector.

Unite and USW participants committed to continue to collaborate across borders in the struggle to defend the public sector and public sector employees.