"Unite union staff working at Greenwich Council's libraries are to strike for five days in protest at the council's decision to hand over the running of its libraries to GLL (Greenwich Leisure Ltd). The switch to GLL management is due to take place from Monday 30 April but union representatives fear cuts to workers' pay and conditions, and are also angry about the lack of consultation over the move. Strikes will take place on Friday 27th April, Saturday 28th April, Mondy 30th April, Tuesday 1st May, and Friday 11th May." This leads on from my previous blog on this topic - see http://ruthrikowskiim.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/diana-edmonds-head-of-libraries.html
För mig är det en gåta att det i ett och samma marknadsliberala huvud går att kritisera finanskapitalismens kortsiktighet - och samtidigt förorda att samma finanskapitalism tillåts annektera än större samhällsytor.
Goldman Sachs and UBS have been chosen to oversee the planned flotation of the Royal Mail later this year. The stock market listing, the largest UK privatisation in two decades, is expected to value the postal operator at about £3bn. Michael Fallon, the Business minister, insisted "all options" remained open for the Royal Mail. He said: "It is important that we are in a position to move ahead swiftly with our chosen route once we take the final decision.
This working paper and infographic provide an overview of a great 'fire sale' of public services and national assets across Europe that is providing profits for a few transnational companies but is often fiercely opposed by its citizens.
Im Schatten von Ceta und TTIP: Das weltweite Dienstleistungsabkommen Tisa ist weitgehend unbekannt. Gegner fürchten, EU-Löhne könnten gedrückt, riskante Finanzprodukte zugelassen oder Datenschutz ausgehebelt werden.
Naomi Klein, at ALA in Toronto , June 2003 "Most of you probably didn't think that helping people to share books was subversive when you decided to become librarians. And it shouldn't be: sharing, giving, saving and reusing are the most human of impulses and we are at our best and most human when we act on them. The desire to share, as you know, is immense." Yet the fact is that you have chosen a profession that has become radical. Being a librarian today means being more than an archivist, more than a researcher, more than an educator - it means being a guardian the embattled values of knowledge, public space and sharing that animate your profession.
Während die Kritik an dem monströsen Projekt TTIP immer mehr Gehör findet, basteln die Vertreter von 50 Staaten an einem Abkommen, das alle öffentlichen Dienstleistungen, von Bildung über Gesundheit bis zur Energieversorgung, dem Privatsektor ausliefern würde.
Was die großen Mächte innerhalb der Welthandelsrunde nicht geschafft haben, wollen sie nun, bilateral, regional und geheim durchsetzen: Freihandel nach ihren Regeln.
2014-06-19 Today, WikiLeaks released the secret draft text for the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) Financial Services Annex, which covers 50 countries and 68.2%1 of world trade in services. The US and the EU are the main proponents of the agreement, and the authors of most joint changes, which also covers cross-border data flow. In a significant anti-transparency manoeuvre by the parties, the draft has been classified to keep it secret not just during the negotiations but for five years after the TISA enters into force.