International Report - Robina Sheikh
Unison International Seminar
Almost eighty branch international officers met in York over the weekend of 23-25 March for Unison’s bi-annual International Seminar.
This seminar discussed the detrimental impact austerity measures in Europe are having on public service users, workers and trade unionists.
On Saturday Hugh Bayley MP for York Central spoke about international development and the UK parliament. This was followed by a session looking at the Colombia peace campaign with Mariela Kohon of Justice for Colombia.
Burma Campaign UK activist, Zoya Phan participated in the session entitled, ‘Burma: a time for optimism or caution?’ Zoya fled Burma in the 1990s following intensive attacks by the army on the area of Karen state where she is from.
The battle for public services in the global south featured largely in the seminar. The global drive to privatise public services is having a huge impact on the health and wellbeing of millions of people, and is also being used as a Trojan horse to destroy the trade union movement and legal rights to protect those in work. At the end of these workshops it was evident that all over the globe the private sector is controlling and profiteering from energy and water.
From attending I have found out that the overall purpose of these seminars gives Unison International Officers an opportunity to hear from experts in Unison’s priority areas, to discuss how to engage members in Unison’s international work, and, to provide a networking opportunity for branch international officers to discuss what they are doing in their own branches and regions.
Below are some links to some short films that we were shown at the seminar and below are the links – please try and watch them
Toxic Debt Film (2 minutes)
Introduction to the IMF (2 minutes)
Robina Sheikh March 2012