The price of humanity and public service

#clutha When the helicopter came down on the pub in Glasgow I was about 800 yards away. I heard nothing. I saw nothing. But a few minutes later on the train the tweets started coming through. A sad end to a wonderful meal with treasured long-time comrades.

Such as is life these days, the conventional media were playing catch up with people on the ground who were already tweeting. It didn't take a genius to realise that, at the very least, hopes for those in the police helicopter must be dim. What must their families have been going through? What about the friends and relatives that knew their folk would be in that pub? The people celebrating a well-earned Friday. The locals in their usual seats.

Snow: Public service workers at their best

As extreme snow conditions hit hard, public service workers across the country have as usual responded above and beyond the call. Here are just a few examples from Edinburgh of the human faces behind the numbers of jobs facing the axe or being sold off.

Home carers visiting on foot through up to a foot of snow. The Ranger service providing a 4x4 to get them to inaccessible clients. Other staff volunteering their own 4x4s to help out. The police helping out.

Mobilise to defend public services

Closing speech to UNISON Scotland Mobilise 2010 training weekend: That’s the end of our event and I don’t know about you but I’ve been inspired by the weekend. Inspired by the work everyone has put in and about the way everyone has got involved to make it a success.

As election looms can we remember how bad it was before?

As the run-up to a General Election approaches, the temptation might be to say ‘a plague on all their houses’ but the risks for public service workers are too great to just stand on the sidelines. http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/siu/oct09/10.html 

Scotland in UNISON has focussed on pensions recently for the simple reason that Tory leaders have been explicit that final salary schemes will go. So there’s at least one reason why public service workers should start thinking about the election.