ITUC report reveals continuing poor record on trade union and workers' rights

Local government union Kommunal has published a new report on the pay and conditions of temporary worker. The report shows that temporary workers tend to be on lower pay, often work part time and split shifts and receive little if any training. In the past five years the number of temporary workers in the municipal sector has increased by five percentage points to 156000. As many as one in five temporary workers have more than one job as they can't survive on the pay from one job alone. For Kommunal these kinds of conditions are very worrying and increase the problems of recruitment into

The FOA public service union has responded to attacks on inefficiency and laziness in the health service by pointing to a long-run increase in productivity in the sector. There has been a increase of 12,000 staff in hospitals since 2001 but in terms of productivity, 77 workers today deliver the same services as 100 workers then. New technology, shorter waiting lists, better outpatient care are among the factors contributing to this increase in efficiency. Over the last 10 years hospitals have faced demands to improve productivity by 1.5%-2% each year. In contrast the private sector has only