Back in 2020 EPSU welcomed the publication of Eurodad’s first History RePPPeated – see article - and this 2nd edition provides more useful evidence and examples of the failure of PPPs to provide added value compared to direct public investment and traditional public procurement.
Low pay in female dominated sectors, gender-differences in precarious employment, uneven distribution of unpaid care work, persistent pay gap – what connects these issues is that they are all linked to and/or are reinforced by gender segregation on the labour market.
The FSC-CCOO and FeSP-UGT public service federations have called a strike on 16 October involving workers in the government's overseas services. The strike is in protest at the freezing of salaries for the 7000 workers in the service and increasingly precarious employment conditions. The unions say that the strike is necessary as there has been no response to their demands since a meeting a meeting in June and despite a number of other protests and actions so far in 2017.
(June 2017) Embassy, tourist office and other international staff around the world are taking strike action to secure pay rises and end a long-term pay freeze that has seen wages in some countries fall to below national minima. Unions are looking for a 20% pay increase, arguing that in some countries inflation has meant a 40% loss of purchasing power for some workers. Action has taken place or is planned in several countries including Canada, Sweden, the United States and Argentina.
The university sector in the UK, and some universities in particular, are under pressure to cut costs and to outsource services - the Working Lives Research Institute (WLRI) at London Metropolitan University has produced a very useful overview of the evidence on outsourcing.
Many municipalities and joint authorities are disappointed with the results of outsourcing. And the dissatisfaction is so great that up to a fifth of these public organizations plan to take back outsourced work so that it can be done once again by their own personnel.
In 2010 Lisbon city council decided to restructure its services to try to reduce its levels of spending. It published plans which included proposals for reducing the number of departments, transferring some work to the smaller district councils in the city and for contracting-out some services.
