services
Articles about work, policy and workers' struggles in the service sector, as distinct from retail, energy and communications.
NI: Water privatisation delayed until 2007
Government plans to implement water charges and privatise the Water Service in Northern Ireland has been put back again, this time to April 2007.
Ineptitude, opposition and a desire to dissipate growing resistance may all play their part in the further delay.
The most damaging aspect of this announcement is that it becomes harder to focus attention on the issue and build effective resistance.
On tap at the WTO: Private water
The focus of the Hong Kong round for rich western nations is to squeeze every drop of money they can by privatising public services. When it comes to water systems, that can be deadly.
Hong Kong – Activists gathered here say that no issue highlights the tension between the human values they advocate and the economic logic of the legion of corporate globalizers that have descended on this city more clearly than water.
House of Commons cleaners to strike again
Cleaners at the House of Commons plan to strike for a second time in a bitter dispute over low pay and poor working conditions
The action follows a breakdown in negotiations with the parliamentary authorities to increase the wages of cleaners from £5.20 an hour to £6.70. The adult minimum wage is £5.05 an hour.
The strike means MPs and peers will face picket lines as they go to work tomorrow.
