Scottish trade unionist Christina McAnea was triumphant yesterday as she was named the first woman head of Unison. With 1.3 million members, the body is the biggest in the UK and 80% of the public sector workers it represents are female and in low-paying positions. But McAnea, the daughter of a Glasgow dinner lady, is the first woman to become its general secretary. From the city’s Drumchapel district, she counts firebrand Clydeside leader Jimmy Reid as an inspiration. She left school at 16, entered university at 22 and later became a housing officer. She said she was surprised to be the only woman running when she entered the race to replace outgoing Dave Prentis last year, and has now beaten her four male rivals after securing almost half of the vote.
Graphic Online
BY: Chris Nunoo
705
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has called on the government to direct all economic recovery and transformation efforts in the next four years on job creation.
It has, therefore, called for effective collaboration among stakeholders, whom it describes as social partners, to create more and better jobs for young Ghanaians, both in the public and the private sectors of the economy.
In a New Year message signed by its Secretary-General, Dr Yaw Baah, the TUC said: “We can make a huge difference if we work together to remove the numerous constraints in the way of domestic production, including corruption, high interest rates, ultra-liberal trade policies and the deficit in our social and economic infrastructure.”
The Young Communist League of South Africa [uFasimba] has learned with great sadness, the passing of Comrade Mario Masuku, the long serving President of the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO). Comrade Mario Masuku is known to be an outstanding, fearless and relentless activist, an intellectual and a leader par excellence. Comrade Mario Masuku was the founder of the Swaziland Union of Financial and Allied Workers (SUFIAW), an affiliate of Swaziland’s largest trade union federation, the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA). He was a committed and rare working-class activist at all times, leading from the front during difficult times.