Leaders of a national education reform movement, including Joel I. Klein and Michelle Rhee, the former schools chancellors in New York and Washington, have formed a statewide political group in New York with an eye toward being a counterweight to the powerful teachers’ union in the 2013 mayoral election. The group, called StudentsFirstNY, is an arm of a national advocacy organization that Ms. Rhee founded in 2010. Like the national group, the state branch will promote the expansion of charter schools and the firing of ineffective schoolteachers, while opposing tenure.

Read more: USA: Group Aims to Counter Influence of Teachers’ Union

ANZ and Westpac have warned they could again raise mortgage rates without a signal from the Reserve Bank because of continued uncertainty in global money markets. The two banking giants yesterday increased mortgage rates - blaming the need to protect profit margins - triggering an immediate backlash from politicians and customers.

Read more: Home owners pay for the banks' pain

So, the holidays are over and it’s back to the classroom for another year. Spare a thought for those who have gone before you. I can’t guarantee the correctness of the following information which came to us from The Chermside and Districts Historical Society - but right or wrong, it sure makes a good read.

Read more: The Way We Were

According to Unions WA, union numbers are in a decline so it is vital for our organisation to engage various strategies to recruit and retain members. The Growth Team Project is one such initiative that is being trialed. It is a two year recruitment project. The Growth Team consists of a manager and two project officers. Their focus has been on new educators and students engaged in pre-service education courses.

Read more: The SSTUWA Growth Team

Trade union facility time and facilities are the time and resources (access to ICT and accommodation etc.) that unions negotiate from employers so that they are able to represent members both individually and collectively in negotiations with managers.

Union representatives have had a statutory right to reasonable paid time off to carry out trade union duties since 1975, and most of the current provisions come under the Trade Unions and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, introduced by the then Conservative government. Guidance on the practical application of these provisions is provided in the recently revised ACAS Code of Practice ‘Time Off for Trade Union Duties and Activities’.

Over the last 12 months there has been increased interest from sections of the media, organisations such as the Taxpayers Alliance and Conservative MPs in the cost to employers of providing paid time off to union representatives.

Read more: The Facts about Facility Time for Union Reps