The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has warned that women are more likely to lose their jobs in expected public sector cuts following the upcoming general election. It found that double the amount of women were employed in the public sector and consequently were most vulnerable to the changes. It predicted that women living in Scotland, the North East and Wales would be worst affected.

TUC General Secretary, Brendan Barber, said: "Slashing public spending may satisfy fiscal hawks and city traders but it would cause misery to millions of people who have already suffered from the recession. A fresh wave of public sector job losses could leave many families with both parents out of

Employers should not be able to penalise staff for using the toilet in work time, and should provide their employees with clean, modern lavatories, says the TUC today (Monday) as it calls for a change in the law to bring workplace loos into the 21^st century.

Back in 2003 when the TUC first launched its Gotta Go campaign, research revealed that across the UK many workers had no access to toilets or had to use dirty, poorly maintained ones. Others were docked pay for needing to use the loo, and had to ask if they could be excused to spend a penny. Six years on it seems the situation has barely changed.

A new TUC report - Give Us a (Loo) Break - published today to coincide with international women's day, says that toilet breaks are not a luxury, but a basic human need, and employers who don't provide staff with toilet facilities are breaking the law. It finds examples of staff having to put their hands up to use the toilet, record the number of times they nip to the loo each day or travel a mile to pee.

Binmen in Sandwell in the Black Country are planning a lengthy strike that could see rubbish pile up in the streets for weeks on end. Refuse collectors are voting on industrial action amid a dispute with the council over swingeing pay cuts and reductions in annual leave. It is the first major challenge in the region to the controversial national single status agreement. Binmen in Sandwell are losing more than £4,000 a year in pay cuts imposed on January 1. Unions Unite and GMB said the walkout could mirror an 11-week strike that took place in Leeds last year. The Leeds action resulted in overflowing bins and stinking piles of rubbish in the streets.

Sandwell Council employs more than 120 refuse collectors, who are represented by Unite, GMB and Unison. Unite members have until March 10 to return their ballots and the other unions are working to a similar timescale. Derek Heson, Unite regional industrial organiser representing 50 refuse collectors in Sandwell, said: “The overwhelming feeling is ‘yes for industrial action’. “Around £4,700 has been taken from people’s wage packets and two days of annual leave lost. These people are in trouble.”

The GMB union has spoken out strongly in support of local government pensions and against the deliberate misinformation and fabrication peddled by the extreme right wing neo -Thatcherite Taxpayers’ Alliance. 

Brian Strutton GMB National Secretary for Public Services said "The Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) has over £100 billions in the bank, enough to pay pensions for another 20 years. It has a positive cash flow of £4 billions per annum to meet current projections of potential deficits over the long term. There is no crisis and no need to panic. We need to reject “conservatives” scaremongering undermining the tradition of thrift which sees millions of working people putting aside savings each month to fund their retirement.

The LGPS provides pensions for 4 million people who on average get a pension of around £4,000 per annum, so not gold plated. It's a good scheme and a necessary one, otherwise many of these low paid workers would be on state benefits in retirement.