Makes a nice change from the kind of court intervention in industrial disputes that we’re getting more used to on our side of the pond, where bizarre balloting technicalities are increasingly being used by employers to block union members’ attempts to take strike action.

Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi ruled that there hadn’t been enough notice of public consultations, effectively putting a (very welcome) block on the controversial legislation, and sending it on to the Wisconsin Supreme Court to appeal. The Governor had been trying to rush through public meetings by only issuing two hours notice, no doubt not entirely relishing going a few more rounds with the tens of thousands of protestors camped out on his doorstep.

This is obviously only a hiccup in a flow of traffic normally biased firmly against workers and in favour of employers’ somewhat deeper legal pockets, but it’s still something very nice to see for a change, and good also that Gov Walker’s attempts to sneak and bluster these measures past his own voters have come back to bite him.

Yet the austerity measures that so many governments have adopted to respond to the crisis will only make things worse. Growth and decent jobs are the way out of crisis. Cutting too much too soon will stall recovery, actually harming our private sectors and decreasing the tax take our countries need to pay off their deficits.

The crisis and bailout have marked a real shift, where ordinary taxpayers’ money was used to prop up a broken system that even then refused to change. Banks still make huge profits. Bankers still make huge bonuses. But the bill is falling on the most vulnerable in society. The welfare state which took so long to build up is being scaled back, and those in less secure employment are being turned onto the dole.

All rather than contemplate redistributing a fair amount from those who caused the crisis in the first place. Here in the UK, closing tax evasion loopholes and excessive avoidance (minimum rate taxes), and introducing Robin Hood Tax style transaction taxes on speculative banking could raise tens of billions a year.

The alternative is a real entrenching of mass worklessness and poverty. If we want a world where everyone can hope for the minimum standard of access to work, of a decent standard and with fair reward, we need to do everything in our power to defeat austerity, and replace it with fairer alternatives.

Mary Turner MBE is happy to retell how she’s been the victim of practical jokes by GMB General Secretary Paul Kenny. “One of Paul’s favourites was to pretend he was the taxman. He was very good at that until the giggling started, which was a giveaway.” says Mary.

“The phone rang one night at home and my husband answered. He’d got used to Paul’s jokes. I heard him saying “oh yeah!” and “of course” in a sarcastic manner. After a bit he shouted ‘Bollocks chops is on the phone. Kenny’s up to his old tricks again.’”

“I took the phone to speak to Paul, but it was the Mayor of Brent, wondering what on earth was going on.”

Hey, did I ever mention I’m a big screen film director?

Well, after making a little lunchbreak video with our office photocopier a couple of months back, it’s now been picked up to feature this month at the Washington DC Labor Film Festival, at the TUC/Philosophy Football’s Rhyme Rhythm & Reason event this Wednesday, and at the Canadian Labour Film Festival next month.

So if you want to check out the Director’s Cut version on the big screen (Disclosure to avoid disappointment: Screen size aside, you may find it hard to spot the difference from this YouTube version, and when I say “feature”, I mean “feature as a sideshow probably whilst people are finding their seats”…), then get your tickets now for London, DC or Toronto.

Now off to practice my acceptance speech for Cannes…

…starring our photocopier, as it can act a whole lot better than me. Thanks to Moby for allowing me to use the splendid track “18″ on this, and to Lianne for clicking repeatedly.

BTW: As Mark Twain would likely have tweeted – had I more time, I would have uploaded a shorter video. If you do, have a go at the TUC 60 second video contest on YouTube, which I’ve missed by a mere 150%.