Paul O’Shea is currently Welsh Regional Secretary for UNISON Cymru/Wales and has occupied this position since March 2002. He was Regional Secretary for UNISON’S South West Region from 1998 until 2002. He was educated at Tredegar Grammar School and Manchester University where he studied Politics and Social Science. He worked in the Lord Chancellors Office in the House of Lords before moving to the DTI Company Fraud Investigation Branch. Following that, Paul spent five years working for the Swansea City Council where he became active in NALGO. He took up an appointment as a member of NALGO’S staff in 1980 and has worked in a number of regions as well as at national level. He is a Trustee of the Bevan Foundation and also sat on the Welsh Assembly Government’s Making the Connections Board. He is currently President of the Wales TUC and was also a member of the All Wales Convention, the body charged with examining the case for a referendum on further devolved powers for the Welsh Assembly Government.

We can’t afford to cut the public sector

During a period of tight financial settlements, public services often become a scapegoat or an easy target for cuts and so-called efficiency savings. But cutting public services now could do the economy more damage and lead to another recession