Category Archives: petition

Join the protests in solidarity with Sudan uprising, 9 February

Sudanese activists will be organising protests in Liverpool and London on 9 February, as trade unionists across the country are moblising in solidarity with their demands for democratic change and social justice. Sudanese refugees in Liverpool will gather at Lime Street station at 1pm, while Sudanese activists will also gather in Trafalgar Square in London at 2pm the same day. The demonstrations, which bring together activists from different areas in Sudan, and UK-based members of the Sudanese trade unionists and political organisations, follow several weeks of protests in cities around the UK.

UK trade unions are mobilising in support of the uprising in Sudan, and to demand an end to UK arms sales and diplomatic backing for Omar El Bashir’s brutal regime which has thrown thousands in jail during the last few weeks, and killed dozens of demonstrators.

Liverpool TUC, Liverpool University UCU and Stockport NEU have all passed motions raising these demands, and other branches will be considering similar motions in the coming weeks. A statement for trade unionists to sign has been launched by MENA Solidarity which has attracted support from leading activists in UCU, NEU and UNISON.

What you can do:

  • Join the protests in Liverpool and London on 9 February. Meet 1pm at Lime Street Station in Liverpool, 2pm in Trafalgar Square in London (in front of the National Gallery)
  • Sign the petition to the UK parliament calling on the government to condemn the repression of the uprising: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/236102   
  • Sign the solidarity statement here
  • Pass a resolution in solidarity with the movement in Sudan in your trade union branch or student union. Download a model motion here [sudan_solidarity_modelmotion]  [Liverpool motion]
  • Call on your MP to show their support for the protesters’ demands for democratic change in Sudan.
  • Take a picture in solidarity with the Sudanese uprising using this sign [sudan_solidarity_poster] and share on social media using the hashtag #تسقط_بسPlease mention @MENAsolidarity so we can share further. Follow reports from Sudan on #SudanUprising and #SudanProtests.
  • Read more on the background to the uprising here

We stand with #Stansted15, who face sentencing this week: Support the solidarity protest, Wed 6 Feb

This Wednesday, 6 February, the #Stansted15 activists who bravely and peacefully protested a deportation flight, face their sentencing in Chelmsford at the Crown Court. Stand Up To Racism is supporting the solidarity protest called by End Deportations, from 8.30am, New Street, CM1 1EL.
If you are able to get to Chelmsford to support the protest, contact us at info@standuptoracism.org.uk. But everyone can do something to show their support: download the ‘solidarity selfie’ poster HERE Whether in your workplace, college, community or just yourself, you can take a picture with the message of solidarity and share it including #Stansted15 and @AntiRacismDay. If you don’t have Twitter or other social media access, you can email it to info@standuptoracism.org.uk and we can share it for you. 
The #Stansted15 were found guilty in December of a terror-related offence after they peacefully prevented a secretive deportation flight from leaving last March.
These activists are an incredible inspiration to millions of people who are enraged and horrified at the injustice of how refugees are forced to suffer at the hands of Fortress Europe and the British government’s ‘hostile environment’ that regularly sees parents stripped from their children, lives put in extreme danger as deportation flights take off to deport people, and the horror of life for those in detention centres.
They now face an uncertain future, and the implications of the use of anti-terror legislation in this case poses a threat to the civil liberties and right to protest of us all. This sentence is intended to smash the anti-racist movement’s resistance to this government’s racist policies.
They need the full solidarity of our mass, broad movement – we all must get behind them now to send the message loud and clear that refugees are welcome here, and that the charges against the #Stansted15 heroes must be dropped.

Korea: Stop the Outsourcing of Danger – Justice for Kim Yong-gyun!

Kim Yong-gyun, a 24-year-old subcontracted worker was killed after getting stuck in a coal conveyer belt at the Taean Power Plant. Kim was working alone in the dark, doing extremely dangerous work. According to the occupational health and safety rules in the manual, Kim should have been working in a team of two. Excessive cost-cutting following the outsourcing of power plant fuel operations and maintenance means that this work is now done alone. This shocking event has sparked a national movement in Korea against the ‘outsourcing of danger’ endemic in the power plant industry and throughout the Korean economy. The KPTU President and 5 other coalition leaders have been on an unlimited hunger-strike since 22 January, calling for an investigation into the incident and punishment for those responsible. PSI and KPTU have launched a campaign calling on the government to carry out an investigation, make the necessary safety improvements in the power plant industry and carry out the insourcing and direct permanent employment for subcontracted workers in the industry.

Sign here.

 

Death threats against teacher trade unionists

EI 25th Anniversary Celebrations
Hotel Metropole, Brussels
25-26 January 2018

The Education International, which is the global union federation for teachers around the world, is very concerned about news it’s been getting from the Philippines.

During a recent press conference, where the Alliance of Concerned Teachers was denouncing harassment and threats faced by its members and leaders, its general secretary, Raymond Basilio (pictured), received death threats on his phone.

Raymond was warned that unless he gave in to the caller’s demands, an order to kill him would be carried out.

The police deny any knowledge of this, but the union has learned of continuing unlawful profiling of its members carried out by the police in different regions of the nation, in a serious breach of both national and international law.

Please take a moment and send a message to President Rodrigo Duterte demanding that the government protect Raymond and other union leaders, that they investigate the death threats, and that they guarantee the privacy of union members and stop any illegal collection of data about them.

Support the campaign here:

http://www.labourstart.org/go/raymond

The most dangerous part of TTIP that lives on

Just three years ago our movement was instrumental in stopping TTIP, the EU-US trade agreement. It wasn’t easy. Together, we collected 3.3 million signatures. Hundreds of thousands of you protested in the streets. We took on the corporations, the lobbyists, 28 governments and the EU Commission. And we won!

Now we have to do it again to kill off ISDS – which was one of the most dangerous parts of TTIP – once and for all. Over the last three years, this system has been badly wounded. For the first time, with a strong push in 2019, we can get rid of it for good. A Europe-wide campaign against ISDS and for more corporate accountability has just started to make the best of this opportunity!

Sign the petition to support the new campaign now!

ISDS stands for ‘Investor-State-Dispute-Settlement’. It is an obscure parallel justice system only accessible to large corporations. They can use it to sue states and prevent new rules that were intended to protect people and the planet. If on the other hand people are harmed by a corporation, they often don’t have any way of winning justice. This is a horrendous injustice!

Some ISDS cases are well known, like Vattenfall demanding 5 billion Euros of public money for the German nuclear exit. But hundreds of other scandalous cases are still receiving close to no public attention. And new treaties containing a parallel justice system for corporations even keep on being signed! In order to stop ISDS we need to oppose these new deals and get rid of existing ones.

Click here to sign the new petition to end ISDS!

This week, corporations are gathering in Davos at the World Economic Forum. They will dine and chat with world leaders until Friday. Those companies include Chevron, which sued Ecuador to avoid cleaning up their oil pollution in the Amazon, and still refuse to pay the victims of their dirty business. Cargill, which sued Mexico after the Government implemented a tax on sugar to address the country’s obesity crisis. Dow Chemical, which sued Canada for banning harmful pesticides, and dozens more.

Today, we crashed their party. Our colleagues from the “Rights for People, Rules for Corporations” campaign are in Davos. Dressed as wolves, they revealed that more than 40 corporations attending the World Economic Forum have used ISDS to sue governments and extracted vast sums of taxpayers’ money. Some of these same corporations have infringed on human rights but people and the planet cannot bite back. It is time to stop this injustice!

We demand the EU and member states to support a tough global system that can punish multinationals for their crimes. We need rights for people and new rules for corporations! ISDS must be stopped! And 2019 is the year to do it.

Please join this new movement and sign the petition today!

Tom Copley AM, Right to buy: wrong for London – sign the petition

Right to buy: wrong for London – sign the petition

New research I’ve published today reveals that 42% of homes sold off under Right to Buy in London are now being rented out by private landlords at market rates – up from 36% in 2014.

That’s at least 11,000 more council homes in the hands of private landlords than there were five years ago, a shocking transfer of wealth from the many to the few.

My report also reveals that councils in London are spending at least £22 million a year renting back their former council homes to house homeless families. These were homes they were forced to sell at a discount that they now have to pay market rates to rent back.

This is ludicrous, and the blame lies squarely with Tory government policies.

Many Labour councils across London are building new council homes again for the first time in a generation. But we risk treading water or even going backwards if we continue to lose precious existing homes through Right to Buy.

That’s why I’m asking you to take action by signing this petition demanding that Theresa May ends Right to Buy in London and across England. It’s already been abolished in Scotland and Wales.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE PETITION

You can read my full report “Right to Buy: Wrong for London” here.

Nearly 300,000 council homes in London have been sold off under Right to Buy since 1980. Let’s tell the government to put a stop to it.

Best wishes,

Tom Copley AM

London Assembly Member | City Hall Labour housing spokesperson

Petition: after the Tories suffer the biggest parliamentary defeat in history

The Tories’ chaotic handling of Brexit has left us with no choice: Jeremy Corbyn has called a vote of no confidence in Theresa May’s government.

We need a General Election now to break the Brexit deadlock. And a new government that can get a Brexit deal that actually delivers for working people.

We need a government that can pull our NHS out of crisis, keep our communities safe and invest in the towns and cities the Tories have left behind.

We need a Labour government.

If you agree, stand with us today. Sign here.

Rail: You haven’t been asked your opinion since 1994. Here’s your chance!

We’ve got three days to get public ownership on the table for our railways.

2018 was a disaster year for our railways, and the government are asking for suggestions.

This is the biggest review since privatisation. Let’s make sure they’re looking at public ownership to fix our broken railway.

Tell them what you want to see – but hurry! The deadline is this Friday 18th of January.

ePetition – Sort out Barnet’s bins

We the undersigned petition the council to Sort out the current bin collection problems, drop plans to charge for green waste collections and make a firm commitment to restoring a separate food waste collection service.

As a result of new bin collection arrangements introduced on 4 November 2018, collections are being missed across the borough, with some residents having no collections for several weeks. The backlog of collections is often leading to the council disposing of recyling along with general waste. In addition to plans to charge for green waste collections and stopping the separate food waste collection service, these changes are bad for the environment and will further cut the council’s recycling rate.

Labour councillors are proposing the petition on behalf of residents.

Photo credit: Zara Winstone

Primark: Pay the Living Wage!

We the employees of Primark, believe that the living wage should be paid for the labour we provide. Sign the petiton.

The current London Living Wage is £10.55 and £9.00 for the rest of the country. But the wage store assistants receive, at the Primark Marble Arch store, is £8.09 per hour. That’s £2.46 less every hour, than than the suggested amount. The London Living Wage is a fair wage that enables people to not just survive but to live. Primark has a responsibility to its over 70,000 employees, to provide a living wage.

Primark currently holds the second largest market share of clothing retail in the UK. Within the last year profits rose 15% from £735 million to £843 million.

We believe Primark should be a leader in wages just as it is a leader in retail market. Employees wages should reflect the success of the company. If companies such as IKEA and LUSH can provide a living wage there is no reason for Primark not to.

Primark does increase wages every April: in 2018 they increased the pay by 18 pence per hour. Meaning Primark’s hourly wage increased by 2.2% compared to Primark profits which increased by 15%. This does not reflect the value of labour we provide.

A year ago a petition was handed in internally at the Marble Arch store. There has been no official response to this so we feel it is time to make a public petition.

We know there are workers at Primark working full-time, struggling to make ends meet for their families, even with support from the Government. Primark rely on the Government to subsidise their workforce in effect. A pay rise to the living wage would show that Primark can lead the way in being a responsible employer, recognising the true value of its workforce.

When one brand changes its business, others see and follow suit. A company as big and influential as Primark switching to paying the Living Wage would have an effect on other companies around it. If you care about working rights then please sign this petition.

It is time workers got the pay they deserve for the labour that they do.

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