Category: petition

DEFEND THE RIGHT TO STRIKE: STOP LEGAL ACTION AGAINST THE NEU

Dear John Biggs,

We are extremely concerned to hear that Tower Hamlets Council is taking legal action against the NEU in respect of their strike ballot to defend their members’ terms and conditions.

We are particularly disappointed, as the NEU has played a leading role in the School Cuts campaign, working with MPs and councillors all over the country to highlight the effects of government cuts on our schools.

The right to strike is fundamental in a democratic society and we are truly shocked that a Labour Council is using anti-trade union laws brought in by David Cameron’s government to try and stop this.

We note that part of your submission to the High Court is the suggestion that strike action by school staff will cause financial hardship to parents and lead to an increase in anti-social behaviour.

This has nothing to do with the legality of the NEU ballot but is a clear signal to any judge who is sympathetic to Boris Johnson’s idea that public sector workers should be banned from taking strike action.

We fully support the right of NEU members to take strike action.

We urge you to withdraw the threat of legal action and to talk to the NEU and other unions so that the dispute can be resolved.

SIGN HERE.

Thanks for your support – if you want to be kept informed of future developments please leave your email address.

Tories force through £70 garden waste charge – but please keep signing the petition!

Despite 5,159 people (82%) opposing the Council’s plan to charge £70 a year for collecting garden waste, the Tories forced this through at Environment Committee last night (quelle surprise). But please do keep supporting local residents by getting friends and family to sign our petition. In 72 hours it reached over 2,000 signatures, so we could quite easily get to 7,000 and force a Full Council debate on this to try and stop it.

You can sign or share our petition here: http://chng.it/MXTwnWxfGg

Coca-Cola violates workers’ rights around the world

Coca-Cola continues to violate the fundamental rights of workers in Haiti, Indonesia, Ireland and the USA.

The International Union of Foodworkers (IUF) has launched a global online campaign to protest this — which we encourage you to support.

In Haiti, Coca-Cola’s bottler continues to systematically deny workers their right to form and be represented by a union.

In Indonesia, Coca-Cola’s bottler pursues its long running attack on the rights of independent, democratic trade unions.

In Ireland, Coca-Cola closed two of its directly owned concentrate plants, both of which were strongly unionised, and shifted production to the remaining plant in Ballina, where it refuses to engage in collective bargaining with the union.

And finally, in the USA the company’s bottler spent more than $330,000 hiring a union-busting consultant firm to persuade workers at its Greenfield bottling plant to not join the union.

Please show your support for the IUF campaign by sending a clear message to Coca-Cola CEO and Chairman James Quincey, expressing your outrage over these ongoing human rights violations and demanding that the company act to remedy them. 

Please share this message with your friends, family and fellow union members.

Coca-Cola workers fighting for their rights in Haiti, Indonesia, Ireland, and the USA still need your support

Coca-Cola continues to violate the fundamental rights of workers in Haiti, Indonesia, Ireland and the USA.
In Haiti Coke’s bottler La Brasserie de la Couronne continues to systematically deny workers their right to form and be represented by a union, SYTBRACOUR.
Haiti is a dangerous place to live and to work. Companies should, at a minimum, be alert to this situation and exercise maximum due diligence. In July 2019, a Coca-Cola truck driver was shot in his vehicle while at work. The Coca-Cola Company has made no meaningful independent investigation of this killing, choosing instead to rely on a version of events provided by their local bottler, which sought to shift blame onto the driver. Subsequent IUF investigations into this case have exonerated the driver and exposed a callous disregard for the truth on the part of the Coca-Cola bottler and The Coca-Cola Company.

In Indonesia Coca-Cola bottler Amatil pursues its long running attack on the rights of independent, democratic trade unions.

In Ireland, The Coca-Cola Company closed two of its directly owned concentrate plants, both of which were strongly unionized, and shifted production to the remaining plant in Ballina, where it refuses to engage in collective bargaining with the IUF-affiliated SIPTU.

In the USA the Company’s bottler spent more than 330,000.00 US dollars hiring a union-busting consultant firm to persuade workers at its Greenfield bottling plant to not join the RWDSU/UFCW.

Please show your support for these workers and the fight for rights in the Coca-Cola system.

CLICK HERE to send a message to Coca-Cola’s CEO and Chairman James Quincey, expressing your outrage over these ongoing human rights violations and demanding the Company act to remedy them. Your name will also be added to a petition that will be delivered to The Coca-Cola Company.

Don’t sack 12,000 Asda workers just before Christmas

Asda workers have been told to sign the contracts – which will see them lose all their paid breaks and forced to work bank holidays – or be sacked on November 2 in the run up the Christmas.

Asda workers have been protesting outside stores up and down the country, while more than 1,000 turned out for a protest in August.

Today we are back in the birth place of Asda – once a proud, family company – calling on bosses to respect workers and offer them a better deal.

Gary Carter, GMB National Officer

Latest company accounts show directors trousered a whopping £12million last year – and profits rocketed more than £92 million – at the same time Asda slashed 5,000 jobs

Gary Carter, GMB National Officer, said:

“Tens of thousands of members of the public are backing our Asda workers in their fight against these Draconian contracts.

“Contract 6 is shocking – the changes are forcing our members to choose between looking after their families, or being able to support them. It’s a disgrace.

“Today we are back in the birth place of Asda – once a proud, family company – calling on bosses to respect workers and offer them a better deal.”

Stand with Asda workers – sign our petition

Electoral REFORM SOCIETY: NO TO VOTER ID

It is hard to believe: on top of an electoral system that is warped and discredited, over nine million people missing from the electoral roll, and elections open to the influence of unscrupulous donors and misinformation…the government is choosing to make it harder for us to vote.

Make no mistake: the government’s voter ID plans – announced yesterday – are a clear threat to our democracy.

Despite only eight allegations of “personation” fraud (the crime of pretending to be someone else at the ballot box) in 2018 across the whole of the UK, the government is putting up new barriers to millions of legitimate voters. This is a gross electoral injustice in the making.

It will cost up to £20m per General Election – but the democratic cost will be much higher.

This ‘show your papers’ policy must be stopped. Will you sign our petition to say no to US-style voter suppression laws in the UK – and yes to real democratic reform?

Sign our petition

Our campaign against mandatory ID has dominated headlines this week. The pressure is mounting. 

Let’s stand up for universal suffrage together. Sign our petition today.

Call For The London Living Wage For All Barnet Group Employees

Sign here.

We the undersigned are calling on The Barnet Group (TBG) to implement the London Living Wage as the Minimum Wage For All Barnet Group Employees.

Why is this important?

Since ex-Fremantle care workers transferred into the Barnet Group this year, The Barnet Group now has a large number of employees paid below the London Living Wage (£10.55/ hour). This means that the skilled caring work done by staff is paid at rates lower than those paid to cleaners working in the Council buildings. It is absolutely right that cleaners are paid the London Living Wage but care workers are no less deserving.

The London Living Wage is identified as the hourly rate of pay needed to more realistically cover the real cost of living.

For more information see here: https://www.trustforlondon.org.uk/issues/work/london-living-wage/

MR REASONABLE: Barnet Council Plan to Gag Residents

Last week the Constitution and General Purposes Committee proposed significant changes to the public participation rules. Currently, up to 30 minutes is set aside at the start of each committee meeting for public comments and questions. You have to submit the questions by 10am 3 working days in advance of the committee meeting and you also have to specify which agenda item on which you wish to make a public comment.  At the meeting the resident gets 3 minutes to make their public comment and they can then be questioned by committee members. Questions are taken in strict rotation so everyone who has asked a question gets a chance to ask a supplementary question. Even if the questioners do not get the chance to ask a supplementary question there is a written response to their original question. This provides a useful audit trail when matters arise in the future.

Last week all those rules were changed.  Following ratification at the forthcoming full council meeting on 30 July public participation will be dramatically reduced. The Council’s proposals are as follows:

Questions and comments should be amalgamated. The number of words for each question/comment should be limited at 100 and must be submitted in writing by 10am 3 working days in advance of the committee meeting.
Residents may raise one question/comment on an agenda item. The question/comment must relate to the substantive matter to be determined by the committee. No more than two questions from residents will be allowed per agenda item taken in the order of receipt by the Governance Service. These changes means the public will no longer be able to address the committee in person and councillors will not be able to ask the member of public about their comment. When reports run to many pages, summarising a single question or comment in 100 words will severely restrict what people can say. Residents will only be able to make one comment or one question on an agenda item but if more than two residents ask a question or make a comment on an agenda item, no other questions or comments will be accepted.  Barnet say this is about saving money and giving more opportunities to residents. It will do neither especially, if residents are forced to submit multiple FOI requests to get important answers. It seems clear that Barnet do not like residents scrutinising decisions such as the Council’s £22.9 million loan to Saracens Rugby to build a new stand at their stadium or asking questions about the £2 million fraud carried out by a Capita employee which went undiscovered for more than a year. Capita’s performance in areas such as Highways and Pensions Administration have been dismal but public scrutiny of their performance and why they are being allowed to continue to provide such a poor service will now be all but eliminated. The Council are also making major cuts to services such as libraries and are changing the rules to force disabled people who receive in-home care packages to move into residential care simply because it is cheaper. The ability to question these changes will be dramatically reduced, allowing the council to rubber stamp decisions without any meaningful engagement with the public. Barnet residents have a right and a need to scrutinise the Council and these changes will eliminate that scrutiny. I admit I do ask quite a few questions but that is simply because I believe committees are failing to provide adequate scrutiny. Conservative councillors keep saying the questions are political. The questions I ask are almost always about money and performance. With £20 million of budget cuts this year and a further £47 million of cuts over the next four years it is important that Councillors at least listen to the concerns of residents. If you think the Council’s proposals are wrong, please sign the petition here or go an visit your local Conservative Councillor before the Council meeting on 30 July. Details of all their councillors’ surgeries are on the Barnet Council website but I have summarised them here for your convenience.

ORIGINAL POST

We’re calling for an end to harassment at work. Please support our petition

Sexual harassment has no place anywhere in the UK. But it’s still happening every day in our workplaces.

Our laws rely on individuals reporting harassment to get action taken but this is not working. Four out of five don’t feel able to report sexual harassment to their employer.

We need a new law to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace before it happens.

We’ve launched a petition calling for immediate action. For government and MPs to take notice, we need thousands of people to add their name. 

Can you add your name and demand action?

Sign the Petition
1 in 2 women have been sexually harassed at work and 4 out of 5 of them don’t feel able to tell their employer. 2 in 3 LGBT workers have experienced sexual harassment too.

Just like health and safety rules protect us from physical dangers at work, employers needsimple rules to protect us from harassment, whether it comes from a colleague, client orcustomer.

We’re demanding a new, easily enforceable legal duty. It would require employers to take all reasonable steps to protect workers from sexual harassment and victimisation.
 
It’s a simple step that could stop harassment in many cases before it starts.

Join the call for the government to take immediate action. #ThisIsNotWorking.

Grenfell Never Again: Keep our buildings safe

On 14 June 2017, the fire at Grenfell Tower claimed the lives of 72 people and devastated a close-knit community in the heart of London. Two years on, the bereaved, survivors and residents are still waiting for justice. And two years on, we are still waiting for the lessons from that day to be learned, and acted upon to safeguard all our communities.

Can you help call on the government for action? Working with the Daily Mirror and Grenfell campaigners, the Fire Brigades Union are calling on Communities Secretary James Brokenshire to take five key steps:

1. Remove remaining inflammable cladding from 2,000 tower blocks and public buildings.
2. Retrofit sprinklers in high rises and schools. 
3. Ensure tenants get a real voice in the running and upkeep of their buildings. 
4. Reverse cuts to firefighter numbers and Fire Safety Officers.
5. Create a new independent body to oversee standards in fire service across the country. 
Sign the Petition
James Brokenshire needs to listen and act on the demands of Grenfell campaigners and the Fire Brigades Union.

These five steps are achievable if there is political will to do so, and would make a huge difference in ensuring a fire like the Grenfell Tower tragedy never happens again.

Thanks for all your support,
Anthony, Going to Work

P.S. Once you’ve signed, please share the petition with your friends and family: www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/grenfell-never-again-keep-our-buildings-safe
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