Unions Together

Together, we marched

29.03.11

On Saturday, unionstogether joined a crowd half a million strong, marching through Central London to send this government a message - there IS an alternative to vicious cuts to jobs, support for families and public services.

It was an incredible, inspiring day. I marched together with nurses, teachers, parents with children, pensioners, union members and Labour Party activists - united in our belief that this government’s got the country on the wrong track. Seeing Ed Miliband address the rally in Hyde Park made me proud to be part of the Labour Party, and part of the labour movement.

Even if you weren’t able to join the march on Saturday, it’s not too late to send a message to the government by making a protest sign at home and sending us a photo.

You can view our photo gallery and upload your favourite photos from the day here:

http://www.unionstogether.org.uk/yourprotestphotos

Saturday was a great day, but the fight against this government’s cuts is only just beginning. As they try to pass the laws that will risk privatising the NHS by the back door, unfairly increase the state pension age, and scrap many of our hard-won rights at work, unionstogether will be helping you get involved in campaigns to stop them.

On Saturday, we showed the strength of our movement when it is united. Upload your photos now:

http://www.unionstogether.org.uk/yourprotestphotos 

Together, we can send this government a message - there is a better way.

Helen

PS. This Friday is ‘All Together for the NHS’ day – see if there’s a campaign event near you http://falseeconomy.org.uk/nhs

Join the March of the Mainstream

25.03.11

ON Wednesday, we saw George Osborne deliver a Budget that forecast slow growth and high unemployment.

It carried on with cuts that are going too deep and too fast, hitting jobs and services.

These Tories – and their Liberal Democrat accomplices – remind me of the 1980s Tories: arrogant, uncaring and out of touch with people’s lives.

They are trying to practise the politics of division – public against private sector, working people against those on benefits, one region pitted against another.

But tomorrow tens of thousands of people will come to a march and rally in London to show there is an alternative.

It should be a march of the mainstream.

The mother who has seen her SureStart centre come under threat of closure should be there to tell Mr Cameron why care for our children matters. The firefighter who has seen their station put under the axe should attend to show the safety of our community counts.

Nurses, cleaners, care workers and council staff should be there to urge the ­Conservative-led administration to have a change of course. There are expected to be 600 coachloads, nine special trains and thousands will attend by public transport. One man is walking from Cardiff.

And I will be joining them in Hyde Park to add my voice to the many.

For me there is one thing that links all our concerns. It is the threat that these cuts pose to the next generation.

This is what I have called the betrayal of the British Promise. If anybody wants a reason to join this Saturday’s demonstration, there are many – the need to show there is an alternative, to save our services, to show the cuts are going too deep and too fast.

But I would also urge people to join us to protect the promise we in the past have made to our children.

This is what Saturday should be about.

And just as the Tories ARE returning to the 1980s, we are determined we should not. The trade unions have painstakingly sought to build a unified alliance of people, well beyond the public sector workforce, concerned about the cuts.

And they are determined to build support, with the hard campaigning that will be required.

Let us make Saturday the start of a great campaign across this country. Let us make Saturday a one-nation demonstration against the politics of division.

This article appeared in today's Daily Mirror.

Let’s send the government a message

24.03.11

I spent yesterday afternoon listening to George Osborne’s budget, and thinking about what it will mean for ordinary people. He seems to think we’ll be won over by headlines about a £48 a year tax cut; that less than a pound a week will make us forget that he landed us with a huge, unfair VAT rise earlier this year that is squeezing our monthly budgets.

The government’s also been busy scrapping some of our hard-won rights at work. They aren’t satisfied with cutting jobs, support for families and public services - their next target is what they call ‘red tape’, but what we call ‘a fair deal at work’.

They say that they have no choice but to slash and burn our public services and our rights. They are wrong, there is an alternative: a fair tax on the banks, protection for public services, and policies for jobs and growth.

That’s why hundreds of thousands of people will march through Central London on Saturday to send a message to this government that there is a better way. Whether you are marching on Saturday or not, make your voice heard today - send a message to Cameron, Clegg and Osborne now:

http://www.unionstogether.org.uk/123

To support the ‘March for the Alternative’ on Saturday, we’ve set up an easy campaign tool to help you make your voice heard from your computer. Whether you’ve got 1, 2 or 3 minutes to spare, you can help make sure that this government get the message loud and clear - getting out of the recession doesn’t have to mean cruel cuts.

Thousands of people have got in touch with us to join this campaign - people who are worried about their jobs, worried about making ends meet now VAT has pushed prices up, and worried about what the public services they rely on will look like once the government’s had its way.

Add your voice to our campaign today - take a couple of minutes to use our campaign website to send the government a message that there is an alternative.

http://www.unionstogether.org.uk/123

Together, we can make sure the government hear us loud and clear - there is another way.

What I’m marching for

17.03.11

My name’s Denise, and next Saturday my husband, my teenage daughter and I will be all be making our way to London, where we'll meet up with my son and other family members to March for the Alternative together.

I’m marching because I’m alarmed about what this Tory-led government, propped up by their friends the Lib Dems, is doing to this country. Because I am worried about what kind of future there will be for young people like my son and daughter after this Government has finished tearing up our public services and putting a million people out of work.

Join the March for the Alternative, or pledge your support for the campaign in other ways if you can’t make it to London on the 26th:

http://www.unionstogether.org.uk/joinourcampaign

I’ve seen first-hand the impact of these vicious Tory cuts and the anxiety they have already caused. Until recently, I worked for a charity that supports carers here in Gateshead - people who devote much of their time, unpaid, to care for sick or disabled family members or friends.

This January, like many other people, I was made redundant. Losing my job has been frightening, but I’m even more worried about what cuts like those will mean for the most vulnerable who need support they can rely on.

I believe in a society where we really are ‘all in this together’: where we have an agreement binding communities together and ensuring we look out for each other. This Tory-led government is ripping that agreement apart - by cutting support like tax credits, risking privatising the NHS by the back door, and imposing millions of pounds of cuts to vital local services.

That is why I am worried about the future, and why so many other young people, parents and the older generation are worried too. Will our schools and hospitals be the best they can be? Will pensions be enough to live on? How can so much student debt be repaid?

The government say there is no alternative. But I believe there’s a fairer way out of the recession - supporting jobs and economic growth, safeguarding our public services, protecting those in need and making sure the bankers pay their share too. Together we can say that there is a better way:

http://www.unionstogether.org.uk/joinourcampaign

I’m marching because I want a better future for my children, for my community and for the country. I hope you'll be marching too, or supporting us however you can.

Thanks

Denise

‘Hands off our pensions’ - target smashed!

03.03.11

Yesterday, we sent out an email asking people to email their MPs to say 'hands off our pensions!'. We set a target of 1000 letter to Members of Parliament - we've smashed that in just 24 hours.

http://www.unionstogether.org.uk/handsoff-email

We've now raised the stakes - let's try to get 2000 letters sent to MPs - we can show this government that we won't accept these unfair changes without a fight!

Now it’s time to get our MPs to say ‘hands off our pensions’ too

02.03.11

Just 3 weeks ago, I started the ‘hands off our pensions’ petition because I was so frustrated and angry when I found out I will have to wait an extra 2 years before I get my State Pension.

I knew that lots of other women about my age would be in the same boat - but the response we’ve had has been incredible. Over 7,500 people have already added their voices to our campaign.

And today I’m asking you to email your MP to ask them to support our campaign too:

http://www.unionstogether.org.uk/handsoff-email

Thousands of women have got in touch to tell us how worried they are. The more stories I hear about other women who, like me, are suddenly faced with the prospect of up to 2 more years at work, the more I want to make sure I do everything I can to get this government to drop their unfair plans.

We’ve worked hard for our pensions, and it’s wrong to move the goalposts so close to retirement.

Together we’ve run a great campaign so far – but now it’s time to ask our Members of Parliament to say ‘hands off our pensions’ too. Emailing your MP is really easy. If you enter your postcode it will set it all up for you – and you can personalise your email with your own story if you like.

http://www.unionstogether.org.uk/handsoff-email

These pension changes are unnecessary and unfair – let’s keep the pressure up so the government knows we won’t accept them without a fight.

Thanks,

Barbara

An amazing response

09.02.11

Since we launched Barbara’s petition to say “hands off our pensions!” yesterday, we have had an amazing response. We’re not far off 2000 signatures already, and it’s only Day 2 of the campaign.

This is clearly an issue that is close to people’s hearts – literally hundreds of people have told us how they will be affected, and have asked us to share their stories.

This is just a tiny sample of what people told us about why they signed the petition:

Carolyne said:

Yes, I am affected as born in early 1954. All the women (and men) I have spoken to about this are shocked and dismayed about these proposals. They do not question the need for equality, but are appalled about the speed of the changes, and the fact that we do not have time to plan ahead and make good the shortfall.

Louise said:

I had been planning to retire at 60. The equality case on retirement age for women meant that I had to retire at the age of 64 and 10 months. I understand that this has now risen to 66. I work full time, I enjoy my job but I am tired all the time. I can't give up work without the state pension to which I have contributed all my working life.

Christine said:

I was born in March 1954 and am one of the 30,000 most affected by the proposed changes. My State-Pension will not now be accessible until I am 66. Previous advice from the Pension Service gave me a proposed age of 63 years + 11 months. It is totally unfair that the goalposts can be moved again. My mother died aged 66.....hopefully I will live long enough to draw my State Pension!

Caroline said:

Mine has gone up 6 months - not as bad as your example, but still bad enough. I have an elderly mum and the chance that I can look after her keeps getting moved further away. I was a single parent so struggled to build up my occupational pension due to several year's of part time work - caught every way, aren't we, for being women...

Hands off our pensions: Barbara’s story

04.02.11

My name is Barbara and I am 56.

From the age of 15, I have worked every day of my life, apart from a few years when I stayed at home to care for my disabled husband until his death in 2003.

Since 1995, I have thought that I would retire in 2018, when I will be 64. I have based all my plans for the future on this.

Last week, I discovered that the Government have moved the goalposts, so that people like me have to wait two additional years to retire. But we don’t have to accept this cut – will you join me in signing a petition against this decision?

http://www.unionstogether.org.uk/handsoff

I now have to wait an extra two years to retire - in April 2020, when I will be 66.

I feel robbed - robbed of 2 years of freedom, and robbed of more than £10,000 that I would have received as my state pension. The basic state pension will be my only retirement income, and I have no extra means of coping financially. I will have no option but to try and carry on working.

I agree that women and men should get their state pension at the same age, but this was already happening. There is simply no need to impose this physical and financial burden on women like me, purely because of my age.

There are 500,000 women out there who will have to work for more than a year longer, and 33,000 who, like me, will have to work for an extra 2 years.

If you are one of these women who will have to work longer, or if you want to support me and other women like me, please take a moment to sign my petition.

http://www.unionstogether.org.uk/handsoff

I have osteoarthritis in my thumbs and wrists now, which makes the lifting and cleaning work in my job harder: I’m not sure how I’ll manage to the age of 66.

This move is unfair and unnecessary and it is not too late to tell the government that we will not accept it without a fight.

What are you marching for?

24.01.11

Every day that goes by, we see more and more evidence of the damage that this government is doing. Just last week, Andrew Lansley put forward his so-called ‘reform’ of the NHS – giving the green light for privatisation of our health service by the back door.

I’m marching on March 26th because I don’t trust this true-blue coalition to protect our public services, particularly the health service. What will their plans mean for me and for my family?

Why are you marching? Share your story:

http://www.unionstogether.org.uk/whywemarch

I want to make sure that on March 26th this Tory-led government is left in no doubt about the strength of feeling across the country that their plans are wrong.

They want to make us think that these vicious cuts are the only way – we have to let them know that there is an alternative.

By sharing your story, you can help inspire other people to march with us – people who might never have taken to the streets before:

http://www.unionstogether.org.uk/whywemarch

Together, we can show them that there is another way.

Will you march with me?

14.01.11

Last night, voters in Oldham East and Saddleworth sent a message to this Tory-led government. They elected Labour’s candidate, Debbie Abrahams, to be their new Member of Parliament – and they made it clear that they have seen right through this government’s claim that “we’re all in this together”.

This government has shown its true-blue Tory colours again and again - letting the bankers get away scot-free with billions in bonuses, while ordinary people pay the price.

With a VAT tax hike that hits the poorest hardest, health reforms that risk privatising our NHS by the back door, and cutting university funding whilst saddling students with tens of thousands of pounds of debt - it's families and people on low and middle incomes who will suffer the most.

I’m worried about what this government’s cuts will mean for me, for my family, and for the whole country. That’s why I’m going to be joining the march against the cuts on March 26th in London.

Will you march for jobs, growth and justice too?

http://www.unionstogether.org.uk/marchwithme

On March 26th, thousands of people will march through the streets of London to make sure that this Tory-led government can see the strength of opposition to their vicious, ideologically-driven cuts.

The government want us to think that there is no alternative, that these cuts are the only way to go. They are wrong – there is an alternative: jobs, growth and justice, and that is what I will be marching for.

Sign up now to march against these vicious cuts, and for a fairer Britain:

http://www.unionstogether.org.uk/marchwithme

Don’t let this government get away with the cruellest cuts in a generation without letting them know there is an alternative.