Reinstate Karen
Reissman
In November Manchester psychiatric nurse of 25 years
and UNISON activist Karen Reissman was sacked for 'gross misconduct'
after criticising cuts to her NHS services Trust in the media. This
was described by the NHS service when suspending her as "engaging
in activities which have seriously affected the reputation of the
Trust" and "...no longer having confidence in her as an
employee". Unison, have acted in protest with strikes at what
they see as an unjustified dismissal and a point of principle about
the gagging of a hard working and respected public servant.
Click
here for more information
Colchester and District Trades Union Council believes
that every one should have the right to free speech without fear
of persecution. To this end we ask you to support this campaign
to reinstate Karen Reissman by signing the below petition.
click
on Hand to Sign Petition
Demand equal
rights for agency workers
British employment law fails to protect the country's 1.4 million
agency workers. The Temporary and Agency Workers bill would outlaw
discrimination against agency workers and is backed by Unite, other
unions and the TUC. On 22nd February, 157 MPs backed the bill, a
momentous vote to end undercutting and abuse. But with government
yet to back the bill, the fight for workplace justice has not yet
been won. Keep pledging your support. Find out more on how you can
get involved in the campaign
Click
for information
Campaign for trains
to be
built in the UK
Campaign is seeking to save the
one remaining train builder left in the UK, Bombardier's - "Litchurch
Lane" facility Derby by securing a change in government's rolling
stock procurement policy, without such changes train building in
the UK faces an uncertain future.
Unite has already secured a commitment
from government to conduct a review of public procurement policy
and specifically rolling stock procurement. with your added support
we can together win the changes required, If we don't fight for
our jobs no one else will.
Click
here for more information
Ckick on the hands below to register your support
for "Trains to be built in the UK" campaign and in so
doing call on government to support UK train building to the same
level as do French, German, Japanese and other governments.
click
on Hand to Sign Petition
Sign up to protest
against huntingWhales
Japan are out hunting whales again (apparently
for research, however they do not deny the whales end up on dinner
plates after the so called research) and this year have gone even
further stating they will be hunting humpbacks and the beloved Migaloo
(the only pure white whale in the world). Enough is enough please
go to the link and sign the petition it takes 2 seconds.
Also please forward
to everyone you know!!
click
on Hand to Sign Petition
We are trying to get a million
people to sign a petition to stop whaling.
Sign
up to protest against Cadbury’s
factory closure
Keep Keynsham
Cadbury’s
Cadbury’s recently announced its intention to
close it’s factory at Keynsham, which is between Bristol and
Bath, with the loss of 500 jobs. It intends to move some production
to Bournville in Birmingham with the further loss of 200 jobs. That’s
700 jobs – British manufacturing jobs – at risk of being
lost as this iconic British company also switches some production
to Poland.
A campaign has been launched to “Keep Keynsham
Cadbury’s” attracting immediate support from the local
community, solidarity support from all the other Cadbury plants
in the UK as well as the key local papers in Bristol. Now you can
add your support by signing the online petition
click
on Hand to Sign Petition
against this outrageous and wholly
unjustified decision by Cadbury.
But you can do more and pass the link on as far
and wide as you can to encourage others to sign up.
Call
for urgent protests
AUSTRALIA:
COCHLEAR DISPUTE
HEATS UP
Cochlear, the manufacturer of bionic ear implants
that help hearing-impaired people around the world, is simply not
listening. Twice its workers have voted to reject management offers
-- and now management is saying it will impose individual contracts
in a bid to smash the union.
A strike now looms and your support is needed more than ever. Thousands
of you from all over the world have been flooding Cochlear with
messages urging the company to negotiate with the union. We need
thousands more messages to be sent.
ACT
NOW- Send a Message of support
The campaign has led to almost 4000 emails being
sent the Cochlear CEO Dr Chris Roberts. This campaign has been a
massive inspiration to Cochlear workers. Unfortunately Cochlear
management are still refusing to negotiate with the AMWU (the Union
for Cochlear workers).Last month Cochlear used Australia ’s
unfair workplace laws to force their employees onto individual contracts.
Under these new contracts Cochlear workers will have their pay tied
to monthly production targets. Some workers stand to lose up to
$80 each week. These new contacts come into effect on the 6th of
November 2007.
Cochlear workers are fighting not only for a fair deal at work but
to change Australia ’s workplace laws. They have made a video
message to the Australian Prime Minister John Howard. Mr Howard
is currently spending millions of Australian tax payer dollars to
promote his unfair workplace laws.
Please support the Cochlear workers by taking two actions
Watch the Youtube video
Please forward this video to all of your contacts
Push to watch the Youtube video
Please take the
time to sign this road safety petition
We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to
improve road Safety by introducing strict liability for motorists
in collisions Youngsters are being asked to walk or cycle to school
to be green and reduce jams. Walking and cycling are generally safe
but parents will worry - if they are brave enough to let youngsters
be independent. The perception of safety has to be improved. Lower
speeds and extra road education will play a part but this petition
is calling for a change to strict liability laws on drivers' insurance
policies. At present, in a car - bike/pedestrian collision, the
cyclist or pedestrian (probably the worst injured) has to prove
the motorist was reckless. We want that burden of proof switched
so the motorist -choosing to use a ton of metal at speed - has to
prove the cyclist or pedestrian was at fault. This only applies
to insurance claims. In criminal law, drivers in collisions remain
innocent until proven guilty. This rule exists in many EU countries
with more walking and cycling, and a better child road safety record,
Let's raise driving standards and create better road user attitudes.
If cares
about road safety click on Hand to Sign Petition
Thousands of disabled
workers redundant as Remploy close factories
Colchester & District Trade Union Council, is
disgusted by Remploy's
announcement on Tuesday, 22nd May 2007 that it is planning
to close 43 of its factories nationwide, over half the total sites,
with the loss of over 3000 jobs. We support the call for national
official
strike ballot in all 83 Remploy sites.
The following Remploy
factories will close under the plans:
Aberdare, Aberdeen, Abertillery, Aintree, Ashington,
Bradford, Bridgend, Brixton (London), Halifax, Hartlepool, Hillington
(Glasgow), Hull, Leatherhead, Leicester, Lydney (Forest of Dean),
Manchester, Mansfield, Medway, Pinxton (Derbyshire), Plymouth, Poole,
St Helens, Southend,
Spennymoor, Stockton, Treforest, Wigan, Wisbech, Wishaw (Lanarkshire),
Worksop, Wrexham and York.
The following factories
will merge with another site
Barnsley, Birkenhead, Brynamman, Jarrow, Newcastle-under-Lyme,
Pontefract, Redruth, Southampton, Stockport, Woolwich (London) and
Ystradgynlais.
Click
for GMB WORKERS WEBSITE
ClickFor
UNITE the Union
Petition to
Save Seahorses in Malaysia
The seahorses and the Pulai River Estuary need your
help. We would be Grateful if you could take a couple of minutes
of your busy schedule to Log on
Click
for more information.
Sign
the petition
Against Child
Labour
Over 132 million children aged 5
to 14 work in agriculture - up to 70 per cent of all working children.
In recognition of the fact that little or no progress has been
made in eliminating child labour in agriculture.
The IUF has established a special website with
news, editorials and updates on union activities. There you can
also download the publication Bitter Harvest in English, French
and Spanish:
The website is being updated daily. Articles can
be translated into many languages by clicking on the "FreeTranslation"
icon on the right hand side of the home page.
Click
for more information.
UCU
- University
and College Union
(facing derecognition)
Management at London Metropolitan University are
attempting to de-recognise UCU and make them seek inferior statutory
recognition. This is an attack on the fundamentals of the trade
union movement and if they are successful does not bode well for
any trade union going through a merger who wish to
inherit the recognition arrangements of the predecessor unions.
Over the past few months lecturers at London Metropolitan University
have been fighting university management over union recognition-in
May they voted unanimously to enter into a formal dispute over the
issue. Since the creation of the UCU union from the merger of the
AUT and Natfhe, management have said that the pre-merger recognition
agreement with Natfhe no longer stands.Management has also set up
a staff association in an attempt to bypass the union. This follows
the 18-month dispute over new contracts that management attempted
to impose on lecturers at the university. Now they are planning
to cut 60 posts at the university, including compulsory redundancies.
It is clear that they have been planning these redundancies for
months. The timing is planned to make it difficult for the union
to fight back.Saturday they advertised lecturing posts in the business
school-posts that members who will be facing redundancy could fill.
With the closing dates for these posts being the10 July how can
they say that they have consulted lecturers.
Sign
the petition
We support
the ETUC campaign for high-quality public services, accessible
to all
European Trade Unions set for coordinated push
for a framework law (30 November) The European Trade Union Confederation
(ETUC) has launched a Europe-wide petition calling on the European
Commission to take action to protect and strengthen public services
that are vital to the wellbeing of all European citizens.
Sign
the petition
Battersea
crane campaigners launch petition
Local residents and trades unionists in Battersea,
where two men were killed when a tower crane collapsed, have launched
a petition demanding properinspection and regulation of cranes working
in construction.
The Battersea
Crane Disaster Action Group have launched a petition
to the Prime Minister to Stop Crane Deaths. The group's aim is to
get 2000 online signatures, hopefully well before the 31 May 2008
deadline. You can sign up at the link below
In detail the petition is asking that all cranes:
1) be independently inspected and certified fit for
use
2) stop being used beyond a certain age
3) be registered on a central register
4) have safety records readily available for all to seeand that
5) all construction companies have a duty to consult with residents
in
the local area on crane usage
Please sign up now and pass to
all your contacts.
Sign
the petition
Click
for more information.
Sign Fourth Option e-petition - and encourage others
to sign too to: "provide the 'Fourth Option' of direct investment
in council housing… bring all homes up to at least the government's
Decent Homes Standard by 2010 and also build a new generation of
decent, affordable and secure council homes for rent".
Gordon Brown told the UNITE (Amicus) conference
"I cannot promise to implement the fourth option on council
housing today [a demand from the Defend Council Housing group for
the last six years] but what I will tell you is that councils will
be allowed to build homes again" (Guardian Unlimited, 18
June).
800 delegates welcomed Brown waving the new DCH "Hands Up for
the Fourth Option". DCH supporters are saying 'If not today
then when Gordon?' - and in the meantime there must be a moratorium
on all transfers and ALMOs. Councils cannot be allowed to continue
to bully tenants on the basis that government policy won't change
when it clearly is! Help turn sound bites into concrete proposals
with a clear timescale for implementing the 'Fourth Option' to:
Close
the Prison at Guantanamo Bay
A new campaign to close the prison
at
Guantanamo Bay, where
President Bush is holding nearly 400 detainees without criminal
charges or trials. For the first time, some of his top advisors
have called for closing this affront to international law, including
his own Secretary of Defense. This split inside the Administration
gives us a real chance close Guantanamo forever.
This new group called Avaaz
is putting together a global petition to close Guantanamo.thay
will run the petition in key US newspapers as soon as thay have
signatures from every country.
Sign
The Petition
A DVD was shown at the April
meeting Colchester Trades Council, on the issue of the campaign
to Boycott Coca-Cola for allegedly hiring right-wing
death squads to terrorise workers at its Colombian bottling plant.
It alleges that Coca-Cola and Pan-American Beverages (its principal
bottler in Latin America ) waged what union leaders describe as
a campaign of terror, using paramilitaries to kill, torture and
kidnap union leaders in Colombia. They also alleges that Coca-Cola
bears indirect responsibility for the killing of Isidro
Segundo Gil, a union leader shot dead on 5 December
1996. More than 50 union leaders have been killed in Colombia
this year, 128 last year and more than 1,500 in the past 10 years."Coca-Cola
denies any connection to any human-rights violation of this type,"
company spokesman Rafael Fernandez Quiros said from the company's
headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. "We do not own or operate
the plants," added Mr
Quiros. Colombia has been locked in a bloody, 37-year civil
war between leftist rebels and right-wing paramilitaries and the
armed forces in which hundreds of unionists have died.
