• SUPPORT THE JUNIOR DOCTORS STOCKPORT
    It is widely recognised that junior doctors are the lifeblood of the modern NHS. They are the consultants of the future, and through years of dedicated training provide a truly 24 hour a day, seven day a week service. The proposed contract undermines safe working practices, reverts to a previously failed system and has been roundly rejected by the workforce. It is openly discriminatory against female doctors. The proposed changes are based on flawed analysis of data that suggests a “weekend effect” and while we are keen to improve safety in hospitals across the UK, this contract will harm patients, harm the workforce and harm the training of junior doctors. Further to the overwhelming rejection of this contract by junior doctors, they have huge support from consultant colleagues, multiple Royal Colleges and the public as a whole. Please publicly reject the imposition of this contract at Stockport NHS Foundation Trust and call for new negotiations without pre-condition in a mark of support for the hard working and dedicated doctors employed by the Trust.
    77 of 100 Signatures
    Created by Deborah Hind
  • UAL, why are you getting rid of technical, student facing staff at Chelsea?
    The loss of these talented members of technical staff will come at the worst possible point for the MA 2016 cohort and will have grim implications for those who still have the majority of their BA degrees ahead of them too. With resources already stretched to breaking point, contact and support time limited and specialist advice in high demand, we want to know how the University can justify this decision.
    331 of 400 Signatures
    Created by Jill Kennedy-McNeill
  • Pensions, payouts and protections - put BHS workers ahead of creditors and asset strippers!
    I used to work at BHS. Between 2009 - 2012 I sold furniture in Store 255, Reading Gate. The people I worked with made it one of the best jobs I've ever had. When the store was closed in 2012, the owner (at that time Phillip Green) tried to get away with providing the least possible support for those of us laid off. But we stuck together, campaigned and won a better deal. Today, BHS is on the verge of collapse. 11,000 jobs - people just like me and my old friends - are at risk. On top of that, the company has a £571 million pension deficit. Some employees have saved all their life. Now their pensions are at risk. And why? Greens Greed - and others like him. Cold, callous and heartless greed. The story of BHS's bankruptcy is one of theft and asset-stripping on a massive scale. Green took £580m+ out then sold the company for £1. The next owner, twice bankrupt Dominic Chappell, has taken millions more. Green underfunded the pension scheme - while paying his wife £400 million in BHS dividends, all channeled through a tax haven. Now the ship is sinking, while Green takes delivery of his new £100 million superyacht. I don't work at BHS anymore. Today, I run ACORN, a national organisation made of 15000 low-middle income renters, service workers, claimants and others, fighting against inequality and for a fairer deal. I want to use this petiton to help BHS workers organise together and win the best outcome possible (if you're a worker, let us know!) BHS collapse could drive 11,000 more people into poverty, welfare and zero-hours contracts risking homes and health. Green, Chappell and the rest must be held liable and made to pay for their crime. Please sign and share.
    7,370 of 8,000 Signatures
    Created by Stuart Melvin Picture
  • MAKE DUNDEE A NO-WORKFARE CITY
    This is an idea that received unanimous support from the Dundee Fairness Commission. The Scottish Unemployed Workers' Network is calling for it to be translated into action. People unable to find work are increasingly being made to work for nothing on pain of losing their benefits and being left destitute. There have been various different work-for-your-benefits schemes - including Community Work Placements that mandate people to work unpaid for 30 hours a week for 6 months, a total of 782 hours, or more than 2 ½ times the maximum community service given as punishment for a crime. The DWP doesn’t actually use the term workfare, which comes from the United States where this approach was developed, but it is a convenient word to use to cover all the different schemes that both punish and exploit the unemployed. Very few of these schemes provide anything at all in the way of useful experience, and the people forced to do them are often treated like skivvies both in the work they are made to do and the attitudes shown to them. Far from building their confidence, as official documents suggest, this forced labour saps the spirit and wears down people’s mental health. And if they deviate at all from what they are being instructed to do they can end up sanctioned and penniless. In addition, rather than increase the numbers of people in paid work, these schemes actually cut across the creation of paid jobs. Why pay someone to work when you can get the labour for nothing? They also provide unfair competition to businesses who want to do the right thing by their workers. These schemes are a major source of worry for everyone who is faced with them, but they have not gone unchallenged – and challenges have elicited widespread support. Naming and shaming of companies and organisations who have exploited this forced labour has persuaded many well-known names to pull out of these schemes, and the Government refuses to publish the names of organisations involved as this would expose them to protests. Keep Volunteering Voluntary has persuaded large numbers of charities and non-profit organisations to sign up to their promise not to use forced labour. Workfare is an integral part of the ‘welfare reform’ juggernaut that is destroying our welfare state. We don’t have the power to change the rules, but a concerted programme of resistance organised at city level could provide a significant contribution to making them unworkable, and also highlight what is happening to those not already aware. We see the first (simple and easily instigated) steps as falling under two headings: 1/ We call on the City Council to agree that it will not itself be party to any workfare schemes and that it will make non-participation a condition for any organisation in receipt of council funding. 2/ We also call on the Council to give official backing to a well-publicised campaign to give formal recognition to all businesses and organisations who agree not to participate in these schemes. This would be similar to the scheme operated by Keep Volunteering Voluntary (who are very interested in the idea of a no-workfare city), but would include commercial organisations and not just voluntary ones. Organisations who have agreed not to exploit workfare would be listed in a well-publicised website and licensed to display a ‘no-workfare city’ logo on their window and publicity materials so that the general public would know where they could go without patronising organisations that use forced labour. This sort of opt-in scheme would avoid the difficulties of getting the accurate and up-to-date information needed for a name and shame list. However, it does need to be very well publicised so that organisations feel under sufficient pressure to take part. Publicity would also help prevent small voluntary organisations from being persuaded by misleadingly worded DWP documents into thinking that by participating in these schemes they are helping unemployed people. It would enable them instead to provide real help that people can access on a voluntary basis.
    188 of 200 Signatures
    Created by Sarah Glynn
  • Allow Signature Living to Restore The Coal Exchange
    https://vimeo.com/163562207 The Coal Exchange, which stands proudly amongst its peers, has long been left to fall into disrepair. The building is battered and worn after years of decay. When people talk about this building, they will often talk of its past grandeur and place in history as the centre of the world’s controversial coal industry. The building ensured the flow of funds were channelled through her hallways, providing thousands of families with the means to feed and clothe their children. In many cases, what was seen as the centre of their community would also be the very reason to shorten their fragile lives. Whatever your thoughts are on this magnificent building, good or bad, you cannot deny it plays an integral part of the ancestry of Cardiff and wider-Wales. Many of the UK’s listed buildings no longer serve their original purpose, and developers do not wish to go into the detail that is required to save them. What they would prefer to do is sit in their ivory towers, looking no further than the plans strewn across their desks, with their fleet of advisors who serve to sterilise their new structure. This is not our intention. Signature Living and I intend to keep this building as close to the structure as possible. We certainly will not be changing any of the exterior walls, apart from re-engaging them with the building. It is widely known the rear of the building has had to bear the ingress of large amounts of water over many years, which has caused her wooden joints to not only rot, but to disengage from the main structure. This, along with the roof, will be the first of the tasks we set out to complete, as timing here is of the essence. With a listed building, such as The Coal Exchange, it is essential to preserve the structure as was intended when first erected, whilst ensuring it is self-sustaining – with the latter, arguably, being a primary aim for the building. Further Reading http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/pictures-show-just-how-wrecked-11192088 http://lawrencekenwright.co.uk/coal-exchange-closed-business/ http://lawrencekenwright.co.uk/plans-return-coal-exchange-former-glory/ http://www.itv.com/news/wales/2016-04-08/cardiffs-coal-exchange-to-be-200-room-luxury-hotel-and-events-venue/ http://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/how-cardiffs-coal-exchange-look-11152558
    1,473 of 2,000 Signatures
    Created by Lawrence Kenwright
  • Sir Michael Deegan, do not impose the unsafe and unfair new contract on Junior Doctors
    It is widely recognised that junior doctors are the lifeblood of the modern NHS. They are the consultants of the future, and through years of dedicated training provide a truly 24 hour a day, seven day a week service. The proposed contract undermines safe working practices, reverts to a previously failed system and has been roundly rejected by the workforce. It is openly discriminatory against female doctors. The proposed changes are based on flawed analysis of data that suggests a “weekend effect” and while we are keen to improve safety in hospitals across the UK, this contract will harm patients, harm the workforce and harm the training of junior doctors. Further to the overwhelming rejection of this contract by junior doctors, they have huge support from consultant colleagues, multiple Royal Colleges and the public as a whole. Please publicly reject the imposition of this contract at Central Manchester NHS Foundation Trust and call for new negotiations without pre-condition in a mark of support for the hard working and dedicated staff of these fine hospitals. For more information about why the new contracts are unsafe and unfair, please visit the BMI website: http://oneprofession.bma.org.uk/ On Behalf of the Support Junior Doctors Manchester Campaign. To find out more please join our facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1704071369861870/permalink/1708719502730390/?comment_id=1709001592702181¬if_t=group_comment_follow¬if_id=1461101572281468
    235 of 300 Signatures
    Created by Ben clay
  • End Dodgy Corporate Tax Arrangements - Pay To Play!!
    Shortfalls in taxation (I.e.the funding for public services) is directly attributable to the global tax policies of companies who think HOW they trade doesn't matter. We should not accept tax dodging as an inevitable consequence of free trade. Director and shareholder behaviour will only change when transglobals realise these aggressive and anticompetitive policies are unsustainable. Moving, with immediate notice, to 'name and shame' will help consumers to make informed choices in future, and will cost offending transglobals both new and loyal customers as well as their reputation with shareholders and markets. If shareholders cannot create ethical and sustainable policies on their own account, they will have to be encouraged by Governments to do so. As Government is aware, the EU The Anti Tax Avoidance Directive sets out a comprehensive framework of anti-abuse measures, containing five legally-binding anti-abuse measures, which all Member States should apply against common forms of aggressive tax planning. This includes measures to deter profit shifting to a 'low / no' tax country, to prevent double 'non-taxation' of certain income, to prevent companies from avoiding tax when 're-locating' assets, to discourage artificial debt arrangements designed to minimise taxes and the additional safeguard of the anti-abuse rule designed to counteract aggressive tax planning. As an absolute minimum measure today, Government should immediately escalate a 'name and shame' policy to encourage consumers to be aware, so consumers can use alternative brands or local companies who fairly pay taxes in markets they sell to. With Liam Fox looking to resurrect a new version of the dreadful TTIP or dubious CETA with the US, involving potentially highly contentious ISDS, we should demand to know why so many huge US companies play on this kind of uneven tax playing field, as well as make it clear that this is a global problem which individual nation states ARE willing to take on, in order to protect local competition and essential services for UK citizens. UK Government should take a lead in saying we welcome trade and business, but not at any price. Pay to play!! Irrespective of the status of Brexi by 2019, the UK MUST ensure that it applies the EU Anti Tax Avoiance measure from 1 January 2019 ,which provide the minimum level of protection against corporate tax avoidance throughout the EU, while ensuring a fairer and more stable environment collectively for UK and European businesses in competition with transglobals brands. In doing this, Government will need to distance itself from the antidemocratic influence of the far right press, as their vested interests are in continued tax avoidance loopholes, irrespective of whether their owners are British citizens, foreign born or foreign domiciled. The first priority must be to protect British companies and British public services.
    45 of 100 Signatures
    Created by Stephen Daniels
  • Fund Longannet Task Force
    The economic impact on both the employees, and those dependant on the local economy, of the closure of the Longannet Power Plant will be felt far and wide. Small local business will be badly hit. There remains no large scale employer in the West Fife area after this closure so regeneration funding is vital to the recovery process.
    400 of 500 Signatures
    Created by Tim Collins Picture
  • HMG fulfil pledge of additional NHS GP places by 2020: increase Med Student intake by 5000
    The Government has already committed to an additional 5,000 new GPs by 2020 but is not enabling this to happen: it takes 6 years to train a Medical Student and there is currently a severe shortage: practices cannot recruit due to crisis of supply. Meanwhile the UK's population is increasing daily with economic migrants and refugees & our infrastructure is failing. We have an over reliance on overseas Medical Students and urgently need to increase our intake of UK Medical Students to Universities by extending their intake now.
    65 of 100 Signatures
    Created by Elspeth Gass Picture
  • Save our Steel industry
    40,000 jobs+ are at stake. The wellbeing of families in Port Talbot, Rotherham, Corby, and Shotton is at steak. Wales and the North have already suffered with the closures of the coal mines. Unemployment brings misery, poverty and low self esteem which can lead to mental and physical illness. I live in Devon but my family comes from South Wales. Let's all support each other no matter where we live!
    11 of 100 Signatures
    Created by Ann Rowland
  • Work Smarter No Longer Hours - Improve Productivity
    The culture in the UK is for employees to work longer and longer hours, yet productivity in the UK is the lowest in the G7 countries. France, with similar population number and territory size, has a higher productivity per capita and yet employees work far less hours. It has been shown that a tired work force is less efficient and more costly, as it has more days off work. It impact on the NHS as a stressed workforce is more prone to illness and injuries. We want a law that reduce the costs to the British tax payer associated with overworking. A law which addresses the current work/social life imbalance. I am treating far too many people affected by stress due to long hours at work often forced, by a bullying culture, to 'socialise' with coworkers after work to show they are 'one of the team'.
    8 of 100 Signatures
    Created by Giuseppe Tomaselli
  • Equalise the minimum wage
    This campaign is important for multiple reasons, firstly it is unfair practice and a form of ageism to pay 18-20 year olds less than their 21+ year old counterparts for the same work, secondly young people are disadvantaged by low pay as it is working for lower wages means having to work longer hours for the same of money which can have a negative effect on commitments to education, family duties and a good work life balance and finally this campaign is important to highlight that young people are an equal and respect member of the work force.
    12 of 100 Signatures
    Created by Josh McCormick