Request from Megaphone UK for Volunteers for their Leafletting Campaign

I got this from the left-wing canvassing organisation, the Megaphone earlier this morning. I’m afraid I can’t volunteer, because I’m simply too ill. It’s not just the myeloma, I’ve also come down with a stinking cold. This is one of the reasons I haven’t posted much over the past few days. Despite my inability to join the campaign, I’m putting the message up here for any readers of my blog who would like to.

‘David,

Cutting costs, keeping the heating off, and doing without essentials: the cost-of-living crisis is already stretching people to the limit.

That’s why the Prime Minister’s budget announcement was so disappointing. The budget delivered tax breaks for bankers and big business, when we need real support for families.

On November 2 in London, we’re going to lobby our MPs and demand a better deal for workers. 

But first, we need to get the word out.

Will you sign up to organise a leafleting event in the next fortnight at a train station near you?

‘I will hand out leaflets

We know that between work, family, and other responsibilities, people already have a lot on their plates. 

But it’s important for MPs to hear directly from as many of us as possible. 

By leafleting our community, we can spread the message that only working people can deliver change and pressure the government to actually listen — and act.

Last June, we leafleted 92 places around the country. This time, we’re trying to hold even more events to reach half a million people. Will you organise one of them?

Yes, sign me up

Don’t worry if you haven’t done this before — organising a leafleting event is pretty simple and rewarding. 

You’ll join hundreds of other people who are stepping up and speaking to their local communities. 

Sign up here, and you’ll receive everything you need to get started.

Hope you can join us,

Anthony, 

Megaphone UK’

Online Meeting for Campaign to Increase Sick Pay at 6 O’Clock Tonight.

I realise that this is very last minute, but I got the news about it only yesterday evening. The Megaphone sent me the email below that the Centre for Progressive Change are holding an online meeting at 6 this evening about their campaign to raise sick pay.

‘The below is a message from a new campaign to win sick pay for every worker. Can you support this important cause by joining their campaign? See below. 

Dear David,

Whether you’re going through treatment for a long-term illness or you catch a virus, being ill shouldn’t mean not being able to pay the bills.

But a third of us only get statutory sick pay. That is just £99.35 a week, which is nowhere near enough to pay the bills.

Tomorrow, Wednesday 21st September at 6pm, the Centre for Progressive Change are launching a new campaign for better sick pay.

They are organising to extend sick pay to all workers and to bring sick pay in line with the living wage. Will you join the campaign?

Can you join the call at 6pm tomorrow (Wednesday) to hear the plan? Register here.

Will you write to your MP to see where they stand on sick pay, and invite them to a meeting to discuss it?

We demand better. Join us to win these changes to support workers during the cost of living crisis and keep working people healthy.

In solidarity,

Beth

Centre for Progressive Change

Via Megaphone UK

I’ve registered to go to the meeting but haven’t committed myself to the letter just yet. I’ll let you know what’s discussed.

Megaphone Petition for Raising the Minimum Wage to £15 per Hour

I got this petition from the Megaphone on yesterday urging me to sign a petition calling for the minimum wage to be raised to £15 per hour. I’ve had absolutely no problem signing it, given the cost of living crisis, and if you feel as strongly about this as I do, I hope you will too. Here’s the email:

‘Hi David,

Did you see my email from last week? Almost 20,000 people have now added their name in support of a £15 an hour minimum wage, but we need more to join the campaign. 

Sign the petition and join the campaign: Raise the minimum wage to £15 an hour

Thanks,

Anthony

Here’s my email from last week, in case you missed it.

David —

No matter where you work or what you do, everyone deserves a wage they can live on. But as the cost of living crisis deepens, millions of workers are struggling to get by – and it is only going to get worse. 

Last week, the TUC, with the backing of 48 trade unions, made an ambitious demand: We need a £15 an hour minimum wage.

Can you add your name in support of this call? We need thousands to sign to show how important this would be for working people.

Last week, we asked some Megaphone supporters why they need a pay rise. Here are some of the things we heard:

“A pay rise would mean I wouldn’t choose between dental treatment or a new school uniform for my kids”

“It would mean the difference between being able to heat our home or going cold over the winter.”

“A pay rise would drastically reduce the constant stress and worry I have, and would allow me to have a social life again”

Britain needs a pay rise and we need it urgently. Raising the minimum wage will make a huge difference for millions of workers. And the only way we will win is by standing together in our unions, campaigning for a better deal.  

Sign the petition: tell the government you support raising the minimum wage to £15 an hour as soon as possible.

The change we need will not come from a petition, but if tens of thousands sign today it will show how many of us are ready to take on the work we need to do to win. This is just the beginning. 

Regards,

Anthony

Megaphone Petition Against Government Plans to Allow the Hiring of Agency Strike Breakers

I’ve also received this email from Megaphone urging people to sign their petition about the government’s proposal to undermine the unions by allowing companies to hire agency staff to break the strike. I’ve signed it, as strikes, or the threat of strike action, is the major weapon for unions to protect the rights of their members and workers as a whole.

‘David —

This week has been huge for the trade union movement. The TUC Join a Union website is seeing record traffic, with visits this week up 800%. 

As RMT members stand up for their jobs, pay and our services, they are giving hope and confidence to millions of workers. The last few weeks has clearly shown that if you want a pay rise, a secure job and a decent life, you need to be in a union.

So what has the governments response to this been? To propose laws that would undermine the most powerful tactic working people have: strike action.

The Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps, is proposing to change the law to allow companies to replace striking workers, with inexperienced agency workers. 

The government will try to sneak these changes through so people don’t notice, so we must get the word out far and wide. We will not let them undermine our right to strike.

Will you add your name to the petition to stop plans to undermine unions by allowing companies to hire temporary staff during strike action?

Sign the petition

We cannot let this happen.

Allowing agency staff to replace striking workers would undermine the right to strike and create genuine safety risks for the public and workers.

Please sign and share the petition now.

In Unity,

Anthony,

Megaphone UK

Email from the Megaphone Urging Support for the Railway Strike

I also got this email from the left-wing campaigning organisation the Megaphone urging people to write to their MPs making it plain they support the RMT and the railway strike. As the email points out it’s not just about the train drivers’ pay, but about all the other rail workers and opposing the devastating cuts to public services.

‘David,

It’s the biggest show of industrial power in a generation.

Rail unions are running three days of national strike action to put a stop to devastating cuts to services, staff and conditions proposed by company bosses on million-pound salaries.

When jobs are on the chopping block and livelihoods are at stake, union members stand together to defend each other.

And 50,000 rail workers from mechanics to depot workers, ticket officers and many more need our solidarity tomorrow:

In just a few hours, rail workers across the UK will take to the picket lines for the fight of their lives. Can you write to your MP and show you stand with them?

WRITE TO YOUR MP

We have the resources and the funding to build a world-class rail system in the UK.

But for two years, this government and the Transport Minister have chosen confrontation over negotiation.

They choose to bail out private companies, while workers in safety-critical jobs face the sack.

They choose to condemn rail unions, when train bosses make millions in profits and cut corners on pay.

They even want to ban the right to strike, removing our most powerful bargaining tool when we have no other means to act.

Everyone deserves better pay, jobs and services. And rail workers are standing up for our safety.

A win for rail workers this week is a win for all of us in the UK who believe in our collective power to organise, demonstrate and win a better future.

Defend our rail service and defend people’s jobs — email your MP and ask them to write to the Transport Minister today.

In solidarity with tomorrow’s strikers,

Anthony,

Megaphone UK’

I’ve had absolutely no problem writing to my local MP to say that I do, and I support not only the union’s strike, but the fundamental right to strike, which the Tories have always hated and always tried to curb and ban anyway they can.

Privatisation has been a disaster. The rail network needs to be taken back into public ownership and properly funded and maintained, without the profits being siphoned off into shareholder’s dividends and the bloated salaries of the management.

Megaphone’s Internet Petition against P&O’s Mass Sacking

As you’ll know from the news, P&O have caused outrage by their mass sacking of 800 employees over Zoom. The sacked workers are to be replaced by agency staff. The ferry company claims that this is the only way they can keep afloat, pun intended. I honestly don’t see how. Yes, agency staff have the advantage to employers of being recruited and dismissed as needed without all that inconvenient stuff about sick and maternity pay and leave and other awkward worker’s rights. But it’s also something of a false economy, as in addition to the worker they also have to pay the agency. It can, therefore, be much more expensive to hire an agency worker instead of recruiting an ordinary employee. But it’s another attack on workers’ rights, all for the benefit of capital.

The unions, RMT and Nautilus, are naturally up in arms and protesting. As are many others. I got this message today from Megaphone, a left-wing organisation, urging me to sign their petition against it. I have done so, and urge anyone else who feels strongly about this issue to do so as well. If nothing else, I think it’s an utter disgrace and an insult to tell people they don’t have a job over Zoom.

Yesterday, 800 workers at P&O Ferries were sacked via Zoom call. This shameful act is devastating for these workers, their families, and communities.

We cannot let this happen

The government can stop this, but they will not act unless thousands of us speak up. If callous acts like this are allowed, no one’s livelihood is safe. 

You can support these workers by adding your name and sharing this petition right now. There is already mounting pressure on the government to intervene, but we must show how many of us are outraged. 

Sign the petition

In Solidarity,

Anthony

Megaphone Campaigns’