Women's Views on News |
- Remind your MEP to vote against TTIP
- Fast track system ‘unlawful’ and suspended
- Calling on Marks and Spencer for a living wage
| Remind your MEP to vote against TTIP Posted: 07 Jul 2015 08:30 AM PDT
Molly Scott Cato, Green MEP for the South West, received applause in the European Parliament on 7 July when she had an opportunity to speak against the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) trade deal. Dr Scott Cato told MEPs: “We are the democratic arm of the EU institutions. “Our job is to stand up for what the citizens of Europe want and I can tell you very clearly that they don't want TTIP. “Well over two million have already petitioned the commission to stop negotiating in their name. “The only reason there aren't more is that people haven't heard about it. “TTIP is a threat to our public services and our democratic rights. “It threatens to undermine the standards we have fought for in areas such as air quality, water quality, safe food, and animal welfare. “It threatens the livelihoods of farmers in the South West and across the continent. “More trade is not the solution to our problems. It is the way to allow corporations to control more of our economy and that is why they are driving this agenda. “As a continent we are currently facing massive crises in Greece, with migrants in the Mediterranean, with conflict in the Middle East and Ukraine and with climate change. “These are the problems we should be focusing on, not wasting money on negotiations for a treaty that only serves corporations.” Greens have been at the forefront of the campaign against this EU-US deal and Greens continue to oppose TTIP and are particularly concerned about the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism, which would potentially allow corporations to sue governments over legislation that impacts on their profits. Greens will be supporting an amendment calling for the exclusion of the investor-state dispute settlement from TTIP. Tomorrow, MEPs have the chance to vote on TTIP in a plenary session of the European Parliament. To tell your MEPs to vote against TTIP this week, click here.  |
| Fast track system ‘unlawful’ and suspended Posted: 07 Jul 2015 02:10 AM PDT
More than 25 women are to be released from Yarl’s Wood detention centre after the fast track asylum appeal system was suspended by the government. The Home Office will no longer be able to “fast track” asylum cases it believes have no merit, after the High Court ruled the system to be so structurally unfair, it was unlawful, and the Court of Appeal ruled the government must stop the system immediately The ruling found that asylum seekers and refugees are not permitted the time or freedom necessary to develop evidence for their case, and the court deemed it systematically unfair for the The Home Secretary to be both the person trying to have them removed and the person who decides the verdict of their case. The Immigration Minister, James Brokenshire, who has now ordered the – temporary – suspension of the Detained Fast Track system (DFT), said: "Recently the system has come under significant legal challenge, including on the appeals stage of the process. "Risks surrounding the safeguards within the system for particularly vulnerable applicants have also been identified to the extent that we cannot be certain of the level of risk of unfairness to certain vulnerable applicants who may enter DFT”. The Detained Fast Track system allowed the Home Office to detain asylum seekers and refugees simply for claiming asylum. Some cases have been turned around in as little as 22 days in an accelerated legal process, while other claimants have been ‘detained indefinitely’ in vast detention centres and effectively rendered invisible and then lost by a lack of information regarding their case. The director of Detention Action, Jerome Phelps, said: “We hope that today will mark the end of the UK’s routine detention of asylum-seekers. “It is a further step away from the systematic overuse of detention that was rightly criticised by a cross-party parliamentary inquiry this year. “We hope that the Home Office will accept the judgements of the courts and work with civil society to build an asylum system that is both fast and fair, with alternatives to detention that are both cheaper and more just.” The campaigns against the routine detention of asylum seekers and refugees have been gathering momentum. And last month over 1000 people descended on Yarl’s Wood detention centre in Bedfordshire to demand the release of the 400 women inside, after evidence emerged of repeated instances of abuse, bullying and harassment by members of Serco staff. Former detainees spoke at that demonstration of the doubly traumatising affect of their indefinite imprisonment in the UK on those fleeing persecution and torture in their home countries. And last month also saw a report compiled by the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) for Yarl’s Wood released which expressed grave concerns about deteriorating physical and mental health services at Yarl's Wood. Marayam, one of the women released, told the Guardian, “There were songs and dancing”, as a queue formed inside as officials rushed to process paperwork. “It is a good decision,” she said. “Normally the system is not fair for people who come with problems because they are not criminals.They want to solve their problems so why do they keep them in detention? It is not fair.” Up to 100 asylum seekers and refugees have been released on bail as they await the verdict on their cases. But while the suspension of the fast track system is a notable victory in the campaign to end the routine detention of innocent people in centres like Yarl’s Wood, it is as yet unclear what the new safeguards or reforms will be. Help keep the pressure up: join Movement for Justice and thousands more at Yarl’s Wood on 8 August to demand the end to routine detention and the racist scapegoating of immigrants.  |
| Calling on Marks and Spencer for a living wage Posted: 07 Jul 2015 01:56 AM PDT
The Chief Executive of M&S Marc Bolland is being paid £2.1 million this year. Last year, his company refused to consider paying a Living Wage – £9.15 an hour in London and £7.85 in the rest of the UK – at its Annual General Meeting (AGM). Later, at a meeting with campaigners, the company again refused to consider paying the Living Wage. Marks & Spencer is supposed to be a company with solid values threaded through all that they do, which includes paying workers fairly. This year, on 7 July a group of Craftivists will be attending the M&S AGM to deliver hankies to the Board Members and to call on M&S to provide a Living Wage to their workers. Crafters will be giving M&S handkerchiefs with personalised and positive messages stitched into them to all 14 board members of M&S, as well as to its largest shareholders and to the 2014 celebrities who featured in the company's advertising campaign – listed here along with their Twitter handles: Annie Lennox – @annielennox; Alex Wek – @TheRealAlekWek; Rita Ora – @RitaOra; Dowreen Lawrence – @BD_Lawrence (hoping she will love this campaign as a Labour Life Peer); Lulu Kennedy – @_lulukennedy and Rachel Khoo – @rkhooks. Emma Thompson doesn't do Twitter. Craftivist Gemma has created a hanky, accompanied by a letter for Alison Brittain, one of M&S's Board of Directors, to encourage her to adopt the Living Wage for the M&S employees. She also went to a Craftivist stitch-in outside an M&S in North London with fellow campaigners ShareAction, where, she explained, "we finished our hankies and spoke with some curious passers-by about what we were doing." The idea of the stitch-ins is to show M&S that in addition to major shareholders with billions of pounds under management, its core customer base is also fully engaged and supportive on the issue of the Living Wage, and that they expect the company to show leadership on this basic fairness issue. "I was really shocked and saddened," she continued, "to hear that a company like M&S, who display some commitment toward the environment and worker's rights, through their Plan A initiative, refuse to pay their workers a Living Wage. "To be clear, this means that some M&S workers may have to claim benefits alongside full time work, just to keep their heads above water. "For a FTSE 100 company, this is totally unacceptable!" Sian joined the Cardiff stitch-in for a Living Wage outside Marks and Spencers Simply Food at the train station on at Tuesday evening after work because people should be able to cover their basic needs from their wages instead of having to work three jobs to make ends meet. "I think most people (including me!) would be surprised that well-loved big businesses like Marks and Spencers don't pay the living wage to all their employees and once people are aware of it they are much less likely to shop there, she said. "Paying all staff the living wage shows that you are company that cares about its staff and I hope my attendance at the stitch-in helps show M&S that their customers and lots of the general public want M&S not to blow this chance to use their power and influence to help implement a Living Wage in M&S and lead the way for other retailers to do the same. "I'm a craftivist as I love how if a group of people sew or do any type of craft together really interesting conversations happen, and if you are doing a craftivist project these conversations can be about basic rights, politics, globalisation, kindness and equality, and if you're holding a stitch-in in public then it's a great way to take those conversations further and to raise awareness in an open, creative and non-threatening way.” And Caroline explained: “I am lucky enough to have worked in well paid jobs, so now I can afford to give my time for free to causes in which I believe. I act to be part of the change I want to see in the world. "I have been decorating and stitching over many hours a message on an M&S hanky which I bought using my M&S credit card. "This labour of love is not for a friend, but for someone I do not know – and whose heart I want to touch. "Vindi Banga is a board member at M&S and chairs their Remuneration Committee. "I want to inspire him to understand that the true quality of a retail brand will be shown, not by their executive pay proposals, but how they treat all their staff and the staff of direct contractors (such as those who clean the stores). "They need to transform their pay policy if they really believe as they say in the 2015 annual report that their people are at the very heart of M&S. "All working people in the UK deserve to be paid enough to live on and not have to rely on additional state benefits. "I want M&S to show leadership and sign up for #LivingWage accreditation. "Vindi has the power to be a force for good and I want to urge him not to blow that opportunity. Mr Banga is Sikh so I found a relevant quote with the help of my Sikh friend. "I’ve stitched 'By the karma of good actions, some come to serve the Perfect Guru' by Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji on to my hanky for Mr Banga.” It took over 150 hours and 14 craftivists to make these bespoke hand-stitched hankies for each @marksandspencer board member. These gifts will be given out at the M&S AGM to encourage each board member to use their power to help implement a #LivingWage. Please join in by tweeting a positive message to @marksandspencers, encouraging them to lead the way in retail #AStitchInTime for a #LivingWage The craftivists will also be handing 250 special handkerchief craft kits with a Living Wage message printed on them to shareholders at the company's Annual General Meeting, so that the shareholders can stitch too, to encourage themselves to support the Living Wage. These kits include an ethical hanky, needle and thread, instructions, and a briefing note on investment risk. Sarah Corbett, founder of the Craftivist Collective, said: “Marks & Spencer is supposed to be a company with solid values threaded through all that they do, which includes paying your workers fairly. “We're sending the board and shareholders these carefully hand-stitched handkerchiefs to encourage the company not to 'blow' their chance to support life-changing decisions.”  |
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