The cost of living, the escalation of war and the rise of fascism across the globe has a direct impact on ordinary workers.
For over a decade our pay has not kept up with prices and our welfare institutions have had one financial cut after the other through austerity. Meanwhile Vice-Chancellors, CEOs and bankers fill their pockets.
Our government continues to fund war with just last year the UK spending £6.5 billion on nuclear arms and we’re current spending on our RAF pilots to provide air support to Israel, on top of funding NATO. These billions would otherwise go a decent way to clearing the ‘black hole’ in UK finances we are kept being told about and back into our wages and healthcare.
But war makes money for the super-rich and those in power, there are more billionaires in the world today than ever before. Oil and gas companies are raking it in while energy costs are kept unstable with global conflicts, it’s in the interest of those companies to keep it that way.
While times are hard, it’s the far-right who are misinforming us and blaming some of the most vulnerable in society for our difficulties. They are deflecting from the ‘fat cats’ pocketing eye-watering profits by telling us to look the other way and blame migrants, or Black workers, trying to divide us workers so we don’t rise-up against them.
Trade unions have a long history of standing up for the oppressed and against injustice. The saying, ‘the workers united will never be defeated’, is as true now as ever before. UWE UNISON will attend the actions listed below and we will support and look out for one another, especially if you’ve not attended such events before. If you’d like to join us to go in a group, contact your local Steward / Rep or the branch email for arrangements, we’ll even cover coach ticket prices.
In solidarity, UWE UNISON branch Executive are supporting the following events, rallys and demonstrations.
+Lobby Bristol City Council to divest our pensions from arming Israel
When: Tuesday, 8th October at 5pm
Where: Bristol City Council, College Green, Bristol, BS1 5TR
Bristol City Council’s pension fund, as part of Avon Pension Fund, which consists of four councils, invests £18 MILLION in companies linked to human rights abuses in Palestine or profiting from its illegal occupation.
Join us to lobby the Full Council meeting at Bristol City Council and demand divestment from companies complicit in Israel’s attacks on Palestine and Lebanon.
**Write to your councillor:** https://palestinecampaign.eaction.online/councilloraction
**Sign the petition: https://democracy.bristol.gov.uk/mgEPetitionDisplay.aspx?id=314
Palestine, Israel and the trade union movement.pdf
UNISON’s campaign for a ceasefire guide.pdf
+National school / Uni strike and Workplace day of action for Palestine
When: Thursday, 10th October from 12pm
Where: UWE Frenchay campus next to Onezone
UWE UNISON information stall on Palestine. Come say hello, gather some info leaflets and join us if you like, in a photo of solidarity for the Palestinian people.
+One Year On of Genocide – Activist Organising Forum: Bristol, Divest for Palestine
When: Saturday, 19th October, 1pm-4:30pm
Where: Redland Quaker Meeting Hall, 126 Hampton Rd, Bristol BS6 6JE
One year on from the start of Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, we invite all groups and communities to join us in demanding an end to our city’s complicity in Israeli apartheid.
Join us for _Bristol Divest for Palestine Activist Organising Forum_, where we will be inviting pro-Palestine activist groups and individuals from across Bristol and beyond to work on building the BDS movement in our city. One year on from the start of Israel’s genocidal war we will consider:
▪️What works? What have we learned?
▪️What are our priorities for action?
▪️How should we organise?
▪️What should our next steps and actions be?
We aim to generate shared learning on how to grow a bigger, more effective BDS movement in Bristol. Let’s work together to end our city’s complicity in Israel’s crimes:
– Bristol City Council pension fund investments of £18 million in companies linked to human rights abuses in Palestine
– Companies in our city profiting from arms-related exports to Israel (e.g. Elbit Systems, Rolls Royce, GKN) and from Israel’s occupation
-Sign the petition to Bristol City Council to divest our pensions from funding Israel: https://democracy.bristol.gov.uk/mgEPetitionDisplay.aspx?id=314
“`ALL WELCOME“`
+Stand Up to Racism, national counter protest of the far-right
(free coach tickets by contacting UWE UNISON branch)
When: Saturday, 26th October, 12pm
Where: Central London , location tbc
Bristol coaches to London leave Anchor Rd, BS1 5DB at 8:15am
In July, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (Tommy Robinson) marched with 20,000 others, chanting Islamophobic and racist chants with minimal opposition. The following week saw the far right emboldened, causing riots across the country.
Stand Up to Racism has called a unity demonstration against Robinson to show that we will not let the far right take over our streets. Our message is clear: stop the far right, unity over division. UNISON locally and nationally is encouraging all it’s members to take part if they can.
Safe protesting tips:
https://www.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/advice_information/practical-protest-tips/
https://www.uclansu.co.uk/news/article/6013/Safe-Protesting-Guidelines/