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Events...........
Birmingham Pride 2013
Saturday 25 May 2013
Last year we saw our biggest turnout yet for the parade, but this year we want to make it
even bigger and better. The Birmingham & West Midlands Shout group will be organising the parade and would love to see
as many members there as possible to take part and enjoy the fun day that it always has been.
If you haven't
yet taken part then please consider it as the ones that have been before can vouch for the entertainment etc. If you
can spare a few hours from 11.00am - 2.00pm, our LGBT brothers and sisters would really appreciate your support.
Chainmakers Festival
Saturday
8 June 2013
A festival celebrating an historic 10 week dispute by women chainmakers. The festival celebrates
the achievements of 800 or so women Chainmakers who fought to establish a minimum wage for their labour. Women who had no
vote, who were largely illiterate, who worked 54 hour weeks for a pittance took on their bosses and proved their economic
power.
This year celebration will be held at the Bearmore Park, Cradley Heath. More details will follow shortly.
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Cammpaigns............
Fight
for Living Wage....
GMB seeks a living wage of £8.55 per hour in London (up from£8.30) and of
£7.45 per hour in the rest of the country (up from£7.20) for all employees at work in the UKGMB has got a large number of employers
to paying or committ to pay a living wage. The number of councils in England and Wales now paying or committed to pay a living wage has risen to 34. These are
Ashfield, Blackpool, Birmingham, Brent, Brighton & Hove, Calderdale, Camden, Cardiff, Carlisle, Chorley, Croydon, Dartford,
Deal, Derby City, Ealing, Enfield, Gloucester City, Hackney, Hounslow, Hyndburn, Islington, Lambeth, Lewisham, Newark &
Sherwood, Newcastle, Norwich, Oxford City, Preston, Sheffield, Southwark, Swansea, Wirral, Wolverhampton and York. GMB congratulates all 22 councils in Scotland for their trailblazing decision to introduce
a living wage at their councils from 1st April this year (2013). This is pointing the way forward for councils in England,
Wales and Northern Ireland. GMB in Jan 2013 launched a campaign to win a
living wage for 280,000 low paid workers in councils across England and Wales. See copies of campaign material here:
GMB Fight for Living Wage - Petition
GMB Fight for Living Wage - Workplace Poster
GMB Fight for Living Wage - Modul Council Resolution
GMB has secured the support of Labour leader Ed Miliband and Shadow Treasury
Secretary Rachel Reeves for higher pay for low paid council staff and other workers across the UK.
Council pay rates start at £6.30ph, just 11p above the national minimum wage. As a result hundreds of thousands
of council workers are forced to claim tax credits, free school meals, housing benefit and council tax benefit to make ends
meet.
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