Anti-poverty charity joins union action

30 November 2011

WHEN/WHERE:

8-9 am      Islington town hall, Upper Street, London N1 2UD  – Serving hot drinks and food

8-9 am      Camden town hall, Judd Street, London WC1H 9JE – Serving hot drinks and food

12  noon    Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3AA – Gathering for protest march          

2.15 pm    Westminster Pier, Victoria Embankment, London SW1A 2JH – Mass rally

‘We’re all in this together,’ says War on Want

Campaigners from the anti-poverty charity War on Want will today hand out hot drinks and food to strikers on London picket lines in support of their protest for fair pensions.

The charity, which works with some of the world’s poorest people, argues that the cause of the problem is the government cuts programme, and an ideology that puts financial markets above people.

War on Want calls instead for “closing the tax gap” by clawing back £120 billion of avoided, evaded and uncollected tax from some of Britain’s wealthiest corporations and individuals.

War on Want’s partner organisation in Bangladesh, the National Garment Workers’ Federation, will hold a rally in Dhaka in solidarity with the British strikers.

The strikes are also supported by its Sri Lanka partner, the Free Trade Zones and General Service Employees Union.

Greg Muttitt, campaigns and policy director at War on Want, said: “George Osborne has said we are all in this together. In fact, his friends in the City are not paying for the crisis they caused - while Osborne himself yesterday announced tinkering around with just a tiny portion of the tax gap. The rest of us are paying the price in slashed public services, unfair pension terms and lost jobs. As an anti-poverty organisation, War on Want is proud to join these protests for a more just alternative.”

Amirul Haque Amin, president of the National Garment Workers’ Federation, said: “The federation has been fighting for the rights of garment workers in Bangladesh since 1984. We will stand with the public sector workers in the UK on 30 November in your fight against the attacks on your pensions and the cuts that your government have imposed. We know that these abuses and the programme of cuts will make thousands of you poorer as a result and as workers, we stand united against poverty wherever it is found.”

A full statement explaining the charity’s decision to support the trade unions can be downloaded at http://www.waronwant.org/attachments/N30%20statement.pdf

CONTACT: Paul Collins, War on Want media office (+44) (0)20 7324 5054 or (+44) (0)7983 550728