Chesterfield and North Derbyshire Unite Community
PRESS RELEASE
Contact name: Colin Hampton
Contact tel: 07870387999
Email:
colinhampton45@yahoo.com
Embargo: none
Unite Community Calls for help for the most vulnerable
At its monthly
meeting Unite Community in Chesterfield has called for immediate
assistance from the government for the most vulnerable in the present
coronavirus crisis.
Unite Community,
part of Unite the Union, brings together people, students, claimants,
pensioners, those not currently in work, and allows them to organise
giving them a voice.
‘As the coronavirus
crisis deepens we need clear and decisive action to prepare health
services and protect the most vulnerable in society’ said Colin Hampton
secretary of the local branch. ’This crisis will
impact most on those with the least and the Government has had very
little to say about this.’
The branch members
had outlined at their meeting how years of underfunding had weakened
essential public services and the social security systems that many need
to survive.
Unite Community in Chesterfield and North Derbyshire is calling for the Government to respond positively to the demands for
·
Full
sick pay for all workers making sure that the many workers in
precarious employment are given financial security preventing
destitution. Thousands of workers now fall into this
category including the many bogus self-employed in the gig economy as
well as those on zero hours or minimum hours contracts.
·
There
should be no benefit sanctions and the five week wait for Universal
Credit should be stopped. Those currently on benefits and the thousands
who will lose their jobs as businesses
close down need social security.
·
There
should be immediate end to evictions for rent arrears across both
social housing and the private rented sector with provision for a
moratorium on rent and mortgage payments.
·
Emergency provision should be provided for the homeless who will be particularly at risk during the crisis.
·
There
must be support for families and children where school closures take
place. Many of our most vulnerable families rely on free school meals
to feed their children.
‘Our community came
together to support the miners and their families during the great
strike 35 years ago. Today we face an even bigger task, and the cry of
‘They will not starve’ must be heard again with
community coming together to make sure all of us get through this
crisis’. Colin went on to say, ‘People have to rally round but
Government at all levels must play a key role with immediate emergency
funding and support.’
/ends
Colin Hampton
c/o 1 Rose Hill East
Chesterfield
01246 231441
07870387999
Also from -
Also from -
The
scale of the challenge right now is difficult to overstate. The
collective responsibility and action required of us to keep each other
safe is tremendous.
Some will
find it easier to rise to the occasion - to self-isolate, to work from
home. Others will be weighing impossible decisions - deciding between
their health, their livelihoods and the wellbeing of the communities and
employees they support.
As we face unprecedented insecurity, we need to meet people's real needs with workable solutions. Not
only to address the crisis of today, but to look to the future and how
we can build a resilient, healthy and good society that will withstand
the crises of tomorrow too.
|
As the coronavirus crisis unfolds, the case for a guaranteed basic income is clear and more urgent than ever.
This
level of economic insecurity is new but for millions of people
insecurity has been a day-to-day experience for years. Our economy has
been changing since before the virus hit. Automation, climate change and
a broken welfare system have already pushed people to breaking point
and beyond.
Two
weeks ago, Compass launched the Basic Income Conversation to kickstart a
broad and popular movement for basic income in the UK.
We
set out to have a serious public conversation about what basic income
could mean for this country. To find out what people really think of the
idea and grapple with the difficult questions and tensions it throws
up. That conversation is now more important than ever.
But in this turning point, we have to respond. Help move the needle on basic income by signing and sharing this petition now.
|
A basic income alone is
not going to get us out of this. But it's one piece of the puzzle that
will give people what they need right now - and can bring us closer to
remaking the public realm and creating a new political and economic
settlement for the future.
In solidarity,
Neal
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