Category: News
Mayday and Workers Memorial Day
Waltham Forest Trade Union Council hosted two important events in the calendar of the labour and trade union movement in Abbotts Park in Leyton.
People gathered to mark Workers Memorial Day, held every year on April 28th, to pay tribute to workers killed, injured, disabled and made unwell by their work. Workers like young Marian Nemit killed when a wall fell on him at a job near the Bakers Arms and Raymond Holmes who was killed working on the Thames Water site in Coppermill. Raymond’s wife and daughter sent the Trades Council a note of thanks for remembering him and for keeping up the tradition. The motto for the day is Remember the dead and fight for the living.
John Cryer MP for Leyton and Wanstead promised “a Labour government will really strengthen health and safety legislation.”
A minute’s silence was observed to remember all workers everywhere who’ve died over the past year.… Read on ...
Waltham Forest Stand Up For Your Rights
Waltham Forest Stand Up For Your Rights is a local organisation that supports benefits claimants and campaigns on the problems they face.
Local benefit claimants and others meet every month to provide support and organise campaigning activities. The group is run by a small committee that includes benefit claimants.
Founded in 2016, in its short life to date the group has taken up the cases of claimants badly treated, campaigned against unfair changes in the benefits system, and sanctions against claimants which leave them penniless and vulnerable.
Recently some of the most vulnerable people have had their benefits reduced. For example, disabled claimants of Employment Support Allowance (ESA) have seen their special disability premium abolished, leaving them up to £80 per week worse off.
Further benefits are often administered incorrectly, as recent official reports have highlighted. One person had appealed in May 2017 against a refusal of ESA. The group took up the huge delay in arranging the appeal and helped at their hearing.… Read on ...