THERE IS NO U-TURN! Suffolk Council's u-turn announcement is nothing of the sort. Long-term stable funding for the 9 arts organisations currently supported by the Council is still facing a 100% cut. The Council's new announcement is for a one off pot of funding open to anyone, forcing arts organisations to compete against each other, for a smaller cake cut into many slices and causing uncertainty. The Council has confirmed that once this one-off pot has run out, they will still not fund any arts budget. ===== Equity members, local residents, arts and cultural organisations across East Anglia have raised serious concerns following a proposed £528,000 cut to arts and culture funding by Suffolk County Council. The nine organisations affected cover the whole county and include: Suffolk Artlink, the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds, the Food Museum in Stowmarket and The Long Shop Museum in Leiston, New Wolsey Theatre, DanceEast and Eastern Angles in Ipswich, Gainsborough’s House in Sudbury and FirstLight Festival in Lowestoft. While these cuts represent a tiny fraction of the council's need to save £64.7 million, they will have a disproportionate impact on Suffolk residents who rely on the arts and culture for employment and the wider community engaged with the vital support provided by these organisations across the county. Companies like Eastern Angles and New Wolsey Theatre tour schools and special educational needs settings providing performances and workshops for children. Suffolk Artlink delivers services to diverse communities including children at risk and vulnerable adults, contributing to Suffolk County Council's strategic priorities. The Food Museum in Stowmarket, which has a national reputation for its community work, but now faces a 13% cut to its core funding. Together these organisations provide hundreds of jobs, support the local economy and provide thousands of hours of engagement for children and adults who need it in Suffolk. They do not deserve to lose access to culture. Sign our petition to oppose these 100% cuts now.

1. Local Economy: Encouraging cycling in areas designated as pedestrian zones can draw more tourists and boost foot traffic. The local economy benefits from the increased frequency with which cyclists pause and spend money at nearby cafes, stores, and other establishments. 2. Environment: Promoting cycling lessens the need for motor cars, which lowers emissions, enhances air quality, and eases traffic congestion in urban areas. This has a good impact on the region's overall environmental sustainability. 3. Health and Well-Being: Cycling encourages physical activity and provides a convenient, low-impact workout. Cycling promotes better lifestyles among locals and tourists by being integrated into pedestrianised zones, which may save healthcare expenditures and enhance public health overall. 4. Accessibility and Connectivity: As a cost-effective and environmentally responsible form of transportation, cycling may improve accessibility. It can more efficiently connect various areas of the city centre, facilitating people's movement around and access to a range of services. 5. Involvement with the Community: By encouraging active mobility, integrating cycling into pedestrianised zones promotes community participation. It encourages diversity by drawing people from a variety of backgrounds to socialise and participate in urban life. 6. Hospitality Economy: Some restaurants rely on courier services for as much as 40% of their revenue, highlighting the critical role they play in the industry. However, the absence of a well-planned and integrated cycling network hinders our city’s ability to meet the demands of a 21st century economy by implementing a modern cycle network that promotes efficiency for services and deliveries and empowers couriers. These considerations inevitably and unnecessarily impact service quality and speed, further restricting customers' access to restaurants listed on these platforms by narrowing the delivery radius. 7. The Crucial Role of Couriers in Assisting Vulnerable Communities: Couriers are essential to York's vulnerable populations. During the pandemic and beyond they serve as a critical life line to necessary groceries and medications in addition to delivering hot meals. Collaborating with prominent retailers like Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Co-op, Asda, BP, M&S, and McColls, couriers guarantee the accessibility of essentials to the vulnerable, shielding, and disabled without jeopardising their safety. Acknowledging the humanitarian nature of their work emphasises how critical it is to address the particular difficulties that couriers encounter in the existing system. 8. Life Quality and Rights of Local Couriers: The very nature of courier work demands effective and efficient routes, this frequently leads to results in fixed penalty notices and performance related issues for law-abiding couriers. Protecting the rights and welfare of local couriers is a commitment to maintaining the principles of a caring and vibrant community as well as an issue of economic justice. Local couriers are engaged members of the community who do more than simply deliver packages. They support the local economy by shopping at local establishments, paying taxes, and vote locally. They contribute entirely. They should not be criminalised for doing there jobs and penalised by inadequate infrastructure. By combining these elements, a city centre that is dynamic, inclusive, and sustainable may be built that promotes environmental preservation, economic development, and the health and happiness of both locals and tourists.

In a recent survey of Oxfam staff, 34% have had to make a choice between heating their house and feeding their family in the last 12 months. And more than 1 in 5 said they had not been able to pay their rent. Meanwhile, Oxfam has more than doubled its reserve level to £35-45 million. And in 2011/22 the CEO’s salary was £121,000, that’s 6.7 times the pay of the average employee. We deserve a pay rise, and Oxfam can well afford to give it to us. Isn’t it time Oxfam ended poverty at Oxfam? Take a look at this video highlighting the poverty workers at Oxfam are facing: https://youtu.be/G4tH8zgx49A

Pay for teachers in Northern Ireland has fallen by 38% in real terms since 2010. In Scotland, a new teacher will be paid £8000 more a year than their equivalent in Northern Ireland. A teacher in England will be paid £5000 a year more. Teachers in Northern Ireland are not worth less than teachers in other countries in the UK. They should get the same pay for the same job as other teachers across the UK. Please support our petition for a Better Deal for teachers and FE lecturers in Northern Ireland.

We cannot stand by and allow members at Steam Packet to be bullied into accepting fundamental changes to their terms & conditions or face the sack. We are calling on Steam Packet to stop the threat of fire and rehire. Nautilus International, on behalf of those we represent, has tried on numerous occasions to avoid a dispute with Steam Packet but to no avail. We are not against living aboard, we are simply asking the company to act in a reasonable way by phasing in living aboard and honour existing contracts. The company are intent on forcing through fundamental changes by threatening members with fire and rehire. Join us in sending a clear message to Steam Packet: END THE THREAT OF FIRE AND REHIRE.

The loss of staff and educational provision on this scale will have a hugely detrimental impact on the community of Shetland - on the staff who will lose jobs and livelihoods; on rural and isolated communities; on the local economy and on the young people who have a right to access tertiary education locally. In August 2021 Shetland College was privatised and became UHI Shetland- the first college which was privatised from the public sector in Scotland. Lecturers at the college were opposed to privatisation because they were worried about the negative impact on staff terms and conditions and security of employment, as well as students’ quality and diverse range of education. Nonetheless, elected members were assured that the ‘financial flexibility’ non-incorporation would bring was a priority. We’re now two years on from the merger and have been informed that staffing costs need to be further reduced with lecturers now at risk of redundancy. Although every Academic section is facing a reduction of lecturers, the department most at risk is Community Learning & Business (CL&B). This section supports emotionally, psychologically, physically, and financially vulnerable students – providing important access level courses and provision as well as delivering courses to students with additional support needs, in core skills, employability, ESOL, hospitality, professional cookery, business and accounting. Depopulation in Shetland is a real concern and the loss of staff at a major employer on the island coupled with a loss of accessible, inclusive and diverse education will only make this problem worse. A wide range of courses should be available at UHI Shetland and secure and long-lasting employment which benefits the local community. We should be investing in our communities, supporting the growth of skills, confidence, and the employment futures of everyone in Shetland. We are seeking to engage with SFC and the Minister for Further and Higher Education about additional funding for UHI Shetland via UHI. We ask you to sign the petition and support our campaign. Keep up to date on the campaign by following us on social media: Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063477846466 Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/EISFELAShetland

Equal pay in ASDA matters because it is a glaring injustice and subjects women and families to lives of entrenched poverty and opportunity gaps.

We, the residents of Bristol, Bath, South Gloucestershire, North and North East Somerset, are profoundly concerned about the proposed cuts to Avon Fire and Rescue Service, which include the elimination of 40 firefighter positions. Cuts that, if implemented, have the potential to severely impact the safety and well-being of our communities and place immense strain on our firefighting resources when responding to life-critical incidents. We firmly believe that the safety of our community should be an uncompromising priority. Firefighters are our first line of defence against a range of emergencies, and their swift response is critical to saving lives and protecting our property. Reducing their numbers endangers us all. We urgently call on all our local authorities to allocate the necessary funding to maintain a fully staffed and robust Avon Fire and Rescue Service. However, we also recognise the importance of greater central government funding. Our safety is maintained by the effectiveness of our emergency response, and we also implore MPs nationally to prioritise this essential service. We firmly believe that a fully staffed and well-equipped Avon Fire and Rescue Service is an essential part of community infrastructure and a fundamental safeguard for us all.

Cardiff Council workers are providing vital public services that our communities rely on every single day. They are the key workers who kept the Capital going throughout the pandemic. Their value to the Capital City and County of Cardiff should be recognised by a pay offer that allows them to feed and clothe their families without having to resort to foodbanks or handouts. It is unacceptable council workers are bearing the brunt of the cuts to local government budgets! It is unacceptable that the Council has not engaged with the Union's Representative's to bring an end to the dispute and give it's workers a fair pay rise.

With very little notice and consultation with their workforce, Miller & Carter have imposed a new 'Tips for Tips Scheme' which will see waiters lose hundreds of pounds a month in tips, given to them by you! Previously, waiters had to 'tip-out' to the kitchen and bar around 20-25% of their tips. Now they have to find 2% of *gross sales* which is a huge increase and means that some are already going into tip-debt! Workers are already losing hundreds in income because of this policy. There is a strongly held fear among waiters that they will be brought below the minimum wage by this system and some have already gotten into debt because they cannot possibly sustain the levels of tips they are expected to collect to subsidise the poor wages of the kitchen and bar team. This will almost certainly have a detrimental impact on the service that you are given by the incredible waiters of M&C who will struggle even more during this cost of living crisis. Miller & Carter may not care about their workforce but they certainly care about the future custom of the general public. If you believe that Miller & Carter should abandon attempts to impose this awful policy, please sign, share and make your voice heard.

Brighton University claims it respects the role of the recognised trade unions to represent and negotiate for its employees. But by attacking UCU reps, the University is declaring war on the union. They are clearly signalling that they no longer want to negotiate with union reps on equal terms. They want to create a climate in which staff are too fearful to stand up for themselves, let alone to stand for a union position. What could follow is the unilateral replacement of all the agreements governing lecturers’ and researchers’ terms and conditions with new arrangements imposed by them. Managers everywhere will be rubbing their hands with glee if they can get away with this here. The future of Brighton UCU is at stake. If we want our union membership to mean something concrete, we all need to defend union branches under attack. Our Vice Chancellor and her crew of lackeys would love nothing more than to decapitate our UCU branch. They want to rule through fear and intimidation with no resistance. We need to stand up in defence of our elected reps. Please sign our petition of support and ask your branch to donate to our hardship fund here: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/brightonunistrike

Northern Ballet’s funding hasn’t changed much since 2015. In the biggest cost of living crisis for decades with inflation hitting record highs, that’s a significant real terms funding cut. As a result, musicians’ jobs are on the line. World-class orchestra musicians working for an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation should not have to rely on foodbanks to survive. It is essential that Arts Council England and Northern Ballet agree a realistic funding solution that protects union jobs and enables everyone to have access to live ballet that is genuinely live. Please sign the petition and leave a message of support for the musicians in Northern Ballet's orchestra