Campaign Stories
Roxy’s Round-up: Victories from the Workforce
The Organise community achieves incredible milestones every month that deserve to be recognised! Let’s take some time to celebrate recent workers’ wins from the network.
April 9, 2024
The Organise community achieves incredible milestones every month that deserve to be recognised! Let’s take some time to celebrate recent workers’ wins from the network.
I'm Roxy, Organise’s Head of UK Campaigns, and I'm here to navigate the tumultuous yet triumphant waters of workers' rights alongside you. With a vibrant community of over 1 million members, it's easy for countless achievements, both big and small, to breeze past without their due moment in the spotlight!
This isn't just a blog - it's our victory lap. It's where I'll share not just the milestones we've reached together but the roads we travelled to get there. From policy breakthroughs to heartwarming victories at the grassroots level, this is our monthly dose of inspiration, resilience, and progress.
Last month, we had another win for NHS workers with the news that all NHS health workers will receive a one-off payment of £1,600, a bonus that had already been awarded to NHS staff but not NHS workers employed by non-NHS organisations like community nurses and cleaners. Thousands of Organise members signed the petition and we flooded the inbox of the Department for Health demanding they reward all NHS workers’ efforts with the bonus.
Workers at Amazon have been raising the alarm on racism and favouritism at the company so workers have been sharing their experiences on Organise. Here are the results:
Here’s what one Amazon worker said:
“3 racism cases raised to ops manager and he refused to take them as grievances as the person was his friend. Instead pushed for sorting it out off the book. Regarding bullying several people raising grievances against management have been bullied false statements raised against them until either they are sacked or they quit.”
It was revealed last month that P&O Ferries were using a legal loophole to pay staff less than the UK minimum wage, with workers earning £4.87 an hour, despite P&O claiming its lowest rate is £5.15 an hour. 97% of people agreed P&O Ferries should pay their staff at least the UK minimum wage, resulting in P&O Ferries promising to sign a commitment that it will pay maritime workers at least the UK minimum wage.
This is an amazing campaign win and thanks to our campaign, the CEO of P&O Ferries will now be questioned by the Business and Trade committee to examine working conditions. Hundreds of Organise members are emailing the Business committee to demand they close the legal loophole that has let P&O get away with this for so long - can you join in too?
To kick off March, we celebrated a significant victory: Jeremy Hunt declared he would eliminate the non-dom tax status in a move that essentially reverses a tax break for the ultra-wealthy. A staggering 55,000 of us added our names to the petition, and thousands took the initiative to email Jeremy Hunt directly, calling for the end of non-dom tax status. This victory isn't just for those of us who believe Rishi Sunak's wife might not need extra tax cuts, it's a win for everyone that might boost our nation's coffers by £2.7 billion.
Labour announced the policy as part of their election pledge, but the Conservatives beat them to it, saying that the money raised will go towards tax cuts. In comparison, Labour had pledged to spend the money saved on the NHS instead - so an Organise member asked the network what they thought. Here are the results:
Workers at Wetherspoons are not given any days off for compassionate leave and now one working mum is demanding action from Wetherspoons CEO, John Hutson. Here’s what she has to say:
“I’m a mum of 3 kids under 6 and I find it very unfair that we don’t have any paid leave to take care of dependants in case they are sick. I’ve had to send my kids to school and nursery ill because I couldn’t afford to lose a day of work!”
You can support her growing campaign here.
There has been lots of discussion on Organise over the past month on increasing the minimum wage to £15 an hour. A whopping 91% of us agree that the minimum wage needs to rise to reflect our current economic reality. Why not cast your vote too?
A new Freedom of Information (FOI) request has found that the highest level of interest accumulated on a student loan was over £54,000! And the Student Loan Company has admitted it does not know what the largest debt a graduate could theoretically accumulate is - or the largest amount one person could repay. Over 22,000 people have already signed the petition to scrap student loan interest, and thousands have taken part in the survey on their experiences. The results have now been turned into a huge people-powered report and we’re emailing them directly to the Department for Education. You can get involved here.
Ofcom claim GB News broke impartiality rules on five separate occasions when Conservative MPs served as news presenters. 78% agree that GB news should have its broadcasting licence revoked for breaking impartiality rules. Now, thousands of us are flooding the inbox of Ofcom to demand they take action. You can send them an email here.
MPs have been awarded a 5% pay rise at a time when public sector workers have been battling for adequate pay. Pretty gross! 87% of people agree it's unfair MPs will receive a 5.5% pay increase while public sector workers still fight for fair pay. Next, we’ll email MPs across the UK to ask them to donate their pay rise to a local charity of their choice. Get involved here.
After thousands of Organise members submitted evidence to Ofgem's consultation on standing charges, the back and forth between the government and Ofgem continues. We'll be emailing the Department for Net Zero directly asking them to take immediate action. If you want to get involved with this campaign, please add your name to the petition.
And finally, here are the current results of some recent snap polls on Organise. Click the images to have your say!
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