PENSIONERS SET EXAMPLE

 
FURNESS PENSIONERS PROMOTE PEOPLE'S CHARTER FOR CHANGE

Members of Barrow & Furness Pensioners' Association could never be described as a bunch of revolutionaries but they can certainly tell the difference between right and wrong and this is why most members have signed the Charter's petition and why a few also promote the Charter in Barrow town centre whenever possible.

The Charter sets out particular steps for resolving the current economic crisis without need for savage cuts in public spending - cuts that, if implemented, will have very serious consequences for the well-being of the most disadvantaged members of our nation i.e. the sick, the disabled, anyone on benefits, those on low wages, and people on fixed incomes such as the elderly on the state pension.

THE PEOPLE'S CHARTER, adopted by the Trade Union Congress at its annual conference, Sept 2009.

A FAIR ECONOMY FOR A FAIRER BRITAIN. Progressive taxes without loopholes or tax-havens.  We must own and control the main banks. Guarantee all pensions, mortgages and savings. Tie pensions and benefits to wages.  Give pensioners free transport and heating.  Increase the minimum wage.

MORE AND BETTER JOBS. Protect existing jobs. Reduce hours, not pay, to create more jobs.  Make a massive investment in new jobs, particularly in green technology, for the sake of our children.

DECENT HOMES FOR ALL. Create 3 million publicly owned homes.  Stop the repossessions. Control rents.

SAVE AND IMPROVE OUR SERVICES.  Energy, telecommunications, postal, water, and transport to be placed in public ownership to serve people not shareholders.  Remove profit making from our NHS and schools.  Support our public service staff.

FOR FAIRNESS AND JUSTICE.  Equality of opportunity for all.  Together against racism and all forms of discrimination.  Equal pay for women. End child poverty and give young people a future. Provide free child and youth facilities, education and training for all.  Repeal the anti-union laws to fight poverty and inequality.

A BETTER FUTURE STARTS NOW.  No more blood and money for war.  Bring our troops home.  No more billions of pounds for nuclear weapons.  We want massive investment for a greener, safer world. Get rid of the debt economy in Britain and cancel the debts of the poor of the planet.

Meanwhile, one year on from the Charter's TUC endorsement, Furness Trade Unions remain comatose and their slumber is enhanced by the blanket silence of the local press on the issue.

There was a glimmer of hope of a fight-back against proposed cuts to housing benefits for the unemployed when, in a recent article in the local press, Barrow Borough (Conservative) councillor, Ray Guselli, openly criticised his own party in government for this measure. How are these unfortunate people, he asked, going to be able to afford to make up their rent shortfall from their meagre benefits? Landlords will have no alternative but to give them 'notice to quit' and then seek tenants who can afford to rent the flats and bed-sits (a difficult proposition when there are increasing numbers of unemployed and a glut of empty properties in Barrow). But then, of course, councillor Guselli is himself a landlord of rented properties in the town.  Was he concerned about his tenants, or about a loss of income?