Campaigns we support

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Campaigns we support

Find out more about the green, fair trade, ethical investment and ethical consumer campaigns we support.

JustPay! campaign

In May 2011 PCS joined forces with responsible investment charity FairPensions to launch a campaign, JustPay!, which calls on some of the UK’s biggest employers to pay their staff and contractors a living wage.

The campaign aims to permanently embed living wage standards in some of the UK’s biggest companies, including MITIE and Capita, where PCS has commercial sector members.

Major investors, such as pension funds, union pension funds and City fund managers are calling on FTSE 100 companies to beccome living wage employers.

The rationale is that if FTSE 100 companies become living wage employers this will help to make living wages a key part of corporate social responsibility in the UK.

The current national minimum wage is just £5.93 per hour - insufficient for housing, food and other basic needs. The JustPay! campaign is arguing that companies should pay a living wage, which takes account of real living costs for essential goods and services.

During summer 2011 FairPensions will be attending AGMs up and down the country asking Britain's biggest companies to pay a Living Wage. PCS members at Capita attended the Capita AGM on 10 May to ask whether the company would be willing to adopt the living wage. For more information see the FairPensions website.

Activate your money!

We hold billions of pounds through bank accounts, ISAs, pensions and insurance policies which gives us the power to influence some of the biggest companies in the world. To add your voice to the call for living wages go to the FairPensions website.

Renewable energy

PCS policy is to support and promote renewable energy.

Since 2008 PCS has supported a coalition of organisations (the 'tariff coalition') led by the Renewable Energy Association and Friends of the Earth which has been campaigning for the introduction of payments for households, communities and organisations that generate renewable electricity ('feed in tariffs') and renewable heat.

Feed-in tariffs were introduced in April 2010 but the future for the renewable heat tariff, which was to have come in next April, is now under threat from government spending cuts.

Heat generation accounts for nearly half of the UK's carbon emissions - mostly from heating rooms and hot water in homes and workplaces. So using renewable heat, such as solar panels to heat water, is essential to tackling climate change.

A renewable heat tariff will also create jobs, help the UK meet renewable energy targets, improve our energy security as well as putting the power to generate into our hands rather than being the preserve of the energy companies.

Read the open letter from the tariff coalition to energy and climate change secretaty Chris Huhne at the Guardian website .

Playfair 2012 - campaigning for a sweat-free Olympics

Playfair 2012, co-ordinated by the TUC, Labour Behind the Label and supported by unions, including PCS and campaign organisations, has launched a campaign for an ethical London Games.

Playfair 2012 wants the organisers of the London Olympics to ensure that all Olympic-branded goods are ethically produced.

The sportswear industry has a poor track record on workers' rights. Playfair research found that workers employed by Adidas suppliers in China were making sports shoes (that sell for £50 a pair) for just £20 per month and children as young as 12 years old were being forced to work 15 hours a day.

To watch the video and take part in action targeting sportswear brands see the Playfair2012 website.

Campaign against Climate Change

PCS has joined together with the Campaign against Climate Change in a national campaign to demand that government employ a million unemployed workers to save the climate. For more information see the One Million Climate Jobs Now! page

No to nuclear

We oppose government support for building another generation of nuclear power stations in the UK. Instead we believe there should be increased investment in clean, renewable technologies that would create more labour intensive jobs. Find out more on the 'say no to nuclear page'.

Greener transport

We believe the government’s plans to build a third runway at Heathrow are incompatible with winning the battle against climate change. Instead we support the development of an affordably priced, publicly owned, high speed rail network for the UK.

Let's clean up fashion

Labour Behind the Label's 'Let's Clean Up Fashion' campaign is about exposing the exploitation of workers who produce clothing and footwear for our high street shops.

Research carried out by Labour Behind the Label shows that high street retailers are not seriously tackling this issue despite claiming they are committed to a living wage for workers.

Labour Behind the Label has produced a series of postcards that people can send to shops asking what they are doing about this.

If you would like copies of these to distribute in your workplace contact email green@pcs.org.uk

For more information about this campaign see the Labour Behind the Labour website.