Everyone at AFC Unity has worked so hard to make the Football for Food campaign such a continuing success.
It is with great pleasure that we can announce that AFC Unity have agreed to support the Sheffield Needs a Pay Rise Campaign.
The campaign is building towards a demonstration in Sheffield City Centre on Saturday 17th of December at 1pm on Devonshire Green to which as many AFC Unity representatives as possible are welcomed to come, with kits, tracksuits, scarves, beanies and badges all on show!
With low wages being one of the driving reasons behind people finding themselves in food poverty, it is really important to understand and tackle these travesties. Politics affects all of us every day, whether we choose to engage or not; it affects the prices of goods in the shops, the wages and security of the jobs that are available to us. But this is not a passive situation. We can all choose if and how we try to influence these things.
Many of us will be affected by the low waged economy we see today – it may be us or a member of our household who is on low wages and vulnerable contracts. And a low waged household may have to find places to buy low cost goods, which is likely to be a place paying low wages, and so the cycle continues.
If we can start to challenge the reliance on low waged jobs in some of our high street companies – which, let’s remember, will likely be generating large profits – we can start making a change for the fairer to how our communities operate. By engaging with employees and encouraging union organisation in the workplace, and by linking union members across different workplaces people can support each other to take the sometimes difficult and courageous move to gain a voice and some power as employees.
Union membership has already started to make a difference to the shocking conditions exposed in Sports Direct and ASOS factories and made a real difference to people’s working lives. In the fast food industry, many companies in the USA have started to pay a proper living wage due to the organisation of union members in their workplaces.
That can happen here.
So, the Sheffield Needs a Pay Rise campaign is calling out the high street companies, calling for a proper Living Wage for all (not dependent on age) of £10 an hour and calling for union recognition in the workplace.
The campaign chimes with many of the key messages of AFC Unity – Unity (of course!), Empowerment, Solidarity and Teamwork.
In solidarity AFC Unity is planning to offer discounts on some club purchases to union members – more to follow!
We really hope you can join us at the demo on Saturday 17th December and / or can help to publicise the campaign by taking leaflets and following/sharing #Sheff4Ten and @Sheff4Ten on social media.
The campaign will build on the demo and continuing fighting for these aims in 2017 and beyond.
If you want to find out more please or want to get more involved in the campaign, please ask!
