Showing posts with label Brent Citizens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brent Citizens. Show all posts

Wednesday 7 December 2022

Brent Citizens welcome Council leaders' offer to meet to resolve Living Wage issues that have arisen since May local elections

 

Cllr Butt responds to school students and other community members questioning his commitment to making Brent a Living Wage Borough (Photo: @AmandaRosePhoto )

After Monday's Living Wage action at Brent Civic Centre by Brent Citizen's, Muahhmed Butt, Leader of Brent Council, put out a tweet:


Today Brent Citizens replied:

Thank you Cllr Butt for attending our public action and offering to meet with us in January to review your administration’s commitments re: making Brent a Living Wage Borough! For the benefit of your followers, allow us to provide some context:

 

Accountability and transparency matter. We’re glad our collective action led to

Cllr Butt offering to meet and resolve the issues that arose since May. We look forward to working with him and Cllr Southwood to combat in-work poverty in Brent.

 

Finally, for anyone who wants to dig deeper into the Living Wage Places schemes - Living Wage Zones, Living Wage Boroughs, Living Wage Cities - we recommend this resource: https://t.co/PQ5k5DcfhK

 

 

 Brent Citizens held up posters reminding Cllr Butt and Cllr Southwood of their election pledges

 

 

Joining in the coversation Brent Renters added:

 

That's great community involvement, however, wage rises for a huge proportion of workers will mean nothing as without rent controls/freezes increased wages will just be eaten up by ever increasing rent levels - especially for private renters.

 

This is why it's so important for Brent's communities to organise on both fronts - for better wages and for good quality, affordable housing. We're fully behind you.

 

Monday 5 December 2022

Local community leaders, including school pupils, put Brent Council on Santa’s Naughty List following u-turn on Council Leader’s election pledge to make Brent a Living Wage Borough

 

Leader of Brent Council, Muhammed Butt,  surrounded by young Brent citizens calling for him to act on the Living Wage (Photo: Amanda Rose @amandarosephoto)

 

Over 50 members of Brent Citizens – including school pupils, teachers and parents on minimum wage jobs struggling to make ends meet – gathered in the foyer of  Brent Civic Centre tonight dressed up like Santa to sing Christmas carols and to put Brent Council’s Leader Cllr Muhammed Butt and the Cabinet Lead for Employment, Cllr Eleanor Southwood, on the community’s “Naughty List” this Christmas, following the Council’s u-turn on their public pledge to make Brent a Living Wage Borough. 

 


School students remind Cllr Butt of his public pledge (Photo: Amanda Rose @amandarosephoto)

 

They urged the councillors to renew their commitment and champion the Living Wage across the Borough, including at the Old Oak Common and Park Royal regeneration site in the south of the Borough, which is set to generate 56,000 new local jobs, though it remains unclear whether those jobs will guarantee a Living Wage or not.

 

As the cost of living crisis continues to push more people into poverty, Brent Council has backtracked on their pledge to work hand in hand with community leaders, workers on low pay and local Living Wage Employers on a 3-year collaborative journey to make Brent a Living Wage Borough.

 

This commitment was made by the re-elected Council Leader Muhammed Butt to over 150 local residents at a Brent Citizens Accountability Assembly held at Ark Academy in Wembley just two weeks before the local elections on 5th May this year. Moreover, this same commitment was printed black on white on Brent Labour’s own Election Manifesto, shared with thousands of households in the run up to polling day.

 

With 24,400 workers earning less than the London Living Wage, Brent suffers from one of the highest rates of residents earning less than the London Living Wage, which increased from £11.05 to £11.95 this year in line with the rising cost of living, and which is significantly higher than the minimum wage of £9.50 an hour. 

 

Singing Living Wage themed carols to the tune of Jingle Bells, the diverse community group donned Santa hats and Christmas jumpers to encourage Brent Council to rethink its plans. Students from Brent Citizens’ member schools have hand-made two sets of Christmas stockings: some filled with sweets, others filled with coal. Which ones Cllrs Butt and Southwood will receive, will depend on whether they renew their commitment to tackle in-work poverty together.

 


 

Tarik El Farjani, Y11 student at Ark Academy and Maryam Syed, Y10 student at Al Zahra School, both leaders with Brent Citizens, said: 

 

Brent’s Labour Manifesto published ahead of the local elections is entitled ‘Moving Forward Together and Leaving No One Behind’, but Cllr Butt and Cllr Southwood’s actions speak louder than words and are anything but that. We are extremely disheartened by the Council’s shocking u-turn. The two of us stood on stage in front of Cllr Butt at the Brent Citizens Accountability Assembly, when he looked us in the eye and publicly committed to making Brent a Living Wage Borough and the Old Oak Common site a Living Wage Zone

 

Brent Labour's Manifesto pledge

 

 

Marlon Legister-King, teacher at Newman Catholic College and leader with Brent Citizens said: 

 

At our College, we are proud to teach our young people that commitments matter. The Council has set a bad example that lowers young people’s faith in politics and democracy. They are the workers of tomorrow, as well as the voters of tomorrow. We are all already feeling the impact of this cost of living crisis. Now is the time to do more, not less, to tackle poverty at its roots and make Brent a place where workers are guaranteed a Living Wage.

 

Mina, cleaner on the minimum wage at a school in Brent, said: 

 

I’m a cleaner at a school in Brent which does not pay the Living Wage. When the Council first committed to working with Brent Citizens and the Living Wage Foundation, I was filled with hope. Employers like mine need to be encouraged to accredit as Living Wage Employers. To hear that Brent Council is making accreditation optional is an incredible shame. It is only through accreditation that employers are compelled to increase wages year on year, in line with the cost of living. My rent and bills have increased, whereas my wage is still the same. We need more accredited Living Wage Employers in Brent!

 

After speaking to the the students Cllr Butt agreed to at least meet with Brent Citizens again to revive the plan to 'Make Brent A Living Wage Borough.' 

Following the Brent Citizens' Action he tweeted:

 


 

 

Sunday 10 June 2012

Peace rally in threatened Willesden Green public space

The Brent chapter of London Citizens rallied in the open space outside Willesden Green Library on Saturday as they launched a 100 Days of Peace. The 100 days refers to the 50 days of peace that were observed between warring groups before and after the ancient Olympic Games that allowed athletes to get to the games safely.

Following last year's riots and recent violent crimes London Citizens aim to create 'CitySafe Zones' where the community works together to provide safe havens. There were speakers from many local schools and organisations, including a Year 2 pupil and Cllr Muhammed Butt, leader of Brent Council expressed his support for the scheme. Former MP Dawn Butler was also in attendance.

Willesden Green is one such safe space so it was ironical that the rally  was being held somewhere that will disappear if the proposed redevelopment. of Willesden Green Library Centre goes ahead. Instead of being on the high road and open to view, the replacement open space will be behind the new building and over-shadowed by the new flats. It will be in shadow most of the day and shoppers will not be able to see it from the High Road. Many local people think that it will be far from safe.

An allocation has made been to register the open space as a Town Green or Town Square. It is not yet clear what impact, if any, the application will make on the redevelopment plans.

The rally from Wembley High Road
Muhammed Butt addresses the crowd 

The crowd represented Brent's diversity
Can we afford to lose this public space?