KEN ROCKS! SO DO TRADES UNIONS!

February 28th, 2008

Anti War, BNP, election, Ken, Mayor of London, progressive

London Trades Unions have launched a new website to support Ken Livingstone to continue as the Mayor of London. Check out www.kenrocks.org

“As London Trade Unions, we support Ken because he will deliver a better London and a better work/life balance for Londoners.” TULO

Ken’s delivery on Transport and Housing rocks here’s why:

London is now seeing the biggest public transport investment programme since the Second World War.

World-class bus service

• Night bus network almost doubled, from 57 routes in 2000 to 100 routes from 2006.
• 8,000 London buses now modern, low floor and wheelchair-accessible.
• All buses are now fitted with CCTV – making you safer.
• Over 90% of all London’s households are now within 400 metres of a bus stop.

Tube and rail

• More than 30 London Underground stations
  refurbished and renovated.
• New £16bn Crossrail line to be constructed.
• New ‘London Overground’ service, bringing metrostyle services to Hackney for the first time, and south to West Croydon and Crystal Palace.

Fares kept down

• A 21st century transport system – 10 million Oyster Card’s have been issued!
• Free bus and tram travel for under-18s in full-time education.
• Single bus fares cut from £1 to 90p, and weekly bus pass down from £14 to £13.
• The Freedom Pass for older and disabled Londoners defended from Tory attacks.

• Reversed disastrous Tory policy of curbing affordable rental house building, with 28,000 new homes this year, up from 17,000 in 1999.

• Requirement that 50% of all new homes are affordable to Londoners.

• Plan for 50 000 new affordable homes over the next 3 years, supported by £4b from government.

• New Housing Strategy also includes measures to increase supply of affordable family sized homes to address problems of over-crowding.

Trades Unions rock here’s why: Trade unionism is alive in London

• Supporting trade unionism as the best way to ensure that workers receive fair pay, conditions and pensions.

• London Living Wage set at £7.20 an hour for 2007 to take account of the cost of living in London – all GLA Group employees paid no
  less than the Living Wage.

• Implementing fair employment clauses in public contracts, to ensure that proper pay, conditions
  and trade union rights are not undermined.

• Thousands of newly licensed taxi drivers now in trade unions.

Samuel Tarry Chair of Compass Youth said: “Ken Livingstone is the most progressive Labour leader in the country, he has fought for and won in the defence of workers and ordinary Londoners. Compass Youth will be fighting for Ken in the forthcoming London Elections in May, not only are we going to fight to stop the neo-conservative bigot Boris Johnson but we’ll help smash the BNP at the same time. Ken stands up for working class people, students, pensioners, school kids and all of London’s diverse communities. He may be a maverick – but judging him on his progressive policies that have made London he stands head and shoulders above the rest. I’ll be proud to campaign for Ken our anti-War Mayor,in fact my own family has benefited from his progressive policies to the tune of hundreds of pounds as my young siblings were able to travel to school for free. Ken fights for Equality – this is the cornerstone of any social democratic programme. As a young Trades unionist activist and Vice Chair of the GMB London Youth Committee I welcome the launch of this exciting new campaign to help Ken get re-elected. Ken rocks, but his policies rock even more!”