Blog Action Day : The Power of We (#powerofwe)
Blog Action Day was first started in 2007 and it has a purpose of bringing together bloggers from different countries and interests, to blog about one important issue on the same day.
The hope is that by blogging about the same issue, on the same day, from their own perspectives, the blogging community will focus discussion and give their readers the chance to take part in a global conversation, raise awareness or even for some groups raise funds for not-for-profits organisations.
I’ve not always participated but past topics have included in 2007 Environment (and my post is available here), 2008 Poverty, 2009 Climate Change (and my post is available here), 2010 Water, 2011 Food, and then finally this year with the theme being ‘The Power of We’, which given the rise in folk wanting to work together to make a positive difference in their world, either for a local cause or for people they will never meet half way around the world, a somehow appropriate theme.
Locally, just within Glossopdale there’s a whole host of groups that are working to show the difference that they can make when people combine their efforts to show ‘the power of we’ from Incredible Edible who aim to turn (and have in some cases already) small plots of land such as the land next to Curley Cornet from rough and overgrown into productive little gardens, to the People’s Kitchen Glossop which is a volunteer project dedicated to cooking and serving food that is sustainable, health and affordable, to those groups that have ran for years such as High Peak Women’s Aid who despite the challenges that have been thrown at them, have ‘dusted’ themselves off and used that ‘power of we’ to work with the community and come up with methods to continue to offer services that are vitally needed for local people.
In the current financial climate ‘the power of we’ has also seen many groups come together, in particular church groups to look at, out of necessity establishing groups such as the Glossopdale food bank “Bare Necessities” to Buxton Based High Peak Nightstop Food Bank, all aimed at turning the power of we into practical help for those that need it.
Now whilst the above are more practical examples of ‘the power of we’, most unions including my own Unite and even the Labour Party, own their very existence to the ‘power of we’ with their roots going back to a time when people needed to band together to get some of the basics rights that we now accept as normal, but rights which if we don’t defend could well be removed.
An example of this will take place tomorrow when the Condem coalition launches their latest assault on the rights of workers, with the reintroduction of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (ERR) Bill back to the House of Commons to try and turn it into Law.
This ERR bill will:
- Water down the rights of all employees in this country
- The time an employee is required to be employed before they are able to claim for unfair dismissal has already been raised from one year to two, and now these proposals will reduce the amount of compensation unfairly dismissed workers can receive
- Reduce protections for whistleblowers at work.
The Labour Party and Unions are trying to draw on ‘the power of we’ to stop this bill by asking people to contact their MP to vote against this bill which will strip workers of vital employment protections, if you can take 5 minutes to do this please click here for details on how.