War on Want and the price of cut flowers, finding a voice for the public sector, and who is really paying for your affordable supermarket food?
The price of flowers
War on Want has started an appeal to help flower workers in Columbia and Kenya who – according to the anti-poverty charity’s report, Growing Pains – suffer health problems as a result of pesticides as well as being fired immediately if they fall ill. The anti-poverty charity is calling for donations to support workers on farms that produce flowers for Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Marks & Spencer in the UK. It is campaigning for better working conditions, rights education as well as the right for workers to have their voices heard. www.waronwant.org/appeal
A public voice in the future
Public Voice – the coalition of voluntary organisations that campaigns on issues regarding communication – is calling on the government to set aside some of the airwaves freed up by the switch from analogue to digital television for the use of voluntary and community organisations. Currently, the intention is to auction off the free airwaves to the highest bidder but Public Voice wants some of the spectrum to be secured for civil society use. www.public-voice.org.uk
Who pays?
Development agency, ActionAid, has launched Who Pays? which calls for the government to ensure that supermarkets are held accountable for their actions in developing countries and asks who is paying the real price for the food and clothes on sale in British supermarkets. The campaign is demanding that a regulator is set up to monitor the relationships between the UK’s supermarkets and suppliers based locally as well as overseas. www.actionaid.org.uk
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