A group from the IWGB are going to be walking the Thames on the 28th of October to raise funds for the IWGB legal department. This event is part of the London Legal Support Trust’s (LLST) Thames Walk which takes place on the 28th of October 2017. Last year, organising at the last minute, an IWGB team of five walkers managed to raise £3,000 in sponsorship for our legal centre. This year we can raise more!

We want more members to sign up for the walk, and/or sponsor us. We’ve set up a Virgin Giving page (for which LLST handles all the administration and charges no fee) and all the money raised goes back to the IWGB legal centre.

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=IWGBUnionWTT17&isTeam=true.

You can pledge money there, and there are also paper sponsorship forms available.

If you would like to take part in the walk, then write to Joe Trapido, (joetrapido@iwgb.org.uk). If you want paper sponsorship forms I can get them for you as well (though it is easier for you to use the Virgin Giving page as it will collect the money automatically after the walk). You can walk or cycle and you can do the full 26 miles or you can do half the distance, starting in the morning at London Bridge or in the afternoon at Putney.

Please get all your friends, family, workmates, rich people you happen to know, etc. to give money, and please share the link on Facebook, Snapchat, etc.

Why the legal department?

The IWGB has a very effective legal department, and we devote far more man hours to defending members’ rights than a normal trade union. But this costs money and we regularly fundraise to make sure it can keep going. The department has two main roles – to handle the day-to-day problems that members have, especially related to disciplinary and grievance procedures, and to bring cases to court where this is necessary. The IWGB has won a series of important victories in the courts for our members, and all of this was based on the work of the legal department.

This helps you as a member because the legal department will fight for you in the most determined and professional way possible, if you have a problem. But it also helps because management learns quickly that you don’t mess with our legal department, so in the workplaces where they have made their mark, the casual forms of employer abuse that were once common disappear.

We do this as cheaply as possible (ask to see our accounts if you are in any doubt) but it does cost money! The legal department has office costs, and salary costs, and we urgently need to fund the position of a translator. So sign up, give us money, and tell the world about the sponsored Thames walk…