NO IFS, NO BUTS - PASS ON THE CUT
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Common Interest - Beliefs & Causes
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We the undersigned believe that banks and building societies have a moral and economic obligation to help us out of this recession.

We believe that to protect jobs, keep people in their homes and help business, we needed the bankers to pass on the interest rate cuts.

We also believe in a publicly-owned Post Office that should be allowed to become a People's Bank - providing basic financial services to the two million who don't have a bank account.

NOW we call on banks bailed out by the... (read more)
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NO IFS, NO BUTS - PASS ON THE CUT

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NO IFS, NO BUTS - PASS ON THE CUT
Category:
Common Interest - Beliefs & Causes
Description:
We the undersigned believe that banks and building societies have a moral and economic obligation to help us out of this recession.

We believe that to protect jobs, keep people in their homes and help business, we needed the bankers to pass on the interest rate cuts.

We also believe in a publicly-owned Post Office that should be allowed to become a People's Bank - providing basic financial services to the two million who don't have a bank account.

NOW we call on banks bailed out by the... (read more)
Privacy type:
Open: All content is public.

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CAMPAIGN UPDATE

Thursday June 18th

I've just done a vlog on Sir Fred's pension reduction. It's £4.7 million less than he wanted which is good, but I'm sure a lot of people will say they wanted more back.

But I want to thank the 30,000 people who signed our Give Up The Bonus petition and joined this Facebook to get RBS to give up the bonuses and for Sir Fred to have his pension shredded. It was promoted on blogs, on Facebook, Twitter as well as the mainstream media or radio, TV and newspapers.

We communicated with our supporters through Facebook, emails, blog posts and vlogs.

It kept the pressure up on RBS and led its new Chief Executive Stephen Hester calling me to negotiate the issue, which eventually led to the bonus payout being reduced from £1b to £175 million.

This petition and Facebook group played their part in clearly making a difference in getting some justice. The pension reduction is not everything we wanted but I tell you what it does reflect. It shows public opinion, be it on Sir Fred's pension or on MPs allowances, is beginning to have a tremendous effect on public decisions.

I'm really pleased that's happened and I hope we can move towards a more fully informed democracy so public opinion counts instead of being ignored.

Thanks for all your help and here's the vlog.

http://tinyurl.com/l9rnqx




CAMPAIGN UPDATE


Wednesday Feb 17th

Hello,


You might have heard on the news that RBS have now agreed to pay out £175m in bonuses. This is 7% of what they paid last year and £825 million less than its reported they wanted to pay out this year.


So I think this is a 93% victory for people power, common sense and Government intervention.


More than 31,000 of you signed our online petition to get RBS to Give Up The Bonus. I can now reveal that after I presented our petition to John McFall, the chair of the Treasury Select Committee, I held a private discussion with RBS Chief Executive Stephen Hester to voice your anger over the proposed pay out.


I made it very clear on your behalf that the public would find it morally and economically outrageous for the taxpayer to pay £1b to reward failure. I also said the counter staff should get a better pay deal and there should be a fundamental review of the wage and bonus system. I also read out some of the comments from petitioners to reinforce my argument.


Mr Hester listened to what I had to say and promised to consider what he’d heard and do what he could to meet our conditions.


The end result is that counter staff have a better pay deal, the bonuses handed out are the bare legal minimum and none of the RBS bankers who got them into the mess will get a pay increase or a bonus. I also understand that investment bankers do not make up the majority of those receiving this bonus.


So it's a 93% victory. There’s still a lot more to do and our online army will be keeping a close eye on Lloyds Banking Group in the next few weeks.


But the bigger prize now is the fundamental review of our banking system to ensure we put fairness and stability right at the very heart.


As I said to you before, we are all shareholders now so let’s keep making our voice heard.


Thanks for all your support. This is all down to you.


Yours,


John Prescott.



Monday Feb 16th
FILL OUT OUR BANKERS BONUS SURVEY

It seems everyone is rallying to our campaign to stop bonus payouts to the very bankers and traders who got us into this mess.

We discovered over the weekend that Lloyds Banking Group now wants to hand out £120 million of our money in bonuses so I think it's only right they we campaign against them too.

Make no mistake, this is a critical time in our Give Up The Bonus campaign with an imminent decision from Lloyds and RBS on what they'll do on the bonuses. They're already teetering so let's keep the pressure on them.

However, I've been reading a lot of comments on my facebook from bank staff on the frontline who feel they're being punished for the greed of others.

These are people who earn under £20,000 - a lot on just £17,000 - and rely on the commission/bonus they've earned for meeting their targets to top up their pay.

I don't think they should be hit but I want to hear from you. So I've just put together an online survey which I will then use to represent your views in the campaign.

I've just sent it out to our 31,000 plus supporters who signed the online petition but please feel free to complete it too.

You can fill out the survey at:

http://tinyurl.com/asjmsy


Friday Feb 13th

Our Give Up The Bonus campaign is really building momentum now.

We've just had our 30,000th signature at the online petition - and we only launched it on Monday - and almost have 10,000 members of this Facebook group.

I've been reading through your comments so thanks for leaving them. There's a strong sense of misjustice at the proposed plan to reward failure with £1 billion of our money.

But I'd also like to hear from branch staff at RBS to get their thoughts on bonuses.

I'm really conscious that these are the people who will lose out the most if the bonuses are stopped because their basic pay is relatively low.

So please email me in confidence at jp@giveupthebonus.co.uk

Thanks,

JP



Wednesday Feb 11th

Thanks for all incredible support so far. I've just recorded a personal video message on the events of today.

You can view it at http://tinyurl.com/b4d2g6

More than 25,000 have already signed the online petition - 12,000 today alone.

In fact we had so many people trying to sign it, the site even crashed at one point!

I suppose you could call it a people power surge!

We also have more than 8,400 members of this facebook group - an extra 5,000 joining today!

But let's keep it going - we've got them on the run.

Though I handed in the first 23,000 signatures to John McFall today, we still need more support.

So please try to get more people to sign up the petition at www.giveupthebonus.co.uk and let's show RBS we are ALL shareholders now.

No Ifs, No Buts - Give Up The Bonus!





Sunday Feb 8th

Prescott launches online grassroots campaign to stop bank bonuses

John Prescott today (Sunday Feb 8th) called on people to join him in an online grassroots campaign to stop RBS and other banks that have been bailed out by the Government giving out bonuses.

Speaking to supporters at a rally in Manchester this morning he warned RBS, which is 68% owned by the Government: "We are all shareholders now and the shareholders demand you give up the bonus."


Mr Prescott is using Facebook to mobilise people into showing their anger against the bailed out banks. He already has more than 2,000 people signed up to his on going campaign called 'No Ifs No Buts, Pass On The Cut."

The campaign's aims were to get banks to pass on the interest rate cuts to customers and to turn the Post Office into a People's Bank.

Now the campaign is focusing on stopping the bonuses.

Mr Prescott is calling on people to send in their case studies and campaign ideas to his Facebook group No Ifs No Buts, to stop the bonuses.

Today in a speech to campaign supporters in Manchester Town Hall he called on those angry with proposed bonuses to join him in the fight.

He said: "This week President Obama made it clear to the US banks that it was the taxpayer that saved them. Some of you may have read my recent blog where I showed great admiration in him standing up to the bankers and proposing the executive pay cap.

"He has also been very successful in creating an online army to support his fiscal stimulus package through Congress - and we should use that people power here.

"We must utilise these same online grassroots tactics to force these greedy and indifferent banks that the taxpayer bailled out to give up their bonuses.

"We know that RBS, in which we own 68% of the shares after giving them £20billion of our money , is considering handing out £1b of it in bonuses to their bankers and traders. This is morally and economically outrageous.

"This is raw capitalism and this country rejects it. We don't want to hear that RBS has to pay out the bonuses because of 'contractual obligations.' If we hadn't bailed them out to save homeowners and businesses, their contracts would be worth nothing as they'd be out of work.

"So I'm calling on everyone who feels outraged by this to join me in the battle. It doesn't matter about what party you support, let's join together and stop this payout.

" We are all shareholders now and we the shareholders demand RBS give up the bonus. No Ifs, No Buts."

Sign the petition at: www.giveupthebonus.co.uk