Protests

We held various protests in 2005:

Wigan
Tuesday 1st November
Main entrance, Town Hall, Library Street		 
Trafford
Tuesday 25th October
Town Hall entrance, Warwick Road, Old Trafford		 
Tameside (lead authority of Fund)
Tuesday 18th October
Main entrance, Council Offices, Wellington Road, Ashton-under-Lyne		 
Stockport
Tuesday 11th October
Main entrance, Stopford House, Piccadilly, Stockport		 
Salford
Tuesday 4th October
Main entrance, Salford Civic Centre, Chorley Road, Swinton.		 
Rochdale
Tuesday 12th July
Main entrance, Municipal Offices, Smith Street.		photo: rochdale
Oldham
Tuesday 5th July
Main entrance, Oldham Civic Centre, West Street.		photo: oldham
Manchester
Tuesday 7th June
Main entrance, Town Hall Extension, Lloyd Street.		 
Bury
Tuesday 24th May
Main entrance, Bury Town Hall, Knowsley Street.		photo: bury
Bolton
Tuesday 17th May
Main entrance, Bolton Town Hall ,Victoria Square.		photo: bolton

Council Tax from the above Councils, who manage the Fund, is used to pay the employers' contribution to the Fund and along with pension contributions from these Councils' employees is invested in UK and overseas, including US, arms companies. These companies export arms to regimes with poor human rights records (Indonesia, Saudi Arabia etc) , to both sides in areas of conflict or tension (Israel, Middle Eastern countries, Pakistan and India etc) or to countries with high development needs (South Africa, Tanzania etc). These Councils, their Council Tax Payers and their employees therefore endorse arms exports and profit from a deadly trade.

The arms trade fuels war, aids human rights abuses, undermines development and breeds corruption. Council Tax paid for the public good should not be used to invest in this deadly trade. Council employees, who work for the good of their communities, should not be linked to profits from weapons produced and used to kill others around the world. Councillors, who manage the Fund are responsible for the welfare of their communities, they should equally care for the needs of people and communities elsewhere in the world. They should end these arms investments now and in the future.

Please SEND A LETTER OF PROTEST TO THE FUND

Other Ways to Help

Manchester CAAT is collecting signatures on three petitions. If you would like to help, please download the relevant petition, sign it and collect some signatures, returning it to the address on the bottom. The three petitions, all MS Word documents, are: Pension Fund Member,  Council Tax Payer  and Councillor.

You can help with the collection of signatures in your area or help in other ways - email us for more information.

If you want to consider the issues further, have a look at CAAT's Clean Investment Campaign.

Members
Council tax payers
Councillors
Letter to the Chair