London Citizens wins Gold for ensuring that Ethical guarantees were built into the successful bid for the 2012 games.
East London communities will be profoundly affected by the 2012 games. TELCO leaders studied previous Olympic bids by Atlanta, Los Angeles, Barcelona and Sydney to see what legacy had been left for local communities.
The team concluded that promises about regeneration are meaningless, unless there are written guarantees included from the beginning of the bid project. After much negotiation, Lord Coe, Ken Livingstone and the Chair of the LDA signed a five page statement of economic guarantees at City Hall in front of 40 London Citizens leaders and the national press.
Guarantees include payment of the London Living Wage to all workers on Olympic projects, a construction training academy in east London, local labour clauses and allocation of land for affordable homes and the Community Land Trust.
The campaign is now focussed on making sure that the Olympic Delivery Authority honours these commitments to make sure London 2012 benefits all in East London.

Download the last Newsletter.

TELCO in Newham scored a massive victory this summer with ASDA withdrawing from the Queens Market development. The supermarket was identified as an unwanted intruder by the TELCO Queens Market Enquiry.

Now TELCO will work with St Modwens, the developers, and Newham Council to make sure that instead of ASDA, we have a more welcome and ethical addition to the borough.

The TELCO and London Citizens Living Wage Campaign has brought the Living Wage, holiday pay and sick pay to thousands of Londoners.

The high cost of living in London means that the minimum wage is effectively a poverty wage. The Living Wage for London is currently £7.20 /hour.

TELCO has encouraged hospitals, banks, universities and other organisations to take responsiblity for all their staff, including contracted staff, and pay them a Living Wage. They can then receive the Living Wage Employers Award.

See the Living Wage campaign Website for more details and download the last Newsletter.

In beautiful sunshine 100 London Citizens families camped out by City Hall to launch the Our Homes, Our London Campaign.
Prompted by the impending action, Mayor Livingstone announced that he would work with London Citizens to provide the first Community Land Trust on a site in Bow. Construction would start in 2009 on the 100 home pilot project, to be followed by thousands more CLT homes across London.
The pledge to develop CLT homes was made by Ken in 2004 but after little progress in 3 years, TELCO decided that pressure was necessary to make the promise count. The Tent-City, one of the most creative and ambitious CITIZENS actions, paid off in a big way.

For more information about Community Land Trusts, the 'Our Homes Our London' campaign and housing action, please click here

To read the Mayor’s CLT Press Release (30/07/07) click here