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ITUC Circular letter: http://www.ituc-csi.org



Dear Friends,

As you know, the international trade union movement has been a long-standing supporter of the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP), the global alliance of trade unions, NGOs and others working together across more than 100 national platforms, calling for action from the world’s leaders to meet their promises to end poverty and inequality.

GCAP members and supporters are united by the use of a white band which is the symbol for people all over the world to show their support and keep the anti-poverty message highly visible.

You can find more details on GCAP and on your national platform at: http://www.whiteband.org

In 2005, for the first White Band Day organised at the time of the G8 meeting in Gleneagles, GCAP succeeded in mobilising millions of people around the world. Further mobilisations took place later in 2005 while last year, GCAP members and supporters took part in a global month of action in September and October. The event culminated on October 17 when 23.5 million people worldwide stood up against poverty and inequality and in doing so sent a powerful message to national and global political leaders.



This year it has been decided that the White Band Day will be October the 17th, which is the annual International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. This day was created 20 years ago by the ATD Fourth World Movement and since then, the ATD Fourth World Movement has organised public events around the world each October 17th. In 1992, the day was officially recognised by the United Nations and the ITUC has signed the ATD Call to Action. (More information is available at http://www.oct17.org)



Building on the idea that October 17 is a day for those living in extreme poverty to speak out and for all citizens to consider their contribution to the eradication of extreme poverty, this year GCAP has adopted the slogan “stand up and speak out”. The ITUC would reinforce this slogan by adding a call for decent work to be made reality for every worker in the world.



Against this background, we would like to ask you to become actively involved in this global mobilisation by organising activities for this years’ White Band Day on Wednesday 17 October around the slogan: “Stand Up and Speak Out for Decent Work!”



Please keep us and your national platform informed of the activities you are willing to organise. Contact us if you would like to get a copy of a toolkit put together by GCAP intended to act as a guide and provide you with some ideas around activities for that day. You can also download a brochure encouraging people to take part to be disseminated at the work place:





Please note that as this year’s White Band Day precedes the annual meeting of the International Financial Institutions to be held in Washington from October 20th to 22nd, you may wish to link your GCAP political message to the Global Unions Statement for this meeting, which will be sent to you shortly.



For further information, please send an e-mail to: gcap@ituc-csi.org

Looking forward to hearing from you on the actions you undertake, I wish you success in your activities on October 17th, the White Band Day for 2007.



Yours sincerely,

Guy Ryder

ITUC General Secretary