Members of Cymdeithas yr Iaith will be picketing outside Abbey in Carmarthen and Aberystwyth on Saturday morning the 18th of October at 11am, as part of Cymdeithas yr Iaith's campaign to remind the Assembly Government of the need for strong legislation regarding the Welsh language which includes the private sector. This will happen at a crucial point in our campaign while we await the publication of a draft LCO on the Welsh language very soon.

Cymdeithas yr Iaith have been targeting 2 private sector companies every 2 months throughout the year, focusing on the Abbey and Co-operative banks in September and October, before moving on to Orange and Vodafone mobile phone companies in November and December.The Welsh language provision in te Abbey and Co-op banks is purely tokenistic and is often sub-standard and incorrect. Following corresponding with the banks to voice our complaints, members of Cymdeithas have received a response from Abbey saying that they intend to look into the possibilities and the Co-op admitting simply that they have "no plans to introduce anymore Welsh facilities".Bethan Williams, Chair of Cymdeithas yr Iaith's language group said:"We are targeting companies that take money from the people of Wales but refuse to provide an equal service in Welsh as well as in English. We're calling on the people of Wales to write a letter of complaint to send to these companies regarding their inadequate and flawed language policy.""We're calling on the banks to ensure that the following are bilingual: all the permanent and internal signage, promotion literature, on-line website and banking, cash point machines, bilingual statements to everyone in Wales, a Welsh language phone service for customers and that they organise staff training opportunities to enable staff to work and offer services in Welsh.Angharad Clwyd, Cymdeithas yr Iaith Dyfed Organiser said:" We will be distributing leaflets outside Abbey in Carmarthen and Aberystwyth on Saturday morning asking customers to write to the company to make them aware of the demand in Wales for bilingual services. We have received a response from Abbey saying that they are looking into the possibilities of providing more Welsh language services, and so it is all important that we continue to put pressure on the company to underline the seriousness of the situation. Follwoing our discussions with a number of private companies, and following Co-op's response that they have no intention of providing further Welsh language services it is increasingly obvious that if we do not secure an Act to compel the private sector to give Welsh equal status - we can expect nothing more than a token service that. We therefore call on the Welsh Assembly Government to ensure that any new legislation includes the private sector."