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Workers are taking action against privatisation plans in a wave of occupations of hospitals and clinics across Madrid, with massive support from patients and from the population of Madrid. Today a 48 hour strike in health care in Madrid saw 80% of workers on strike. This is just the first of four planned walkouts. Huge demonstrations in support of public health care carried banners like “Health care, we don’t sell it, we defend it.” and “100% free and public.” There have been other occupations outside Madrid, such as the hospital occupation in Zaragoza just before the general strike. A grassroots mobilisation called marea blanca, “white tide” has been building in health care for several months. The privatisation reforms would mean patients paying upfront to see a GP and to have essential treatment.

Despite the wet weather, today a member of NLSF joined PAMSU in leafleting some half-a-dozen Pret a Manger shops in central London.  Demanding reinstatement for sacked union activist Andrej, we handed out several hundred leaflets, began conversations with customers, and established contacts with a handful of workers inside the shops.

On Thursday 22^nd a dozen people, including members of benefit claimants' groups Black Triangle and the Crutch Collective, Clydeside Industrial Workers Of The World, Glasgow Anarchist Federation, Glasgow Solidarity Federation as well as other individuals took part in the hour long picket of the Co-Op Bank and supermarket on the same street in central Glasgow.

The Manchester & Salford Anarchist Bookfair takes place on December 1st at the People's History Museum. Members of Manchester SolFed and Liverpool SolFed, as well as comrades from other northern locals, will be there to represent and promote the anarcho-syndicalist tendency. Stop by for a chat if you're planning to attend! Click here for more info on the stalls and talks confirmed so far.