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.
Farm workers in South Africa are currently on strike to demand higher wages and the right to organise in the face of a programme of suppression and intimidation by the predominantly white farm owners and in defiance of the political and Trade Union establishment.
Friday the 23rd of November will see Wal-Mart, which owns UK chain ASDA and which has an entirely non-union workforce, hit with coordinated strikes and protests. The date of these strikes is not arbitrary. It's “Black Friday”, the busiest shopping day of the year in the US.
This article, written by a American-born SolFedder who's worked retail in the past, seeks to explore the strikes: their roots and their implications for the American working class.
Following a successful picket on Monday, the Pret a Manger Staff Union received has received a write-up from Morning Star daily paper. Continuing to build on the success and energy of that picket, PAMSU has created a short YouTube video which explains the reasons behind the action, interviews supporters of the union, and shows members and supporters marching into St. Pancras Station and confronting management about their union busting and victimization of workplace activists.
PAMSU activists were today joined by members of the North and South London locals of the Solidarity Federation and some 25 other supporters in a vocal and mobile picket of Pret a Manger shops in central London. Our message to Pret was no doubt loud and clear: end victimization of all union members and full reinstatement for PAMSU founder Andrej.
If today's numbers and energy are any indication, the Pret a Manger Staff Union is on the march. Keep watch on this space to find out about upcoming actions and how you, as a Pret worker or union supporter, can get involved in the campaign.
Bristol Solidarity Federation were joined by Bristol Anarchist Federation and Bristol IWW to protest against Poundland's continuing participation in the Workfare Programme.
A clear message was relayed to the store management. "We will be back again and again until you formally withdraw from the scheme". When quizzed about the local use of Workfare, the store replied that anyone taken on under the scheme was treated exactly the same as anyone else employed by Poundland. So, we asked, do they get paid the minimum wage? "No they don't, they only get their benefits" Was all they could respond. Free labour for the shops, unemployment figures manipulated by the government and huge profits for the workfare placement providers like A4E.
A SolFed member who has worked as an electrician since the late 1970s shares his experience of the electric supply industry, privatisation and trade unions.
I started an apprenticeship at 16 from school in the local electric company. It was then a nationalised industry and everyone was in one of the recognised (by the company) trade unions (a closed shop). There were many different departments and staff could move between them as workload dictated. As an apprentice I spent time in each department to give me experience of each and to hopefully decide in which one I would ultimately stay.
Newcastle SolFed continues its ongoing work against the Governments controversial Workfare Scheme. At the moment our focus is targeting one of its biggest beneficiaries, the Poundland chain of of high street stores. There was a large turnout for the demo, our numbers bolstered by local anarchist and anti cuts groups. As ever the support from the public was overwhelmingly sympathtic, with the anger toward the scheme palpable. Newcastle SolFed will continue organising against Workfare and anyone interested in getting involved please email us.
Tens of thousands took part in demonstrations in about 100 Italian towns as part of the 14 November European general strike. Strikes affected many sectors including, amongst others, schools, railways, public transport and healthcare while students demonstrated around the country, leading to fighting with police.
The biggest protests were in Rome, where an estimated 50,000 people joined the demonstrations and which saw bitter fighting between police and protesters. Milan saw three different demonstrations with total attendance at around 10,000. One was from the CGIL (the largest of the mainstream unions), who had also called a four-hour strike for the day. The students held the largest demonstration in Milan, estimated at around 5,000, which also saw clashes with police. Sticks, eggs and flares were thrown at police, banks and an elite private university.
