Join North London SolFed for a presentation on the new agency workers regulations.
This free presentation is open to all. Bring friends, workmates, or anyone who's suffered through an agency contract.
WHEN: March 10th | 4-6pm
WHERE: London Action Resource Centre, Whitechapel www.londonarc.org
CONTACT: North London Solfed | nelsf (a) solfed.org.uk | 07811 017 091
Over the last week, the companies in the BESNA agreement pulled out one by one. Unite are still in negotiations so the long term outlook is unclear, but in the short term the BESNA agreement* has collapsed.
Brighton SF are backing the March 3rd national day of action against workfare called by Boycott Workfare. We'll be supporting the actions organised locally by the Brighton Benefits Campaign. We urge all SF Locals to do the same, supporting local events or organising something if nothing is planned. We think workfare is an attack not just on the unemployed, but also undermines the conditions of workers in paid employment. We think concerted direct action can beat it, and will be redoubling our efforts to this end.
Police tried to cause trouble so they could make arrests yesterday as a group of about 50+ protesters broke away from the TUC to protest at the Tory Local Governemtn Conference to show the public what was going on. The TUC meekly hid away in City Square in Leeds, the breakaway (inc WYSF) moved to the edge of the square were people could see us. The police tried to stop this even claiming they'd "provided a space for us". They were informed they couldn't stop us so did a sort of weak kettle (stopping any group of people leaving or joining but not really individuals). Most of the cops tactics was intelligence gathering, which when disrupted "accidentally" with flags etc really seemed to piss them off. As far as we are aware there where no arrests.
Saturday the 25th of February saw six members of the North London Solidarity Federation hold a successful stall on Kilburn High Road. Donning hi-vis jackets emblazoned with SF logos and armed with a large batch of “Stuff Your Boss” workplace rights leaflets, we felt ready to face the Saturday shoppers.
We had some extremely useful conversations with members of the public, many of whom were facing attacks on their working situations and had felt let down by their trade unions. We also spoke to many of the non-unionised retail workers who stock shelves and scan barcodes in the shops which line the high street. Predictably, they had abysmal working conditions and many employees seemed genuinely grateful for the workplace rights leaflets, some taking extra copies to give to their workmates.
A private sector worker and SolFed member speaks out about why they have joined in the resistance against privatising public services - and argues for the struggle to spread to the private sector itself.
