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International day of action for sacked Peruvian garment workers

Today members of Brighton SolFed delivered letters of protest to two Brighton stores. This was part of an international day of action called by workers in Peru and supported by the International Workers Asscociation (IWA), in response to the sacking of 35 trade unionists. The union members were working in a factory for ‘Topy Top’, one of the major suppliers to high street store Zara, and also a supplier for Gap. Both Zara and Gap stores were visited and letters of protest delivered to local management.

Brighton Solfed: Don’t Just Moan - Organise!

  • As the cost of living crisis has spiralled out of control, people have become more and more aware of their power to fight for better conditions when they organise in their workplaces. Brighton Solidarity Federation (SolFed) is a local grassroots union made up of workers organising in a variety of workplaces. Our strategy of organising for ourselves, without relying on leaders, can deliver results in the fight against exploitation by bosses that mainstream trade unionism cannot. If you are fed up with being exploited at work, the solution is simple:

    DON’T MOAN – ORGANISE!

Brighton SolFed wins housing dispute with local letting agent

A tenant renting with a major local letting agent won back the entirety of their “0 deposit” charges after two pickets of the letting agency. A member of Brighton SolFed recently moved out of their rented property and was hit with a number of absurd end of tenancy charges. They had entered into a “0 deposit” tenancy, managed by a third party company who were chasing up our member for these costs. Disgracefully, the company were charging a significant fee just to challenge these costs, which forced our member into paying these charges, despite disagreeing with them all. 

One of our members has successfully fought for a council house!

Some of you may remember Patrick, who has been organising with us for the past 18 months to try and improve his living conditions. Patrick's dispute started when his letting agency, Youngs, refused to do basic repair works on his seriously dilapidated flat. In January 2018, shortly after requesting these works, Patrick was served with an eviction notice by his landlord, Stephen Mitchell.

Patrick successfully fought this eviction in court. In the meantime, we also pursued the council to serve an improvement notice on Mitchell, in order to legally compel him to carry out these works. Undeterred by the first failed eviction attempt, Mitchell tried again, this time with the help of a solicitor. Under much pressure, the council served an improvement notice on Mitchell, which should have invalidated the second eviction notice.

Standing with workers, scaring the bosses!

A worker organising with Brighton SolFed has recently won a dispute with their North Laine employer, Natulia on Sydney Street.

Brighton Housing Union: G4Lets rent strike

G4Lets anti-deposit theft rent strike

For the past year and a half, we have organised on a regular basis with tenants being messed around by the student lettings agency G4Lets. This has included tenants who have had significant sums of money stolen from their deposit by G4Lets, as well as tenants living in uninhabitable accommodation that G4Lets have neglected to repair.

Topic: 
Brighton
housing

Housing Union: Holding deposits

Holding deposits

What are holding deposits?

Agencies usually charge what they often call ‘holding deposits’ in order for a property to be taken off the rental market. The tenant pays an amount of money, and in return, the agency stops advertising the property. A holding deposit cannot be any more than a total of one week's rent for the property. An agency should stop advertising a property once you've paid a holding deposit, and shouldn't take multiple holding deposits for a single property.

Topic: 
Brighton
housing

Brighton Solfed Housing Union: Harassment

Harassment

Harassment is illegal

If your landlord is harassing you, it’s potentially a criminal offence. Examples of harassment include:

Topic: 
Brighton
housing

Brighton Solfed Housing Union: rent increases

Increasing your rent

If your contract has a procedure for increasing rent then your landlord must follow it. In a fixed-term tenancy agreement (i.e. a six month or one year contract), your landlord can only put the rent up at the end of the fixed term, and you are allowed to try and negotiate the amount. You can reject the rent increase and your tenancy will continue at the original rent on a rolling, month-to-month contract, though this may mean that your landlord begins eviction proceedings against you.

Topic: 
Brighton
housing

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