Cafe Bar Italia is still refusing to pay!

In recent weeks, we have continued our public campaign against Caffe Bar Italia for unpaid holiday and unpaid contracted hours for a total of £1.264 to Yolanda, a former worker.

In February, Brighton SolFed decided to temporarily suspend the actions because what seemed an attempt by the management to solve the conflict and pay what the worker is owed. However, the company offered only a fraction of the amount owed, fully taking advantage of Yolanda's precarious situation.

Caffe Bar Italia sigue sin pagar

Durante las últimas semanas, se ha retomado la campaña pública contra Caffe Bar Italia por el impago de vacaciones y horas del contrato por un total de 1264 libras (unos 1700 euros).

Hace unas semanas, Brighton SolFed decidió paralizar las acciones de denuncia debido a lo que pareció un intento del establecimiento de solucionar el conflicto y pagar lo que adeuda a la trabajadora. Sin embargo, la parte empresarial solo ofrecía una mínima parte de la cantidad que adeuda, aprovechándose de la situación que sufre Yolanda.

New Solfed group in Norwich

A group of SolFed supporters are launching a new local in Norwich.

Inspired by the actions taken by other SolFed locals across the country, we believe that we can encourage the same, much needed, spirit of collective direct action against oppressive and exploitative forces in Norwich.

We have been meeting fortnightly in Norwich city centre since the middle of 2014 and have already been active under the SolFed banner, most notably through protests against Workfare. We are keen to increase our organisation and action in the coming year and beyond, particularly in the form of localised, specific direct action.

March 13th Strike Against the Stormont House Agreement

Friday 13th of March saw an estimated 50,000 public service workers on strike across Northern Ireland in opposition to the Stormont House Agreement. Between 6 - 8,000 striking workers and their supporters marched in Belfast, up to 2,000 marched in Derry and hundreds more took part in rallies in other towns across the north.

Friday's strike action showed the depth of opposition to attacks on working class people that are already being implemented, and those proposed, by the Stormont executive. If we are to defeat the cuts the action needs to be built upon and broadened to include workers in areas that have already been privatised and the private sector in general. Belfast Solidarity Federation support calls to declare May 1st the next strike date.

Attached is the copy of the Leveller that we produced for the strike. 

8 March 2015 International Working Women's Day - Not the Church, Not the State, Women will Decide their Fate!

To commemorate International Working Women's Day for today 8th March 2015, Edinburgh Solidarity Federation members supported the event of local feminist group These Hysterical Women [1] which was a public gathering and exhibition held at Bristo Square to remind everyone that gender equality has not been reached.

The exhibition of "why I am a feminist..." comments were written by those attended and hosting the event. Following the exhibit was a performance by Rhythms of Resistance Samba band and then a brief speech (extract):

Victory Against Junk (Food) Jobs

Last month, our Brighton Hospitality Workers campaign won a dispute against a local fast food business which we discovered has a pecular top-down and fraudulent way of operating - keeping workers under constant surveillance while systematically stealing their wages. Here we analyse the course of the dispute and talk to the two workers who decided they'd take on their former boss.

Newcastle Local Attend Anti-Pegida March

As predicted, the static demo held by Pegida in Newcastle's Bigg Market was something of an embarrassment for the neo-nazis. Denied a march through town, and lacking anything like a fraction of the numbers that the hype and publicity accorded to them, the unveiling of the far-rights latest toy turned out to be broken. Dredging up all the old fascists from the past several decades for something that was supposed to be new and dynamic, was both tragic and comic, with reports of less than 300 them turning up. Outnumbered many times over - several estimates of anti-fascists are close to 2000 - just shows that for all of Pegida's effort, Newcastle was never going to be the city of the Fourth Reich.

Fri 6 Mar 12noon - Edinburgh Solidarity Protest - against 'Ley Mordaza' (Gag Law) and to demand all 'Operación Pandora' charges in Spain are dropped

Solidarity Protest
MEET: Spanish Consulate, 63 North Castle St, Edinburgh EH2 3LJ
FRIDAY 6 March 2015 – FROM 12:00noon

13 people facing trial just for being anarchists.

On 16/12/14 the Catalan police broke into 14 houses and social centres, destroying and stealing everything of value. 11 comrades were charged by a high court and 7 spent more than a month in prison.

On 29/01/15, the 7 imprisoned comrades were released but the state accuses all 11 (plus the 2 anarchists locked up for more than a year) of being members of a terrorist group, thus reaffirming its intention to treat everyone who questions it as a terrorist.

Addresses of the imprisoned comrades: