End Workfare - Street Party in Bristol - 13th December 2014

Join the anti-workfare Street Party in Bristol this Saturday, 13th December 2014.

Meeting at the Castle Park bandstand at 2pm sharp before moving off to visit some firms who profit from using unpaid workfare labour. Please try and make this and pass it on to your mates.

Bristol Solidarity Federation will be there, so look out for our banner! Our friends and comrades in Bristol Anarchist Federation and Bristol IWW are also helping mobilise for the event.

There is a facebook page for the event: "As we approach solstice we are told that we are in a season of giving – yet some companies still aren’t giving workers a wage. As we approach solstice we are told that we are in a season of giving - yet some companies still aren't giving workers a wage!

IWA Extraordinary Congress in Porto

On December 6-7, 2014, an Extraordinary Congress of the IWA took place in Porto, Portugal. On the Agenda were unfinished items of business from the XXV Congress of 2013, plus new motions and initiatives. 80 delegates and observers from 13 Sections and one Friend organization took part.

Emotions ran high throughout the Congress. Again some outstanding matters need to go to the next Congress in 2016. A number of new iniatives were passed, including the creation of a media group, a historical project and the go-ahead for broad centenary celebrations in 2022.

We welcome the OLS from Sweden as new Friends of the IWA. We were all pleased to hear about their work and success in a few work conflicts and look forward to fruitful cooperation in the future.

Bristol SolFed supports striking fire and rescue workers!

Bristol Solidarity Federation extends it’s solidarity to the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) as they continue to take industrial action over detrimental changes to pensions - with the latest day of strike action happening today, 9th December 2014.

SolFed members in Swindon, along with other anarchists and local union members helped maintain a near constant show of support on their local picket line: "We brought along banners encouraging support from passing cars, and the reception was great. We also made a donation to the local firefighters strike fund." Members of the local in Stroud attended recent picket lines at the Stroud fire and rescue station and are featured in the following video explaining the dispute, made by Stroud Against the Cuts:

Solidarity with YHA workers from Bristol!

Recently, workers at YHA hostels around the country launched a campaign for the living wage (£7.85 an hour, up from their current average of £6.50). Bristol Solidarity Federation would like to extend our Solidarity to YHA workers, who are also campaigning around irregular shifts and unfair payment for sleepover shifts. We meet regularly at the YHA in Bristol, which has also hosted our workplace organiser training, conference, new members days and other events. However, we will be boycotting the venue and encouraging other groups to do so until the demands of the YHA workers campaign are met. As a further show of solidarity, members of Bristol SolFed visited the YHA to make sure the workers there were aware of the campaign. Good conversations were had with staff and leaflets distributed in English and Spanish.

Solidarity with Abahlali baseMjondolo against killing of their members

Abahlali baseMjondolo (AbM) is a grassroots, democratic and member-led organisation based in Durban, a city in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. AbM have an impressive record of exposing corruption and asserting the constitutional rights of thousands of the marginalised shack-dwelling people. We, the undersigned, are in support of the resolve of AbM members to strive for more participatory forms of development and to advance the struggle for access to urban land.

We condemn all assassinations, political murders and other acts of violence and intimidation against AbM members and housing rights activists. In the past 18 months, four housing rights activists have been killed. This includes two prominent AbM members:

Who we are

Newcastle SolFed is a diverse group of workers, students and unemployed. We believe in self-organisation, direct action and making our own decisions -  this is why we formed our Local branch of SolFed.

Being a Local in Solidarity Federation means we are part of the International Workers Association, and as you can see by the news items we post, we are active in supporting international struggles as well as local. Some of our solidarity actions in and around Newcastle have seen people from other countries join in our pickets.

Topic: 
Newcastle

Newcastle Campaigns

Newcastle Local have launched a new campaign to both highlight workers rights at work and to fight alongside those who seek our help. We make no bones, our aim is to create small fighting workplace unions attached to our Local - but in order to find our feet and gain membership and experience, we feel this campaign is our best way forward.

If you want to be part of our campaign or if your boss owes you money - then why not contact us at newcastlesolfed@riseup.net

Topic: 
Newcastle