Solidarity with sacked Swedish School workers

On Sunday 10th August South London Solfed held a pre-Mass information picket at the Swedish Church in London. Members of FAU (our sister section in Germany) have been sacked at the Swedish school in Berlin, run by the Swedish Church. In May, after protesting against a salary decrease, all staff members were sacked. They were told to re-apply for their jobs on worse pay and conditions. 

The dispute is going to the court of appeal on October 17th, in the meantime it is unclear what will happen when term starts on August 18th. The school is not negotiating with FAU or the workers generally.

The CEO of the school is called Lena Brolin and is also the rector of the parish. You can write to her bosses and tell them what you think about these practices:

Boycott the Little Theatre, Bath

While The Ritzy workers marched through London demanding the Picturehouse chain pay the London Living Wage.  In Bath members of the Bristol local of the Solidarity Federation leafleted the cinema goers and asked them to consider a future boycott of the cinema because of the chain's refusal to pay a decent wage to the staff in London. The local staff and visitors were highly supportive of the picket and were disgusted to hear of how a profitable company is refusing their staff a wage that they can live on.

This dispute is becoming increasingly bitter. Boycott the Little Theatre. Bring the Picturehouse to its knees.

Cinema workers mass picket this Sunday

The North London Solidarity Federation is happy to support and promote the Ritzy workers' call for a mass picket this Sunday outside the Ritzy cinema in Brixton.

This Sunday will see workers at the Ritzy undertake their 11th day of strike action in their impressive effort to secure the London Living Wage.  However, whereas in previous strikes management has wisely chosen to close the cinema, this time around they'll be attempting keep it open.  In response, workers have called for a  mass picket outside the cinema during the strike.

Picturehouse Cinemas, which owns the Ritzy, no doubt understands that if Ritzy workers secure a living wage, it will empower other cinema workers to make similar demands.  Well, we agree.  And in that spirit, we encourage all our friends, comrades, and contacts to join the picket line this Sunday at 6:00pm in Brixton.

Victory in the Wage Theft fight against Green Eco Plus

Elena has received her remaining wages! Thank you to everyone involved.

Elena left her job at Green Eco Plus in February as she wasn’t being paid. She managed, through her persistence and some help from friends and Solfed, to get back an initial £300 over a couple of months. After this the director of the company (Chris Rose AKA Kyriacos Pitsillos) told Elena that the company was liquidated (it wasn’t) and he wouldn’t pay the remaining £250.

Cinema workers rising - rally and march on July 17th

The North London Solidarity Federation would once again like to send out our solidarity to the London cinema workers who have have been fighting an inspiring campaign against low wages and zero hour contracts.

In a city dominated by low-wage service jobs, London's cinema workers have shown that we can fight back and win.  In their struggle to secure a living wage, they've gone on strike, spread struggle from cinema to cinema, formed unions, devised media-savvy campaigns and enlisted the help of supportive celebrities.  

Cinema is one of the many 'desirable' industries where bosses penalize workers with low wages because they happen to have a job that matches their passion.  Well, no more.  Cinema workers are fighting to make sure that cinema work pays.  And, for that, they have North London SolFed's solidarity and support.

Support workers striking at Lambeth College!

Workers at Lambeth College will enter the fourth week of their indefinite strike soon. UCU members have been out since June3. Tomorrow (Tuesday 24 June) they will be joined by UNISON, who will be striking for three days.

This strike is important for many reasons. Teachers are fighting against changes in their contracts which will drastically worsen their working condition. They are taking action for themselves but also for all future workers in the college – at the moment many of the changes would only affect new employees. In the attack on the workers the management is specifically targeting the unions. They plan to cut 10 posts in ESOL department, where there are 3000 students on the waiting list but also UCU is the strongest.

From Swindon and Bristol (and Dorchester *Update*): Solidaridad con la CNT

A fourth International Day of Action saw Westcountry members of the Solidarity Federation take to the streets of Bristol, Dorchester and Swindon in support of a Spanish worker sacked for organising a union branch in his workplace. The worker, a member of the anarcho-syndicalist CNT union was fired during a campaign by his colleagues for decent contracts and against illegal outsourcing by ISBAN, a subsidiary of Santander. Solidarity actions took place in 13 countries around the world.