Saturday's market crowds in Dalston were taught a valuable lesson in solidarity today as a large crowd of supporters marched, sang and shouted their opposition to education cuts all the way from Hackney College to Gillet Square.
Neighbours, students, teachers and friends turned out to support the College staff, who are fighting to stop compulsory redundancies and changes to contracts that will make life impossible for language teachers in the borough.
The Solidarity Federation Workplace Organiser Training Day, is open to all workers, apart from managers or scabs, you do not have to be a SolFed member or an anarcho-syndicalist to get involved.
If you would like to attend, please email training[AT]solfed.org.uk. There will be a £5 charge to cover expenses.
The Solidarity Federation Workplace Organiser Training Day, is open to all workers, apart from managers or scabs, you do not have to be a SolFed member or an anarcho-syndicalist to get involved.
If you would like to attend, please email training[AT]solfed.org.uk. There will be a £5 charge to cover expenses.
After a short but intense campaign, Marta, a receptionist at the Speak Up London language school, has won a week’s unpaid wages and a glowing reference.
Marta was sacked without reason and without the required one week’s notice. She got in contact with Solidarity Federation who quickly organised over a dozen people to March into the bosses’ office with a letter demanding she be given a week’s pay in lieu of notice and a positive reference.
After Speak Up failed to respond to Marta’s letter, SolFed and other supportive individuals and organisations organised a massive blockade of the Speak Up Facebook page. Hundreds of post appeared within the 45 minutes. An hour and half into the action, Speak Up shut down their Facebook page entirely to all UK users.
The North London Solidarity Federation would like to thank everyone who participated in last night’s Facebook blast of the Speak Up London language school. As it appears Speak Up has deleted their Facebook page entirely, the action was indeed an unqualified success.
The action was to defend Marta, a well-liked and respected receptionist who was sacked without prior warning. She was told she wasn’t doing her job well because she didn’t take out the rubbish one night and then failed to turn on the TV the next morning.
But we all know the real reason: Speak Up is run by two bullying bosses who sack any worker who resists their cowboy style of management.
*Stop Press*
The blockade has been called off due to payment being made in full. Great result.
Victory in wages dispute! Following a prolonged campaign against a high-profile Brighton grocer, a former cashier worker & BHW member has received £1,250 in owed wages and unpaid holiday entitlement. The worker, who was on a zero-hours contract, was sacked without notice following 3 weeks when the bosses refused to give her any hours. She was also owed holiday pay from the previous & current holiday year for leave she was prevented from taking.
What we've been doing; May Day social & future events.
It's been a busy few months in Newcastle so here's a round-up of what we've been doing. There's also information on future campaigns and events to get involved with:
On Friday the 18th and Saturday the 19th of April low-paid workers at the Ritzy cinema launched a second wave of strike action, demanding the London Living Wage (LLW) from their bosses. The current rate for the LLW is £8.80 an hour; the current hourly rate for most Ritzy staff is £7.24, some 18% below the London Living Wage.
The strikes by members of the Broadcasting Entertainment and Cinematography Trade Union (BECTU) have now shut down the popular south London cinema on two occassions, during their busiest trading days. Workers are planning a third strike on the 1st and 2nd of May.