At 12pm on Sunday 15th July, SolFed members dragged themselves out of bed to join forces with local AFed and IWW activists to extend the anti-workfare campaign to the Costa coffee chain. A cup of coffee from the independent coffee shop next door helped us get ready for the picket. We managed to hand out around 150 leaflets, and, as before, we felt that people were generally very sympathetic to our action (apart perhaps a traditional Catholic, (French) National Front voter).

Bournville School on strike next week. Worthing High out this week. Noel Park School, Haringey out.

Bournville School Strike
Bournville School in south Birmingham is set to face two days of strike action next week over plans to convert the school to 'foundation' school status. Workers at the school had successfully defeated plans to force an academy conversion less than a year ago after threats of joint strike action and a community campaign.

The latest action is set for Wednesday 18th and Thursday 19th July in "protest at the failure of the school to enter into meaningful consultation regarding proposed conversion to Foundation status and in protest at the change of employer with resultant threat to terms and conditions."

The North London Solidarity Federation would like to extend our deepest solidarity to the John Lewis cleaners engaged in a struggle to secure the London Living Wage.  By exposing John Lewis' overt failure to live up to its proclaimed co-operative model, the cleaners have shown that company schemes are not the way to secure a decent wage.  Instead, only collective struggle can force bosses to provide us with decent working conditions and respect on the job.

Members of North London SolFed will make every effort to turn out to support the cleaners at their upcoming strike and will encourage all our friends and contacts to do the same.

London Living Wage for All Cleaners!  No Cuts to Hours!  No Speed Up!

In perhaps the greatest team-up since The Avengers (Emma Peel and John Steed, not that comic book superhero rubbish) members of SolFed and the IWW organised a protest and leafleting of Pizza Hut in Oxford Road, Reading, tonight at 5-30, fighting against thunder, lightning and torrential rain to make the case against workfare. Joined by members of TUC unions they leafleted the local community and found many sympathetic voices from people who had themselves been threatened with the joys of workfare. The Pizza Hut staff were happy to come and talk to us and understood why we were there and we encouraged them to send a message to their regional office to abandon the workfare scheme. They obliged by faxing one of our leaflets through to their regional officer.