Campaign of “disruptive action” wins temp’s unpaid wages
APRIL AND May saw the Solidarity Federation (SF) engage in an escalating campaign of “disruptive action” against a part of the world’s largest employment agency. A successful international campaign of pickets and communication blockades resulted in an Office Angels temporary worker being paid wages withheld from him since last December.
The summer 2011 issue of Liverpool Solidarity Federation's local newsletter can be downloaded here.
Members of Northampton Solidarity Federation today picketed the local office of Office Angels in connection with the current dispute over non payment of wages.
We talked to many passers by about the bad practice and heard several stories of mistreatment at the hands of employment agencies, particularly of underpayment and summary dismissals. One worker in particular related instances where she had worked for long periods of time for agencies only to be laid off for one day's illness.
Last week, the following letter from Liverpool Solidarity Federation was published in the Liverpool Echo. We wrote the letter to try and counter the idea that the anti-working-class agenda of the ruling elite can be defeated through the ballot box simply by voting against the Tories and their Lib Dem coalition allies. As anarcho-syndicalists we reject party politics and all collaboration with legislative bodies. Exploitation, wage slavery and social injustice will never be voted out of existence. They can only be defeated, once and for all, through militant solidarity, direct action and working-class self-organisation.
Appeal to send protest faxes/e-mails till Monday noon
After a month of campaigning, pressure is mounting on the temp agency OTTO. SolFed's sister organisations in Poland and Slovakia, as well as the Dutch Vrije Bond, have picketed the agency after they learnt how they exploit especially Polish, Czech and Slovak workers doing temporary work in Holland.
Apparently, the company is trying to hush up the problem and satisfy the workers with partial concessions. However, no changes were made regarding for example housing conditions, and the CEO still claims there is no system of fines in the company. Also, more workers have contacted the activists and want to join the struggle, and the campaign is thus not over.
On March 26th, London saw people assemble to protest and take direct action against the government. Most of the people there were marching quite simply because their jobs, their services, and their livelihoods are under attack. This included those of us in anarchist blocs, though we also argued for a much broader perspective and recognition that capitalism itself was the issue, not just the current "ConDem cuts."
Arriving in London, members of the Liverpool Solidarity Federation headed to Kennington Park. We met up with other SolFed members, as well as members of the Anarchist Federation and other class struggle anarchists to form the Radical Workers Bloc on the South London feeder march.
Members of Liverpool Solidarity Federation were amongst the crowd of 300 people who gathered outside Liverpool Town Hall to protest as the council set its austerity budget. With £91m of cuts on the table, local people and community campaigns - including the Park View Project to rehabilitate alcoholics and the Whitechapel Centre for the homeless as well as more than a few nurseries and SureStart centres - joined activists and campaigners to make the council hear their message.
At first, people huddled on the pavement on both sides of the road. Spirits were high and there was a lot of shouting and chanting, but it wasn't until one woman walked into the road with a banner and everybody else joined in that things really kicked off. This buoyed everybody's spirits even further and there was a mood of defiance in the air.
This article was written by a Thames Valley Solidarity Federation member for Issue 3 of The Oxfly, a local anarchist newsletter produced and distributed in Oxford. It argues that winning the argument is all very well but society "is not a debating chamber but a power struggle between different groups with competing interests" - and we should fightback accordingly.
There has been a lot of talk in the anti-cuts movement about the importance of ‘winning the argument’. This strategy holds that the best way to go about fighting attacks on wages, living conditions and services is to point out the flaws in the pro-cuts arguments and suggest alternative policies which would avoid the need for cuts.
This article was written by a Thames Valley Solidarity Federation member for Issue 3 of The Oxfly, a local anarchist newsletter produced and distributed in Oxford. It argues that winning the argument is all very well but society "is not a debating chamber but a power struggle between different groups with competing interests" - and we should fightback accordingly.
Northampton SolFed teamed up with comrades from North London SolFed to join the anti cuts anti fees march in London today.
Hundreds marched past the houses of Parliament before heading towards Millbank, banners waving, amidts the cries 'You say cut back, we say fight back' amongst others. Approaching Millbank, and sensing the police were ready to form a kettle protesters headed off on alternative routes. After showing our faces (not too literally!) at Millbank, we too headed off for the Egyptian embassy to show solidarity with the Egyptian people currently engaged in their struggle against Mubarak's regime.