This morning the weekly protests got very lively as the rank and file electricians occupied the Grattes Brothers HQ. With only a few days left of the ballot for strike action, we gathered at 6.30 outside the gates of the building site at Kings X. Electricians and supporters leafletted the workers going in and there was a short attempt to block the gate but the police kept a pathway open so people could still go in to work.
Workfare is a growing problem, as demonstrated by recent stories of a number of supermarkets had volunteered to be providers for the scheme and that young people were providing 30 hours a week of unpaid labour. This presents a problem both for the claimants trapped by this scheme, essentially as slave labour, and for the providers' workforce who are being undercut by those doing their job at practically no cost. Equally worrying is that, despite the growing anger over government attacks and emergence of anti-cuts groups across the country, nothing is being done to challenge this.
The big November 30 strike is drawing near. Rents and prices are rising, unemployment is going through the roof and at the same time wages are falling, benefits are slashed and people are being kicked out of their homes. The NHS is being sold-off while public services are decimated, schools and universities wrecked and the poor excluded. Officially these strikes are about pensions, but we all know it’s about a lot more than that.
We'll be keeping this post updated with plans for Brighton as we get them. So far:
A3 Posters are still available from the SF Publicity Commission via brighton[AT]solfed.org.uk. Flyers are available from the Publicity Commission, but a print-friendly (black on white) pdf of the flyer is also attached below. Poster pdfs are also attached.
Courtesy of our friends at the Brighton Benefits Campaign, what follows is a list of companies in Kent, Surrey and Sussex that have taken advantage of mandatory work placements through the Government’s Work Programme in which unemployed people are forced to work without pay. The placements are arranged by a private company called Avanta Enterprise Limited:
Joint statement by CNT, CGT and SO in Spain
The Confederación General del Trabajo (CGT), Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) and Solidaridad Obrera (SO) trade unions met on 17th October last with the aim of continuing along the path towards unity of action, mobilization and the General Strike.
On Saturday Brighton Solidarity Federation held a ‘Stuff Your Boss Doesn’t Want You To Know’ stall and distribution in Brighton’s busy London Road shopping area. Pitching up at 10.30, we welcomed considerable interest from passing public as well as calling into businesses and workplaces, promoting the benefits of worker’s self-organisation and solidarity in response to issues such as low pay, poor conditions, lack of holiday and maternity entitlement and management harassment.
The electricians had called a national day of action for the same day as the student protest of November 9th, which looked like it could have a lot of possibilities. Would these two very different movements be able to link up?
We’ve seen cuts to education, leading to the destruction of EMA, tripled uni fees, mass redundancies and course closures. We’re now witnessing – if we fail to stand up and beat it – the virtual privatisation of education. But the government’s austerity measures are not just attacking education – pensioners, the unemployed, workers in all industries in both public and private sector are all facing massive cuts – leaving no-one spared!
Last night, Liverpool Solidarity Federation members were amongst protesters gathered outside Liverpool Town Hall. They demonstrated as Liverpool City Council held a Budget Question Time in order to seek views on how they could save £50m in the coming year. Whilst the audience inside gave the councilors a hard time, those outside disrupted traffic by blocking off a road.
Read Liverpool members' individual reflections on the day on the Truth, Reason & Liberty and Working Class Self-Organisation blogs.