In the coming days lecturers from 61 universities across the country are going on strike. In Liverpool, the UoL and the School of Tropical Medicine will be affected.
The strike action, called out by UCU, is in response to the newest attack to their working conditions. This time is about the pensions.
A campaign for better pay and working conditions by Polish postal workers supported by the ZSP-IWA union is facing increasing repression. Following nation-wide protests, the government-owned postal office have sought to silence protesting workers and fired several of the organisers. In addition, they have brought a series of bogus criminal cases against members of our sister union, the ZSP-IWA, who have supported the self-organised campaign of postal workers.
In solidarity with postal workers in Poland, SolFed-IWA is calling for protests on Monday 26. February in London, Tuesday 27. February in Edinburgh, and Friday 2. March in Manchester. Stop state repression of workers now! An injury to one is an injury to all!
Friday the 26th January saw strikers from three disputes in Manchester stage a joint demo and rally. Hundreds of supporters joined the demonstration and attended the rally where strikers from Mears, First Buses and Fujitsu gave an update on their long running disputes.
Mears Dispute
The Mears dispute involves 180 building workers employed by Mears to undertake housing maintenance work on 12,000 properties in Manchester. The contract was tendered by Manchester council. The workers took 40 days of strike action last year over pay differentials of up to £3,500 and attacks on their terms and conditions. A further ballot saw an increased majority vote for further 49 days of action, due to end on February 8th.
As people may know the Solidarity Federation has been involved in numerous disputes involving wage theft. However just in case you were thinking that bosses stealing workers hard earned wages was just a British phenomenon we have just received the following request from our sister organisation in the International Workers Association Priama Akcia who organise in Slovakia.
Brighton Solidarity Federation has started a dispute with Brand Vaughan, a large estate agency with branches in Hove, Kemptown and Preston Park. A tenant has been organising with SolFed after deposit deductions were made from their joint-tenancy deposit, despite the fact they left the property in a clean condition. The deductions were unreasonable, not costed in enough detail, on top of this, service from the agency was poor throughout her tenancy.
Along with the tenant, Brighton SolFed wrote to Brand Vaughan December 1st, explaining the issues and outlining options for redress. Brand Vaughan claimed the dispute was something they could not address, after they had opened up a TDS case without the tenant’s express permission. The tenant was wholly unsatisfied that months after the end of her tenancy, she had not been returned any of her deposit.
2.00pm Sunday 4th March 2018 Devonshire Arms, 1 Devonshire Road, Cambridge CB1 2BH
Cambridge Radical Social is an initiative by members of Cambridge Solidarity Federation, in an attempt to bring together those in and around the area involved in or just curious about radical political organising and radical social movements. Regardless of whether you are already involved in a local group, attending the university, or simply live in the area and want to meet up with local activists, this is the event for you.
This is not an activist meeting, in the sense that no one is expected to do or join anything by attending. It is an attempt to create a friendly, relaxed and informal social platform for local radicals as well as a welcoming environment for those new to, curious about or sympathetic towards radical activism and social movements.
A 40-strong march to Youngs Estate Agents in Kemptown on Saturday 13th January demonstrated that tenants will not put up with their demands for repairs being ignored. Tenants demanding "Safe Conditions: No Evictions" showed they would continue to fight while the agency and landlord refuse to acknowledge the need for repairs and payment for works carried out.
Union members at Fujitsu have announced a series of strikes—as bosses dismissed victimised reps. The first walkout will begin on Wednesday 24 January. Management sacked two reps over the christmas with one of the reps being dismissed while he was on compassionate leave to attend a family funeral.
These are just the latest attacks in a long running dispute over compulsory redundancies, victimisation of reps and breaches of a redundancy agreement. IT workers at Fujitsu in Manchester have already taken 27 days action in this long running campaign and plans further strikes on Wednesday 24 – Friday 26 January, Tuesday 30 January and Thursday 8 February – Wednesday 14 February. Union members are also taking part in action short of a strike and are working to rule.