Newcastle Local has closed the year in a much stronger position having gained new members, new contacts and developed a new direction for the Local. We’ve been involved in 3 successful workplace battles - one of which being the Santander conflict in Spain, that was in support of a sacked member of our Spanish sister union, the CNT; another being a week of international action against a company our German union, the FAU, were in conflict with; and closer to home a local pay theft case in North Tyneside, which won a four figured settlement. http://www.solfed.org.uk/newcastle/another-win-for-solfed-this-month

Executioner for the rich, George Osborne, has challenged ‘our’ local parties to fully implement welfare reform measures that will see even greater hardship, poverty and homelessness heaped upon poor and vulnerable working class people across the north. (From the December issue of The Leveller, publication of Belfast SolFed)

On Saturday, the 13th of December, the first picket against Caffe Bar Italia took place. Around 11 in the morning, a group of 10 SolFed members met in George Street (Hove) and after trying unsuccessfully to reach an agreement with the owner, started the picket outside the business.

This conflict started a few weeks ago when a worker contacted SolFed's Brighton Hospitality Workers because she had not been paid the amount of £1,264. Apart from the holiday pay that she was owed, her contract stipulated a minimum number of hours which were not offered to her. A demand letter was sent with the boss requested to respond. The boss refused to pay and insisted that he didn't have to pay her for “the hours she didn't work”; nevertheless, the law says that a worker should work at least the minimum hours his contract says.

The mobilisation, anger and direct action of working class people opposing water charges in the south has got the government on the run. Much is made of a brick thrown at Garda and Joan Burton being trapped by a ‘mob’ in her car during a water charges protest. Little to nothing is said about police violence against protestors or the devastating impact this charge will have on poor working class families. Families already devastated by attack after attack upon them by bosses and government in the name of ‘austerity’.

This summer, Brighton Hospitality Workers (BHW) took on one of the most uncompromising bosses we have faced. The owner (who shall henceforth be referred to as ‘V’) of a well-known local café had hired a worker with an agreement to pay her £6ph but when it came to payday, he only coughed up what amounted to £5ph and refused to pay her holiday pay. After V refused to pay her the remainder, the worker approached BHW, who agreed to support her in getting back her owed wages.

During the initial meeting with V, BHW delivered a letter outlining reasons for the conflict and the demands of the worker. The worker herself was too scared to face V. V was verbally and physically abusive, and refused to accept the letter (we left it on the premises anyway).

Newcastle Local have created our own campaign website and phone number to simplify our message and become easier to find. Already regularly advising workers in distress, we hope to increase this work as well as take on further case work as we build our Local. If you or anyone you know is in dispute with a boss, or wants advice on workplace rights and fighting back, contact us via our new site www.stuffyourboss.org.uk or ring 0191 3082354.

Join the anti-workfare Street Party in Bristol this Saturday, 13th December 2014.

Meeting at the Castle Park bandstand at 2pm sharp before moving off to visit some firms who profit from using unpaid workfare labour. Please try and make this and pass it on to your mates.

Bristol Solidarity Federation will be there, so look out for our banner! Our friends and comrades in Bristol Anarchist Federation and Bristol IWW are also helping mobilise for the event.

There is a facebook page for the event: "As we approach solstice we are told that we are in a season of giving – yet some companies still aren’t giving workers a wage. As we approach solstice we are told that we are in a season of giving - yet some companies still aren't giving workers a wage!

On December 6-7, 2014, an Extraordinary Congress of the IWA took place in Porto, Portugal. On the Agenda were unfinished items of business from the XXV Congress of 2013, plus new motions and initiatives. 80 delegates and observers from 13 Sections and one Friend organization took part.

Emotions ran high throughout the Congress. Again some outstanding matters need to go to the next Congress in 2016. A number of new iniatives were passed, including the creation of a media group, a historical project and the go-ahead for broad centenary celebrations in 2022.

We welcome the OLS from Sweden as new Friends of the IWA. We were all pleased to hear about their work and success in a few work conflicts and look forward to fruitful cooperation in the future.