A meeting of the Merseyside Blacklist Support Group took place last Saturday (February 23rd). The event was attended by numerous blacklisted construction workers and addressed by a panel of speakers including Steve Acheson, a blacklisted electrician from Manchester who has been picketing the Fiddler’s Ferry power station for the last 5 years to highlight the injustice inflicted on him.

Steve spoke about the collusion between trade union officials and construction companies that led to him and countless others being denied employment due to their trade union activities (often simply raising health and safety concerns on sites). Steve said he had only three terms of employment over a nine-year period and had been removed from all of them as a result of being blacklisted.

Edinburgh Thursday 28^th February 8p.m.-9.30p.m.

Autonomous Centre of Edinburgh, 17 West Montgomery Place, EH7 5HA

http://www.facebook.com/events/485857831450575/

Glasgow Friday 1^st March 7p.m.-9p.m.

Glasgow Social Centre, Basement, Garnethill MultiCultural Centre, 21 Rose Street, Glasgow, G3 6RE

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/events/132310493602348/

Anarcho-Syndicalism And The Class Struggle – Solidarity Federation

Introductory talk by one of the co-authors followed by discussion

The title of this post is the sole criterion set down in the new workfare regulations regarding whom and under what conditions a person might be required to undertake one of the Government’s forced labour schemes (with the exception of MWA). Gone is the much vaunted ‘voluntary’ aspect that was used to defend the schemes for the last year; now, if you are a claimant it is now completely arbitrary whether you're forced to chose between wageless employement or the loss of your benefits. 'The benefits system has entered the State of Exception.'

These are schemes that are specifically aimed at providing free labour to parts of the private sector whose profits are hit by crisis. 

Are you unemployed and placed on one of the DWP’s Workfare schemes? Contact us.

The court recently judged the DWP regulations surrounding the workfare programme as unlawful. Claimants on any of the other schemes can now withdraw without threat of sanction and existing sanctions must be brought to an end. Unless the DWP wins the right of appeal, all those who have been sanctioned will be entitled to repayment of lost benefit and all referrals will have been unlawful.

However, the DWP is currently laying new regulations which could make all the workfare schemes lawful and mandatory. Added to this, we’ve had numerous reports of claimants being forced under threat of sanction onto the ‘voluntary’ schemes and there is no reason this won’t continue.

Despite being the focus of the court judgement of 12 February which ruled workfare regulations unlawful, Poundland continue to use unpaid labour. In a statement after the judgement, Poundland boss Jim McCarthy said

“Poundland recognises the importance of offering work experience to people looking to get back into work.

“We have been working in partnership with the Job Centre Plus over the last few months to launch our own work experience programme for those considering a career in retail. Our work experience programme is completely voluntary – no one has their benefits taken away from them at any point during the process. This programme replaces any involvement with the
Department of Work and Pensions prime providers and their work experience schemes.

In September 2012, TUC Congress overwhelmingly passed a resolution calling for co-ordinated national action, up to and including a general strike.

As the first step towards putting this motion into effect, a conference took place in Liverpool on 26th January organised by Merseyside Association of Trades Union Councils. Tellingly, the conference received no funding at all from the North-West TUC.

Members of our SolFed local attended, with the aim of engaging with rank-and-file trade unionists and arguing in favour of working-class self-organisation and direct action against austerity. We distributed a leaflet which read:

A member of the SolFed Tech & Digital workers network recounts the building of a collective identity in their workplace, pushing a collective grievance and building on workplace victories.

I was sat at home during the christmas holidays when I recieved an email from my line manager from work. The email said that me and all of the my fellow workers in the department were to get a significant payrise, backdated to November. 'Congratulations!' said the email.

I was overjoyed. Not just because of the extra money, but because I knew full well it hadn't been given to us by the company out of the goodness of our executives' hearts, but due to a long term campaign of collective action and pressure from all of the workers in my department.

Earlier this month I attended the Swedish Anarcho-Syndicalist Youth Federation (SUF) Federal Conference in Malmö as an observer  from North London Solidarity Federation. This is the 23rd conference and in the 20 year anniversary of the group.

20 years ago the SUF formed in inpiration from the Central Organisation of the Workers of Sweden (SAC), the Swedish syndicalist union which left the IWA in dispute during the 50's. SUF was previously the official youth membership group of the SAC and today the two still work closely together. In Malmö, a small city in the South of Sweden, they share an HQ which allows the SUF local access to various resources and archives as well as a meeting space and office.