Saturday the 25th of February saw six members of the North London Solidarity Federation hold a successful stall on Kilburn High Road. Donning hi-vis jackets emblazoned with SF logos and armed with a large batch of “Stuff Your Boss” workplace rights leaflets, we felt ready to face the Saturday shoppers.

We had some extremely useful conversations with members of the public, many of whom were facing attacks on their working situations and had felt let down by their trade unions. We also spoke to many of the non-unionised retail workers who stock shelves and scan barcodes in the shops which line the high street. Predictably, they had abysmal working conditions and many employees seemed genuinely grateful for the workplace rights leaflets, some taking extra copies to give to their workmates.

As most people will be aware, February is Serbia month in Great Britain. The British-Serbian chamber of commerce contributed by hosting an evening reception with guest speaker Dejan Popovic, the Serbian ambassador. With Serbian Anarcho-Syndicalists, the Belgrade 6, back on trial for “international terrorism”, South London and Brighton Solfed members felt it appropriate to attend.

Workfare means unemployed people being forced to do unpaid work for their benefits. Tens of thousands of people are being forced into unpaid work, household name firms are profiting from free labour and disabled people face unlimited unpaid work or cuts in benefit. Workfare began under Labour with the New Deal in 1998, which became the Flexible New Deal in 2009. It is now being expanded by the Conservative-Liberal government under a number of different schemes including: ‘Work Experience’, ‘Mandatory Work Activity’, ‘the Community Action Programme’, ‘Sector Based Work Academies’, and ‘the Work Programme’.

Know your rights!

Some brief advice on the process of appealing a failed Work Capability Assessment (WCA), as well as some signposting to relevant advice bodies who may be able to assist you.

When you first receive the results of your ATOS WCA and it is a fail, the first thing that many do, as they are panicked and desperate, as they have had their money stopped, is to panic and phone the Job Centre Plus and ask about signing on for Jobseekers Allowance, which is what they want you to do, but there is an alternative and that is by asking for a reconsideration and/or appeal.

How to request reconsideration/appeal

On Wednesday evening (15 Feb) a large, vibrant and noisy protest was held by electricians and their supporters outside the Grosvenor hotel on Park Lane. The protest was part of the ongoing struggle that electricians and other JIB trades find themselves in.
Their fight is with the 7 major construction companies (known as the BESNA 7) who to increase their profits want to massively reduce the wages of the workers.
Under The Building Engineering Services National Agreement (BESNA) electricians, plumbers, welders & pipe fitters stand to loose up to £240 per week if they sign these new contracts.

Northampton Sol Fed now has members from Birmingham, Bedford and Milton Keynes. We recently held a re-launch meeting and will be updating this Webpage very soon, with news of local activities.

Glasgow Solidarity Network has demonstrated how direct action gets the goods with a successful conclusion to its first fight.  Two members of the Glasgow Anarchist Federation and their flatmate discovered that it is illegal in Scotland for letting agents to charge tenants fees apart from rent and deposits.  Their letting agent, Martin & Co, had charged the three of them them a substantial £250 “check-in” fee before they had even paid their deposit.  They first submitted an official complaint but received only the receipt listing the fees they had paid as a reply.

Members of Brighton SF turned out to support a picket of Pizza Hut organised by the IWW union last Saturday. Pickets braved snow and freezing temperatures to answer the call for solidarity from Pizza Hut workers in Sheffield, who are organising with the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World). Below is the text from the IWW Pizza Hut workers' union explaining the current dispute, which has been brewing for a year. Brighton Solidarity Federation extend our solidarity to the Pizza Hut workers' organising efforts and the IWW.