On Saturday 15^th January around 50 people, including members of the fledgling Thames Valley local, marched across Reading from the Royal Berkshire Hospital to the Civic Centre to register their opposition to the government’s cuts in public services.

Leafleting the public along the way the turnout was double the number that attended the previous protest and culminated in a series of speeches outside the civic centre. Spokespeople from the Reading Save Our Services group, Unison, the Reading Trades Council, a Labour Party councillor and a councillor for the Green Party all took part. All made clear how the proposed cuts, both locally and nationally, would impact hardest on the poorest and most vulnerable members of the community, from cuts in services for children to the loss of up to 600 jobs at the Royal Berkshire Hospital.

Written by Jim Allen and directed by Ken Loach, The Big Flame was broadcast as the BBC's Wednesday Play in 1969. It documents a fictional unofficial strike on Liverpool's docks in which the workers, frustrated by the uselessness of their union officials, decide to take matters into their own hands (as we in SolFed advocate).

North London members tapped in to their inner-artist today to create a truly beautiful new banner!

Long after the mysterious dissapperance of our old one, it was time for NLSF to create a new banner for all those marches and demos.

With workers facing across-the-board cutbacks, members of Brighton SolFed today hit the streets to talk to retail staff about their rights. After the UKUncut protests have shifted attention to the multi-million pound tax dodging of several high street names, we went to talk to retail workers, encouraging them to get organised to prevent bosses cutting costs by cutting their conditions. We’ll be back again in a couple of weeks to keep the issue topical, and keep local bosses on notice that attacks on workers’ conditions won’t go unnoticed!

You can download a copy of SolFed’s basic workplace rights leaflet, 'the Stuff Your Boss doesn’t want you to know' here.

Members of Northampton Solfed spent some of their Saturday morning handing out copies of Catalyst at the Weston Favel Shopping Centre, until security staff moved them on.  (Yet again we find that 'public' places are no such thing.)

More distribution is planned for next Saturday.  Any one interested in helping out, or who would like some copies to distribute in their own area should contact us.

On Sunday 9^th Solidarity Federation members joined the march in Witney, Oxfordshire, constituency of Prime Minister David Cameron. The march, against postal privatisation and austerity cuts, was organised by the CWU (Communication Worker's Union) Eastern Branch. Solidarity Federation members from the new Thames Valley local as well as from Liverpool and London handed out leaflets arguing for anarcho-syndicalist methods in struggle and introductory leaflets about the Solidarity Federation which were well received by marchers.

A brief look at last year’s developments with regards to Intern pay, a story that the BBC News website is has just updated under its Education section.

Last year, the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD) argued for a 'training wage' of £2.50 for those on internships of three months or more as a means to 'boost UK productivity'.[1] Unpaid intern work is of inherently unequal access, because those people with good connections and from wealthier backgrounds are much more likely and capable of finding and staying on an unpaid internship.

SF members who are unwaged will group together under the Unwaged Workers Network. As we move towards forming this network, we first need to find out which members fall into this cateogry, and what are the primary issues we face.

We encourage all unwaged members to contribute to the discussion on our forum if you have online access. This includes unemployed, non-working students, retired, living on benefits, volunteeers and those on work experience placements.

First, we will look towards the production of material along the lines of the Know Your Rights series, and an eventual industrial bulletin. Members should also contribute to online articles that will appear on this section of the SF website.

Any industrial network is only as strong as its members are active, so get stuck in and help the network grow and gain influence!