Last Tuesday, December the 18th, Liverpool-SolFed joined the protest called for by Liverpool Migrant Solidarity Network.
On International Migrants Day, we joined our voices for the closing down of Detention Centers and an end to deportations. Probably the most extreme aspect of the “hostile environment” that the UK is using to demonize and target vulnerable people.
Manchester Solfed's guide for migrants coming to Manchester has been republished with a updated edition for November 2017.
The guide contains information to help new migrants settle in the city. While focusing on Manchester, much of the guide will be useful to people living anywhere in the UK.
Available in English and Spanish, the guide can be downloaded in pdf format from the links below, paper copies will also be distributed around the city.
We are currently working on a translation into Portugese and we are producing a version for smartphones.
The Migrants Guide is a work in progress and we welcome submissions and suggestions. Please contact the Manchester local if you have anything to contribute.
Si necesitas un poco de ayuda sobre cómo empezar en esta ciudad, échale un vistazo a la Guía del inmigrante en Manchester
Manchester Solfed's Migrants Guide to Manchester, is now available in Spanish. See pdf attached
Starting a new life in the UK can be intimidating. Many things are different to how they were at home. Most things are expensive, and some things are just plain difficult. There might be a new language or a new culture to contend with. Dealing with all this whilst struggling to find a job or accommodation can feel impossible. With this in mind, Manchester Solidarity Federation have put together a short guide to the city. We've tried to cover all the basics about living and working here, and where to go for help and what resources are available.
Last month, Cheese & Toast, a cafe in Lewes Road, paid one of its former workers after having been contacted by SolFed.
After three weeks of action, Jimmy's Restaurant (on the Brighton Marina) is still avoiding their responsibilities. Three former workers are still campaigning to get their holiday pay and their P45 documents and we keep receiving contacts of workers facing the same situation.
From the beginning, the management of the restaurant has been denying any responsibility and addressing us to the “Head Office” who, curiously enough, never answer the phone or emails.
Moreover, last week we found out that the workers, having received their payslips with their tax deductions, are not in the records of the HMRC as having worked for Jimmy's. No explanation has been given by Jimmy's but we do hope that this is a misunderstanding.
Jimmy's restaurant continues to refuse to repay its former workers over £1500 in stolen holiday pay, nor return their P45s. After contact with the initial three workers, and their friends who either have worked for or continue to work for the restaurant, we can see that their case is all but unique. Jimmy's is refusing to treat its employees with respect and we will keep fighting until they do so.
Last month, the cleaning company Emprise paid one of its former workers after having been contacted by SolFed.
On the 24th of October, members of Swindon Anarchists, including SolFed members, took 3 vehicles crammed with supplies to the refugee camps of Calais.
As numbers at the camp swelled to over 6,000, the group decided we had a responsibility to offer what solidarity we could to men, women and children forced into cramped, cold and unhygienic conditions just for seeking a life free of war, persecution, poverty and hunger. As well as hoping to improve material conditions in the camp, we reject the concept of national borders, embrace freedom of movement for all and support all those whose circumstances have forced them into conflict with the border regime, the political class and their stooges in uniform.
Brighton Hospitality Workers was approached in May by a Kitchen Porter, at an upmarket and busy restaurant on the seafront, who had been laid off without 7 days’ notice period pay and with unpaid wages and holiday entitlement. An all-too-common situation in a city where bosses flagrantly breach employment law to squeeze as much from the workers as possible, in the full knowledge that the local authorities, trade bodies or established unions have no interest in challenging them.