Shades Of The Workhouse, Lord Fraud Hints At Mandatory Jobs Training In Hostels And Women’s Refuges

the void

People fleeing domestic violence, care leavers and those who are homeless could be required to take part in ’employability courses’ as a condition of accessing supported housing Lord Fraud has hinted today.

The Minister for Welfare Reform was giving a speech to the Chartered Institute of Housing discussing upcoming changes to funding for the supported housing sector.  George Osborne has previously announced that the upcoming Benefit Cap will apply to those living in supported housing, meaning Housing Benefit payments will be slashed.  Currently this benefit is used to fund the additional costs of providing this kind of accommodation such as staff and security costs.  Homelessness charities have warned that almost half a million homes could be at risk when the cap on these payments is introduced.

In response the DWP have agreed to postpone the cap for one year whilst a review of supported housing funding is carried out.  And…

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Stand Up to Hatred. Bargate, 11am, Saturday 2nd July

A robust working class response is called for!

SouthamptonAntiFA

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To The Streets! Support The Cleaners Striking Against Corporate Property Vultures @CBRE

the void

The jumped up little scrotes who have used the referendum result as an excuse to racially abuse and attack people need to be exposed and dealt with like the stain on our class that they are.  Whether you are Remain or Leave, don’t know or don’t fucking care, it has rarely been more important to unite behind migrant communities, to confront racism and ensure that the (barely) organised far right are not able to profit from recent events.

Another future is still possible in the wake of the chaos the referendum has brought.  But it will not be achieved by a working class at each other’s throat.  As the parliamentary Labour Party embarks on the longest suicide note in history then it is down to all those who want a better UK, for everybody who lives here, to act.

That means solidarity and class before whatever country someone happens to…

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The day the rent fell

Cautiously pessimistic

Congratulations to students at University College London, where a hard-fought rent strike has now led to an offer to cut rents by 2.5% over the next few years. It’s not enough, but it’s a step in the right direction. The rent strikers’ win is certainly impressive when compared to the endlessly rising rents throughout the rest of the capital. They’ve shown that rent strikes can work, now the big question is how far other tenants will be able to make use of similar tactics. There’s a lot of strategic discussions yet to be had about how the rest of London’s housing movement can benefit from this victory, but for now let’s just celebrate having something to celebrate for a change. In the words of rent strike organiser Anabel Bennett: “This victory validates rent strikes as an extremely effective method of expressing dissatisfaction with the atrocious prices and conditions in accommodation and…

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From Veterans for Peace Southampton.

Veterans for Peace Southampton is slowly coming together and has formed some useful links with other organizations along the South Coast.

Late May saw a flurry of last minute invitations to take part in various events which VFP members attended.

Saturday May 28th We were invited by CND Dorset to assist with a leaflet outreach and information tent opposing the renewal of the Trident submarine based missile system. It went well.

Sunday May 29th VFP were invited to a ‘Chalk and Talk’ in Boscombe Gardens, Bournemouth on the subject of anti Militarism and the Military Industrial Complex. This invitation was issued by Dorset Peoples Assembly a local offshoot of The Peoples Assembly in London. Again it went well with a lively open discussion and some superb pavement artistry by Stewart MacArthur

Monday May 30th We were invited to host an evening of film and discussion by the Wessex Radical Film Collective and Autonomy Films of Bridport featuring ‘Action Man Battlefield Casualty’ and news items by Reel News. This was held at ‘The Firkin Shed’ in Bournemouth.

Thanks to our fabulous host Paul who gave up his day off to open the pub uniquely to us to host the event.

Forthcoming events in which VFP have been invited to participate :-

July 1st 2016 09.30 Bournemouth War Memorial. Peace Vigil and floral tributes for all victims of all sides both Military and Civilian during the Battle of the Somme in 1916 this day 100 years ago.

August 13th 2016 Cliff top Picnic and Kite flying event inspired by ‘Fly Kites not Drones’ generally seen as an antidote to Bournemouth Air Show which has been Militarised in the extreme. This event is the weekend before the main Air Show to minimise any risk of confrontations /upset.

Veterans for Peace now have associations with several organizations in our region who share our common values and goals.

Dorset CND

Dorset Peoples Assembly

Dorset General Membership Branch of The Industrial Workers of the World who voted unanimously at their last branch meeting to support the work of VFP.

Stewart MacArthur – Street and Pavement Artist.

Autonomy Films Bridport.

Individuals too numerous to mention to whom many thanks.

Photographs from ‘Chalk and Talk’ 29/5/2016. Bournemouth.

 

VFP SOUTHAMPTON 18/06/2016

Unemployed People Will Not Scab! From IWW Cymru-Wales

FW Karen:

‘Our Wobbly presence at RF Brookes did not go unnoticed. We stopped and engaged many claimants attending interview in conversation and informed them of their rights – that they shouldn’t be sanctioned for refusing to take a job vacancy thats arisen due to industrial action and also let them know to get in touch for support if that happened.

Workers came to chat with us as well as Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union organisers, we received support from visiting vehicles and a few other people stopped by and joined us in conversation during our stay.

RF Brookes were obviously not happy about the gathering outside their gates and after their miserable security guard grassed and revealed my identity (after he let me through their barrier and as I waited at reception) I was refused an interview.

Following their demands to explain what organisation I was from, what the picket was about and telling them in no uncertain terms that I was not happy about betraying workers involved in an industrial dispute, or about their union busting and scabbing which was met with ignorance… an attempt to pass the buck to the Job Centre was made. The DWP is to be informed that I presented for interview but that my views do not meet their requirements. The feeling is mutual!

I attended a meeting of the BFAWU this evening. They thank us for our picket and solidarity, we’ll be seeing them again soon 😉

❤ wobbly love!”

Upcoming dates in workplace and welfare struggles, late June-early July

Cautiously pessimistic

A few important upcoming dates:

The amazing cleaners who’ve been organising though the United Voices of the World union in London are currently on an all-out indefinite strike at 100 Wood Street, and have been for over a week. They’re asking for people to come down and support them at 5:30 on Tuesday 21st June. You can also donate much-needed funds to their emergency strike appeal here.

Tony Cox, the Scottish Unemployed Workers Network member who’s been singled out for state persecution for his work accompanying claimants to benefits interviews, is back in Dundee Sheriff Court on Thursday 23rd. I’m not sure whether there will be nationwide jobcentre solidarity the way there’s been for his previous appearances, but the Kilburn unemployed group will definitely be at Kilburn jobcentre making a stand for claimants’ organisation on the day, so you might want to get in touch with…

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History Made Real: How I Became a Wobbly by David Feldmann

The Organizer

I first heard of the IWW when I was a teenager in a conservative suburb of St. Louis, Missouri. I’d always felt out of step with my surroundings, so when I was reading Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States” in homeroom one day, it felt exciting to read about the history of the Industrial Workers of the World. I couldn’t believe that there had been a labor union with such a radical vision as well as a relatively sizable membership during the first couple decades of the 20th century. I learned a lot from that book, but I remember being particularly intrigued by the sections dealing with the Wobblies.

After high school, I moved to the big city and worked a string of low-wage jobs in the service sector. I was a seasonal janitor at a non-profit wild bird sanctuary, a food service worker at a…

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From Green to Red: How I Became a Wobbly by shugE Mississippi

The Organizer

In 2001 I was beginning to understand and come to terms with being an anarchist. After most of a decade as a pretty mainstream liberal election-oriented activist, I had in spurts become radicalized. Doing support work for various radical environmental campaigns and being more directly involved in the 1997-98 campaign to blockade the reroute of Highway 55 in Minneapolis steered me away from electoral politics and organizing based on manipulating centralized forms of power. I’d seen the corruption and manipulation required to be successful in electoral politics, even in the most genuinely intentioned leftist camps. I had also seen more radical campaigns where successes were won through direct action rather than money, and manipulation of political systems. I was on the cusp of abandoning my blossoming political career and proudly coming out as an anarchist shortly after I started working at Sisters’ Camelot in 2001.

I first met many of…

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From Here to There: How I Became a Wobbly by Juan Conatz

The Organizer

During 2005, I was working in a warehouse for a somewhat large mail-order company in Peosta, IA. At the age of 22, it was the longest-held job I had at that point. It’s hard for me to remember exactly when or why, but there were issues at work I thought needed to be addressed and the only way it seemed they would be is if we had a union. The IWW’s website said a lot of things I agreed with, and so I joined them through a membership application in the Industrial Worker, sending along a letter about my desire to organize. Unfortunately, the IWW didn’t really exist in any meaningful sense anywhere nearby, so I contacted a number of local unions who all referred me to the Teamsters.

The Teamster organizer gave me very little advice or help, but I did manage to get a small committee going…

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