Bristol IWW Workshop for Workers of Migrant & Refugee background 25TH FEBRUARY 2017

Bristol IWW will be holding a

WORKSHOP FOR MIGRANT & REFUGEE WORKERS ON SATURDAY 25TH FEBRUARY AT 10.30-12.30 AT THE STATION, SILVER STREET, BS1 2AG (Triangle Room, 1st floor)

The workshop will consist of a short introduction to basic work rights in the UK with some practical tips on how to deal with issues in the workplace, either individually or with your colleagues. We will be talking about things like types of contracts, pay and national minimum wage, discrimination, how to submit a grievance. You will also have a chance to ask questions.

This workshop is open to anyone from a migrant/refugee background and will be in collaboration with the migrant initiative “One Day Without Us”, which will be taking place on Monday 20th February across the UK. For information on the Bristol event, check their Facebook event.

P.S.

We have been asked on social media to clarify whether this workshop will be safe for “undocumented” migrants working without permission. The answer is that it will be as safe as it can be for people in that situation to attend a public event open to anyone. We are not going to ask anyone to provide that kind of information.

As difficult as it would be to provide formal workplace support to someone in that situation, we certainly wouldn’t turn people away. So, if you are in that situation it may be best to contact us via email at bristol at iww.org.uk AND/OR you can also fill our online questionnaire “Rate Your Boss“. You can do this anonymously if you wish.

Whatever you decide, please know that you are not alone and forgotten. The IWW IS FOR ALL WORKERS, AND FIGHTS FOR ALL WORKERS. Stay strong.

2017: Year of Resistance to Free IPPs

More than 3989 people are serving IPP (Imprisonment for Public Protection) sentences in British prisons [1]. Five years since the sentence was legally abolished, thousands still languish in jails with no release date. Parole board delays, prison overcrowding and sheer neglect is leading to unprecedented rates of prisoner suicides. IPPs have one of the highest rates of self harm in the prison system in its entirety [2].. 80% are over tariff and desperate to be free.

Only last year, a prisoner whom Smash IPP supported died in prison. We have worked with IPP families who have lost their kids and their partners. Children have grown up with having a parent stolen by this sentence. A Mother with a son who’s an IPP describes the IPP sentence as a “Death sentence”. One IPP wrote how “Our families are doing the sentence just us much as us, is it right for them to never know if we will ever come home? Sometimes I feel that if I died it would be better for them because they could bury me and move on with their lives and not worry anymore.”

Smash IPP say enough is enough. This is life and death. We will not let any more people die because of prison bureaucracy and neglect. “This year we call for a year of action to free all IPPs.”

“The time is now to escalate and generate unrelenting pressure on the government, prison profiteers and the parole boards who are all complicit in ripping families apart, ruining lives and killing working class young people who have died as a result of the mental strain of being an IPP.”

We want to help build relationships between IPP prisoners and their families and anarchists and others that are experienced in campaigning and anti-state struggle. We want to overcome the brutality and social isolation that prison inflicts on us and come together to fight back.

Smash IPP! Set them Free!

If you are keen to get involved in any way please contact Smash IPP:
info@smashipp.noflag.org.uk

We are looking for:

• Groups that can host nights on an upcoming info tour about this  horrific sentence. We will be talking about what IPP is, share stories from people who have been affected by it and explore what we can do to fight it!
• Fundraising help & donations
• Individuals that are keen to get involved in the Smash IPP collective to make this year of action a success
• Individuals that can potentially support prisoner families with their campaigns
• Letter writing buddies for IPP prisoners
• Groups to emerge around the UK that can organise actions and get involved with current resistance

[1]. For more information about IPP sentences see: smashipp.noflag.org.uk
[2]. http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/PressPolicy/News/vw/1/ItemID/335

Red Cap Terror at the Moussaka Line – West London Ready-Meal Workers’ Report

Angry Workers of the World

[Article for WorkersWildWest no.5]

Park Royal London Sites (in order of size):
Cumberland (houmous and some ready meals)
Elveden (ready meals and snacks)
Abbeydale (fried stuff)
Harrow (pizzas)
Premier Park (warehouse and storage)

Pay
Pay for permanents: £7.20/hr
£7.50 for Process Controllers
Pay for agency staff: 7.20/hr
£9 after midnight
Overtime (over 40 hours) gets time and a half for permanent staff and time and a quarter for agency staff under 12 weeks.

We all heard about the scandal at the Sports Direct warehouse. The newspapers were outraged that people in the UK in 2016 were working in ‘victorian workhouse’ conditions. But the real scandal is that this is everywhere. Around here, in the warehouses and factories of west London, it is normal for managers to bully workers, to shout at us, steal our wages, cancel our shifts with hardly any notice, pay us peanuts, treat us like dirt. But…

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Universal Credit imposing punitive debt repayment

scottish unemployed workers' network

Report from Dundee

When we met John at our stall outside Dundee buroo yesterday he was brimming with frustration. He had recently started a six week job, and had not un-naturally expected his finances to get a bit easier. But John is on Universal Credit. This is reduced by 65p for every pound he earns – which is better than if he were on JSA, though still an absurd effective tax rate – however that was only the beginning of his problems. Over the years John had built up quite a number of debts, as people surviving on precarious employment often do: things like rent and council tax arrears. The expectation has been that people repay these debts in small manageable increments. But Universal Credit seems to be changing all that. The rules are – of course – complicated, and vary with the type of debt, but people with multiple…

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Social strike strategising and microwave moussaka militancy

Cautiously pessimistic

Two quick plugs: first off, registrations are now open for the Transnational Social Strike Assembly that’ll be happening in London in February. The organisers say:

“Following on from meetings in Poznan, Poland and Paris, France, we will be in London over the weekend February 10th-11th 2017 to further open up the debate and discussions. At its core, we seek to develop new forms of collective action, that go beyond national borders, making connections and linking struggles. The emphasis on new transnational forms of organisation and action is central to our practice. The weekend will focus on bringing together migrant, women and labour groups and individuals together.

We are putting together discussions will include:

The End of the Holding Pattern: Welcome to Brexit Europe
Right Populism, Left Nationalism: Migrants and Wages
March 8th Women’s Strike
Migrant Strikes, from US and Italy
How to fight the boss when your boss is…

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Fundraiser for antifascist and IWW member shot in Seattle

Cautiously pessimistic

On Friday night, someone was shot at a protest in Seattle against prominent alt-right bigot Milo Yiannopoulos. His comrades are now fundraising for his hospital bills, loss of income while unable to work, and any potential legal costs that might arise from the situation. In their words:

“On the evening of Friday, January 20th, a comrade of ours was shot in the stomach in the most public place on the University of Washington’s campus in Seattle – a place called “Red Square” for the color of its bricks rather than its politics.

This Fellow Worker (what members of the IWW call ourselves) and Defender (for GDC members) is a longtime anti-fascist and dedicated activist, a member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and the General Defense Committee of the IWW. He’s currently in critical condition at Harborview Hospital in Seattle. They have a Level One Trauma center, so it’s likely…

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Uber in the US has to pay!

London Rebel Drivers

Between January and March 2015, ride-sharing service Uber put out ads on Craigslist in the hope of attracting new drivers by offering attractive hourly rates of pay.

In Boston, for example, it told potential drivers they would earn $25 an hour. In truth, fewer than 10% of drivers in the city actually managed to bring in that amount, according to a lawsuit brought by the US Federal Trade Commission. In separate statements pushed out to the media and posted on its own site, Uber said “the potential income a driver on UberX can make in a year is more than $90,000 in New York and more than $74,000 in San Francisco”.

The FTC said the median amount earned in those cities – for drivers working a 40 hour week – was significantly less ($29,000 and $21,000 less, respectively). The FTC listed 18 cities across the US where it said Uber…

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100% victory for Harrods workers in tip row

There you go!

Cautiously pessimistic

The United Voices of the World union report that Harrods have totally backed down in the face of the campaign for their staff to keep their tips. In their words:

“BREAKING NEWS: VICTORY! VICTORY! VICTORY!

We have beaten Harrods, the richest and most prestigious department store in the world! 100% of the service charge will now go to staff!

Thank you to everyone for your support and a big congratulations to the resilience and courage of our members, the Harrods restaurant workers, who have achieved this victory by joining United Voices of the World, getting organised and standing up to their employer’s outrageous practices.

Bit of background:

After Harrods’ chefs and waiters joined UVW we immediately submitted a claim for 100% of the service charge to go to staff. Harrods had previously been taking up to 75% for themselves, without admitting the exact percentage, or around £5000 per worker…

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Cardiff Anarchist Bookfair 18th February 2017.

A lovely little grassroots bookfair put on by genuine activists, with a strong wobbly contingent, check it out!

Wessex Solidarity

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Cynical Commissioning Group: tell ’em to back out!

The public consultation on Dorset’s Clinical Services Review is underway. The proposed cuts will devastate our healthcare. In short, 25% fewer hospital beds, 50% fewer G.P. surgeries, parts of the county left without accessible emergency trauma, paediatric or maternity services

Here’s their survey: the questions are deliberately leading, and vague.

If they get a positive response they will take it as carte blanche to do whatever they like. We therefore ask you to “strongly disagree” with everything, and where you choose “Another option”, demand that services are retained as they are and properly funded. We already have the lowest per capita spending on health services in the industrialised world

You’ll need to include your Dorset Postcode to prove you live in Dorset. Ooh Arr!