South Coast Workers' Movements

09-06-2012 11:11

SchNEWS 818 - Serf's Up

By now the glad tidings that ninety of her majesty's most loyal subjects were happy to celebrate 60 years of her reign by kipping under a bridge before a joyful thirteen hour shift of telling union-jack-sporting buffoons the way to the big river in the middle of London without being paid has been splashed all over the papers. But it's just the tip of the iceberg.

Links: Boycott Workfare | Solfed (workfare page) | IWW| Corporate Watch | SchNEWS

From Corporate Watch: Benefit claimant forced to accept Jubilee steward position for less than minimum wage | To pay or not to pay: Asda and Argos choose workfare over work | Regulating workfare (or not)| 'It's exploitation and it's repellent': Retailers, councils and charities benefiting from workfare | Unemployed people bullied into work

02-12-2011 09:24

SchNEWS: One Strike and You're Out?

Wednesday's N30 strikes saw 2 million public sector workers striking and hundreds of thousands marching in Britain's streets all over the country, marking the biggest strike in a generation.

Demonstrations and pickets were held in nearly every major town across the UK, with the largest gatherings seeing 30,000 in London, 20,000 in Manchester, 15,000 in Birmingham and 10,000 in Edinburgh and Glasgow. More than 6 out of 10 schools were closed for the day and some activists from Occupy London stormed the offices of the UK's highest paid CEO, Mick Davis, head of Xstrata mining corporation. Reports are of 75 arrests in total, most of them around the occupation of the Xstrata office and in Hackney, after some demonstrators were kettled for four hours, then taken into custody on 'suspicion of breach of the peace'. [More]

See Also:
OccupyLSX | Day of Action News | IMC uk Timeline

17-02-2011 22:45 | 1 addition | 2 comments

SchNEWS 759: Middle Eastern Promise

Egyptian dissidents (along with the masses) celebrated on Friday as Hosni Mubarak finally threw in the towel after the mass protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square, and across the country, refused to abate (and presumably the Americans finally ordered him to load up the plane with gold and go in an attempt to ensure the power structures – and thus their influence – didn't collapse completely). But the Egyptian revolution is not yet won as the military have stepped in, repressed protest and threatened to declare martial law.

From the Newswire:
Libyan solidarity in London | Algerians take to the streets
Bahrain: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Egypt: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

In SchNEWS: 758 | 757 | 756

Read first-hand reports from Egypt at Cairo Rising | Occupied Cairo | 3arabawy | Game Over Mubarak

21-10-2010 21:36 | 1 comment

SchNEWS 744: To The Manor Osbourne

Thousands have marched, a government department has been broken into, and a Scottish branch of Lloyds TSB has been occupied by pissed-off pensioners...It must be the (OK, somewhat quiet compared to France) start of the anti-cuts revolt!

On the Newswire: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

20-05-2010 21:09

SchNEWS : All That Romains

Welcome to the age of austerity. Romania has erupted in protests as harsh measures continue to grow and waves of discontent flood Europe.

Romania's capital, Bucharest, stood still for a day on Wednesday (19th) as ferocious cuts cripple the Romanian populace. The city was at brought to a halt as an estimated 50,000 protesters marched through the streets in the largest of the demonstrations seen since the cuts were announced. Protesters poured in from all over the country to attend, despite police attempts to block the streets to uphold order.

13-05-2010 19:48

SchNEWS: Squaring Up To 'Em

This Saturday (15th) people will be protesting at various places around central London to give the new 'stable, national interest' coalition a warm welcome.

SchNEWS gives a round-up of all the events taking place over the weekend to get your action-hungry teeth stuck into.

02-05-2010 15:09 | 10 comments

SchNEWS: Crash of the Titans

AS PROPOSED IMF SOLUTION SPARKS RESISTANCE...

Greece is further troubled as government officials get ready to announce IMF imposed wage cuts that will resonate across the country’s entire public sector. Emergency demonstrations were held across the country (Thursday 29th April) in protest against the cuts by grass-roots trade unions, leftist and anarchist organisations.

On the Newsire: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

In SchNEWS: 720 | 711 | 662 | 659

Links: IMF on Greece | Greek Indymedia

25-02-2010 22:05 | 1 comment

SchNEWS: Greek Fire

Greece has once again been rocked by protests, strikes and civil unrest. This time in response to a series of swinging government cutbacks aimed at bringing the country into line with neo-liberal dogma and reducing it's budget deficit. In response to proposed attacks on worker's rights and pensions, virtually the entire country came out on strike on Wednesday. 30,000 marched through Athens and violently clashed with police. There is widespread anger at the governments attempts to deal with the economic crisis by dipping into the pockets of the poor. Marchers in Athens shouted, "No sacrifices! Make the rich pay for the crisis!”

Links:
2008 Greek protests – SchNEWS 659 | 662
Indymedia: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
Occupied London Read more >>

10-12-2009 22:09 | 1 comment

Once You COP You Just Can't Stop

Going to COP15? Wondering which pair of socks to bring? A space-hopper and a peace flag or a gas-mask and a bag of transit wheel nuts? Ask no longer as SchNEWS brings you our prepare-for-action guide to the week long climate protest in Denmark, a country which professes itself to be a 'key developer of climate solutions'. Let's hope they're right. Read on for yer essential what's-what: border checks, police tactics, and probably most importantly, what will the weather be like?

See www.schnews.org.uk or click 'full article'

05-10-2009 18:06

Solidarity with Vestas Workers!

SINCE the removal of the 'Marine Gate' 'Blade Blockade', and the Turbine Blades that remained in the Vestas Blades UK factory on St. Cross Business Park, Dodnor Lane, Newport, Isle of Wight, campaigners have been sorting out the original 'Magic Roundabout' Camp, and considering strategy.

A Marquee has been erected and a fair amount of furniture skipped / built to make the area comfortable and well-resourced in terms of power (80-odd watts of solar power for phone and laptop charging), a solar shower, and spare tents for visitors.

The campaign to keep the Wind Turbine Blade Factory on the Isle of Wight (the only sizeable renewables production facility in the UK) open was featured heavily in the national news media in July and August. Media, and activist, attention was grabbed by the Occupation of the offices at the factory by a small number of the 600 workers who were to lose their jobs (more would have occupied, but the management were tipped off, and the occupation had to be moved forwards).

The occupation began on July 20th. Vestas failed to sort out their eviction order the first time, meaning the occupation lasted 10 days beyond the closure of the factory on July 31st. Workers remained on full pay during this time, and many workers entered the company redundancy scheme thanks purely to this (Vestas was to refuse them any redundancy despite the fact they were days from the minimum time needed). This was one of many small victories.

With the end of the occupation, many in the local press spoke of the 'end of the campaign' - no doubt in part thanks to ideas put out by Vestas themselves. On the contrary, rallies and meetings continued, the local JobCentre was 'Rushed', demos happened around the Isle of Wight and nationally, including one march which ended with local campaigners and supporters invading the Vestas site, and temporarily occupying the factory (leaving of their own will).

Focus then shifted to the Wind Turbine Blades that were being stored both in Southampton (109 blades) and the St. Cross factory (9 blades). Activists occupied a crane and two barges in Southampton, and blockaded the gate wherby blades were moved to the River Medina on the Island. Vestas security attempted to make it known that Vestas were unconcerned about the 'Blade Blockade', but activists estimated the value of the Blades at £750,000, and the police operation to evict the camp suggests some degree of importance attached to the removal of the blockade.

Newswire