Workers' Movements
News about Workers' Organisations, Struggles and Precarity
Mayday! In The East Midlands
10-05-2009 13:36
" It's important that we don't give up in the face of increasing economic uncertainty, an ever more authoritarian government, rampantly cruel capitalism and looming environmental disaster. Together, we can fight these monsters. I hope the positive, defiant atmosphere of May 2nd will help us keep strong to continue our struggles. "
We gathered at Brewhouse Yard on Saturday morning. Gazebos were hurried erected, and flags set flying. There was a large number of stalls from a variety of campaigning organisations and trade unions. Marchers were serenaded by the socialist Clarion Choir, and then set off for a short march along Maid Marian Way, Friar Lane, and along the side of the Square, returning by the castle and Robin Hood. The mood was upbeat as, preceded by a samba band, we waved banners, flags and placards as we marched. The welcome presence of a large contingent from the Communication Workers' Union, fighting to keep the mail public, and ably supported by Postman Pat, gave us a good presence on the streets.
Photos: 1 : Parade | 2 : Event
On the newswire: Nottm Mayday 2009 - Thanks to all who came - a personal perspective | Chesterfield Mayday Photos
Previous features: Nottingham Celebrates Mayday (2008) | Mayday! Mayday! Celebrations in Nottingham (2007) | Mayday in the East Midlands (2006)
Mersey May Day Solidarity Raises £300 For Sacked Visteon Workers
06-05-2009 01:42
March 28th: 40,000 on Put People First March
29-03-2009 15:11
A march for Jobs, Justice and Climate headed across London on Saturday 28th as part of a global campaign to challenge the G20 ahead of the summit taking place on April 2nd. About 40,000 people braved the cold weather from 11am until 5pm and marched from Victoria Embankment via Westminster to Hyde Park for a rally.
Timeline of march (and international reports)
Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Video | Audio |
YouTube: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Anarchist Rally Speeches |
Flickr: [pool] 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10
Report your news about the G20 and help Indymedia to cover the event.
Dispatch: 07588 479 039 also see: list of G20 protests
John Moores Students Protest Against Cuts
26-03-2009 17:48
Days of Action: G20 London Summit
25-03-2009 15:11
The G20 group (or G22) will be meeting at the Excel Center, London, on April 2nd 2009. The main aim of this summit is to discuss how to re-build confidence in the financial markets and “re-stabilise” the world economy given the current financial crisis. The meeting will be composed of finance ministers from the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the European Union, and the World Bank.
Callouts: Reclaim The Streets | Climate Camp | Summer Of Rage | Bristol Dissent | Fossil Fools Day | G20 maps (easily printable versions)
Links: G20 Meltdown | Climate Camp G20 | Manchester G20 | Put People First | We Won't Pay For Their Crisis | Stop the War Coalition | Palestine Solidarity Campaign | The British Muslim Initiative | Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament | What is the G20? | Indymedia UK G20 topic page
G20 Melbourne Summit 2006: A first communiqué from two uncitizens of Arterial Bloc (Video) | Payback: 100 Melbourne Police violently attack | V for victory | Photos
Merseyside Job Cull Begins
20-03-2009 22:48
Nottingham City Council workers protest job cuts
13-03-2009 12:56
On Monday 9th March, city council workers protested in Market Square against proposed cuts at the council which would see some 400 people laid off. The protest was several hundred strong and attracted particular attention in the local media because of the presence of film actor Samantha Morton, who was herself brought up in one of the council's children homes.
The evening after the protest and with no apparent regard for it whatsoever, Councillors passed the budget without amendment, confirming that 366 jobs would be cut with a further 333 vacant positions being axed. Inevitably, the council is now actively engaged in spinning the budget as an investment, an interpretation rejected by the unions.
Newswire: Council workers protest job cuts | Nottingham City Council job cuts demo | City Council cuts will damage your community services | City council job cuts protest: Interview
Previous Features: Credit Crunch Hits Nottingham | Local Government Workers in Notts Join National Strike | Notts Workers Join National Strike | Nottingham City Council: Mired in Corruption | Library Staff Speak Out Against Uniforms and Management Bullying | Public service workers out to protect pensions
Links: Nottingham City Council LOLs | Nottinghamshire, Nottingham & Mansfield Trades Union Council | Notts GMB | Unison
Justice for the Shrewsbury 24 building workers!
11-03-2009 18:49
http://www.catalystmedia.org.uk/issues/nerve10/shrewsbury_pickets.php 37 years later, an Early Day Motion (EDM) has been tabled demanding a public inquiry into the gross miscarriages of justice and disclosure of all Government and security papers relating to the case.
Storm the Banks
06-03-2009 12:55
Climate Rush activists gathered outside RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland), Thursday 5th March to protest the incredible multi million pound pay out to Fred (the shred) Goodwin, former RBS Chief Executive, and more importantly, the banks continuing role in funding the climate changing industries of coal, gas and oil. Posting the largest losses in British corporate history, RBS lost £24.1 billion in 2008 and has since had billions of pounds of taxpayers' money pumped into it. Already the largest bailout to date, the government has agreed to inject a further £13 billion on top of the £20 billion already given, and to make a further £6 billion available. While the tax payer now owns at least 70% of its shares, the bank continues to operate as a private company,
On the same day as the Climate Rush demo outside RBS, the Bank of England reduced the base interest rate to 0.5% and announced the printing of £100 billion pounds of new cash to inject into the stalled economy. Next month, the G20 leaders (G22 to be more precise) will arrive in London to discuss further ways to get the poor to bail out the rich. Various groups are mobilizing to protest against the summit which the police are co-promoting as part of a 'summer of rage'.
The G20 Meltdown group say they're going to reclaim the City, 'thrusting into the very belly of the beast', with a four pronged assault on the Bank of England at noon on 1st April. That afternoon, as part of a series of actions leading up to the COP15 climate summit in Copenhagen, the Camp for Climate Action aim to expose how the discredited market mechanisms are being sold as a solution to climate change and are planning a climate camp in the city close the the Carbon Trading Exchange.
Links : Climate Rush target RBS Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | LCAP occupies RBS | Quantitive Easing | Corporate Undead | Image From The Future | Bristol Dissent g20 Call Out | Climate Camp hits the city | Press Complaint over G20 article | RBS boss pension | Arrogance of Capitalism | Environmental silver lining? | Climate chaos meets economic chaos | Bash a Billionaire | Doubt of global financial crisis? | Origins of the Credit Crunch | Summer of rage? | Demand for energy falling | Climate Crimes Delayed | Dissident Island Economic Special | "Pro-Capitalist" Mobilisation Video
Victory for wildcat strikers
12-02-2009 18:12
Thousands of workers in the construction industry who walked out in solidarity with workers at the Lindsey oil refinery run by Total in Killingholme, Lincolnshire, have won a significant victory. Strikers at Lindsey voted to accept a deal drawn up by union officials and the companies involved in the dispute and end their unofficial industrial action on Thursday 5th February.
The government and media have been keen to present this as a nationalist or even "racist" dispute and the ever-opportunistic BNP made efforts to capitalise on the struggle. Certainly there have been reactionary elements within the strike and the "British jobs for British workers" slogan, which echoes Prime Minister Gordon Brown, is unerringly reminiscent of the far-right. Nevertheless, the politics of the strike were complicated and at Langage Power Station near Plymouth, Polish workers joined strikers.
Regional Feature: Workers walk out at Staythorpe
Newswire: Strikes in oil refineries and power stations | British jobs for British workers - Green jobs for Green workers? | Oil and Power strikes: News, Resouces and analysis | Wildcat strikes in Newark | Today's wildcat strikes in the UK oil and now nuke business | Wildcat strikes - an open letter to the anarchist/anti-authoritarian movement | A 'Racist' Strike? | BNP activists agitating at wildcat strikes
Links: ConstructionWorkerUk | Unite the Union | Indymedia UK Workers Movements topic page
