Brighton Solidarity Federation

 Workers at the Brighton Housing Trust went on strike on 19. August, demanding negotiations and rejecting to work longer hours for less pay. About 40 staff and their supporters staged a rally outside BHT headquarters and then marched to Brighton Town Hall.

BHT, a homelessness charity working for the council, recently presented staff with new contracts that included pay cuts of £4,000 to £6,000, increased hours less sick pay, and less maternity leave. Charity bosses threatened those who didn't want to sign the new contracts with dismissal.

“BHT, once an employer of choice, has moved to one of the most heartless, aggressive and bullying organisations”, said Unison branch secretary Alex Knutsen. “Some of our members who work with homeless people will face the loss of their homes due to these proposals.”

Brighton was home to a vibrant anti-war movement against the attack on Iraq in 2003, but ultimately the movement was unsucessful as the war went ahead.

Out of this movement grew the Smash EDO campaign, which has established itself as one of the most successful and inspiring activist campaigns in the UK in recent year.

However, despite its numerous victories over the EDO's hired goons, lawyers and the police, Smash EDO has also not had any noticible impact on the war. 

Why might this be? And how can we take effective action against war?

This discussion document was written by a member of Brighton SolFed for the Brighton Class Struggle Forum on 18/08/09. Read it online here.

Supporters of the Vestas workers in Brighton have handed out some 1000 leaflets and raised over £100 in the past few days. On Thursday, one of us took the money to the Isle of Wight, where it was used to buy vital supplies based on a wishlist provided by the occupiers, and included food, drink, and crucially a kettle with tea and coffee . As reported in the Guardian and on Indymedia, a group of twenty people, including workers, local supporters, and campaigners from the Climate Camp, Workers Climate Action, the Anarchist Federation, AWL and others successfully brought these supplies into the Vestas wind turbine factory, to the whoops and cheers of the occupying workers.

The group split into two teams. One team approached the main entrance of the factory, carrying decoy bags of food, to draw off police and security guards. While this first team was being escorted and carried bodily from the site, a second team ran through a hedge and were able to pass a large sack of supplies up to the occupying Vestas workers. Vestas management have been attempting to starve the occupiers out. After much protest, they are currently providing them with one insubstantial meal per day such as a single slice of pizza or a lone sandwich per worker.

A number of NSSN supporters have been along to the Isle of Wight to support the workers occupying their factory. The previously un-unionised workforce have organised a very effective campaign and have the overwhelming support of the locals in Newport. The RMT who have come in to represent them are doing a top job, the workers call the shots but the union is backing them all the way.
A court hearing has been deferred until Tuesday because of procedural mistakes by Vestas management, giving more time to apply pressure on the company and the government.

The main problem is still the lack of decent food getting through, but despite this and the dismissal notices served to the workers inside morale remains very high.

As many locals might have read, refuse workers for city clean in Brighton and Hove are facing pay cuts of as much as £8000. These workers have previously been amongst the most militant in the City – in 2001 there was a large strike and occupation, which forced the council to take the previously privatised service back in house (more info) and last year saw over 200 workers out on wildcat strike against management bullying (more info). 

The council have fallen to a new low, attempting to keep a straight face while presenting this attack on pay as being part of their ongoing equality agenda. The council finally made offers of compensation earlier this year to thousands of largely female workers who had been illegally underpaid for years. The council had managed to spin this out since 2001, spending enormous amounts on consultants to tell them how to pay the minimum possible. The final payments offered were approximately half the amount owed - even by the councils own calculations. This was worked out by comparing the salary of people in traditionally female jobs, against those which were historically male jobs. Traditionally female jobs have for a long time been under paid – something this process was supposedly there to address - jobs were compared on a like for like basis, the idea being to eliminate the gender bias. The response from the council has been rather than accept they needed to bring up those they had underpaid, is set to be an attack those earning slightly more – this in a city with a London cost of living, but no complimentary salary weighting. It gives a good view into the mindset of those vastly overpaid to run the council that their response to decades of unequal pay is to bring down the wages of low paid workers even further.

This has happened other places such as Birmingham, which saw thousands on strike earlier this year against a “single status” settlement that was simply a poor disguised attempt to make huge attacks against the living standards of council workers. In other areas, such as Greenwich, local authorities have been forced to back down from such proposals by successful campaigns by trade unionists against such attacks, demanding equal pay, but without pay cuts.

This process isn’t just about cost saving. The council administration has long despised the refuse workers for their militancy. There is a pervasive attitude is one of “how dare these lazy dirty proles stand up for themselves”. As the recession bites deeper, talk along the lines of “they should be glad just to have a job” will doubtless come out, along with wild tales of the vast amounts these workers supposedly earn. Stories will be spread of how lazy they are, and other attempts to smear them. Perhaps those who feel they are lazy and underpaid should spend all day in the rain collecting garbage for a salary over a third below the Brighton average! We will have the bizarre spectacle of those who fly into an apoplectic rage whenever their bins are collected a day late declaring that “no one will notice if they are on strike anyway”. And when all that fails, it will become personal as it has in the past – inexplicable claims that have come out before saying “They’re all sexist and racist anyway, why should we care” – something that even if it was true, would have little to no bearing on their wages.
 
While underpaid workers getting back some of the money they have been denied for years is obviously a good thing, the whole situation exposes the problems of dealing with such issues on a legal basis. The equal pay settlement was won through legalistic means – this is the bosses terrain, and if they can give it to us, they will certainly try and take back. Right away, they have attempted to turn their defeat in having to pay this back pay into a victory, by using it to attack the refuse workers they so despise, and dividing up the workforce. If the equal pay settlement had been forced onto the council through workers taking action, rather than painstaking backroom union negotiations then this problem wouldn’t be here. Equal pay without anyone having their wages slashed can only be won on the basis of class solidarity – workers standing up for each other, and recognising they have both a common interest and a common enemy. If other workers show solidarity for the refuse workers now, then this is likely to be returned in the future when someone else needs it – as they have done in the past.

The attack on the refuse workers will just be the first step, as bosses all over attempt to force the cost of their crisis onto workers. The council may angrily demand how we propose to pay for these wages – let the managers justify their 6 figure salaries and work this out for themselves. If these workers can be screwed, then anyone can. Bosses want to set an example here and crush those who have dared resist their bullying and cost cutting in the past. In 2001 when the refuse workers went out on strike there was a mass campaign in support of them – supporters joined in shutting down would be scab lorries, and picketing agencies who attempted to recruit scabs. If the council don’t want to pay to have the bins emptied, then we must all join in and side with them and stop collections all over the city. Brighton Solidarity Federation are in solidarity with all workers who fight to promote their living standards. To get involved, email us at contact@brightonsolfed.org.uk.

Leaflet (pdf) we produced for the Mayday! Mayday! demo.

123 years ago, on 4. May 1886, Chicago police opened fire on a rally supporting striking workers after a pipe bomb had been thrown at police lines by a never identified individual . In the aftermath of the Haymarket massacre, the state launched a campaign of terror against the movement for the 8-hour work day. Hundreds of labour activists were rounded up and tortured, those wounded in the massacre did not seek treatment for fear of arrest and eight of Chicago's most active anarchists, who just days earlier helped organise a general strike for the 8-hour work day, were arrested and charged with the bombing. Although nobody even accused them of throwing the bomb, the subsequent show trial, accompanied by a hyterical media campaign against anarchists, ended with 4 innocent people being hanged. It is their memory and the struggle for the 8-hour work day that the international worker's movement celebrates on May Day.

That state violence isn't just a thing of the past was brought home to Britain's TV viewers during the G20 protests. Through the media, the police had suitably prepared the ground, demonising demonstrators, telling the more faint of heart “we're up to it and we're up for it”. On the day itself, the state mostly got the set-piece ritual it wanted – images of cartoon villains smashing RBS, protesters kettled in and reduced to urinating on the pavement, dozens were batonned on the head, the climate camp was violently broken up. However when footage surfaced of Ian Tomlinson being assaulted from behind by a TSG cop and dying, their lies started to fall apart - Tomlinson did not die of a heart attack, instead of protesters thowing masses of bottles at police medics, cops chased protesters trying to give first aid. Yet even if the cop who caused Ian Tomlinson's death is reprimanded to keep up the 'one rotten apple' story, one thing is clear - the police bosses who prepared the media for police violence and who train the thugs of the TSG will never be accountable.

Brighton's anti-war activists have also been assaulted by cops, smeared in the media, and dragged into court. Their crime? Harassing capital, i.e. campaigning to shut down the local arms factory that makes bomb release mechanisms, most recently used in the Gaza massacre. There is another tradition here – the arms factory is owned by ITT, infamous for giving money to the Nazis and building bombers for the Luftwaffe, and who helped bring the murderous dictatorship of Pinochet to power in Chile. So we have a situation where ITT profits from British workers producing weapons to be used by Israeli workers to kill Palestinian workers – and those trying to put an end to this obscenity face the batons of cops, the wigs of judges and prosecutors, and the gates of prison.

Global capitalism is in crisis. The cost will be borne by the international working class who is looking at further impoverishment, long-term unemployment, and more exploitative working conditions. Yet ordinary people are fighting back – the sacked Visteon workers in Enfield and Belfast occupied their factory, parents in Glasgow and Lewisham occupy their children's schools to stop closure, Greek youth fought a police murder and economic crisis, while a wave of 'boss-nappings' is sweeping France.

In the tradition of the Haymarket workers we continue the struggle to overcome this absurd system that makes human beings into mere human resources serving the needs of capitalism, and replace it with a new society that will free us by making the system serve humanity's needs. Of course those who make themselves obstacles to capitalism's blind drive for profitability will be met with repression at all levels – by the police, by the judicial system, by the media. So we need to fight – against their violence we need collective direct action by ordinary people, against their racism and fear-mongering we promote internationalism, against impoverishment we need to organise mutual aid and concrete support, and against their attempts to isolate our struggles by making them into a media circus, we need to build solidarity between different struggles, be they striking workers, parents occupying their children's school or those taking action against war and militarism.

On Saturday 4th April, we took part in the National Day of Action against Subway. This was called to support the campaign against the sacking of Natalia Szymanska, and initiated in Brighton by the Brighton local of the Solidarity Federation.

Natalia was dismissed a month after informing her bosses that she was pregnant, for breaking Health & Safety rules – specifically that her partner (also a member of staff at the same Subway) was an unauthorised member of staff on the premises whilst Natalia was locking up so he could walk her home. Further details can be found here.

At 11am, we met at the Subway branch on Queens Street near Brighton station. One of us went inside and explained to the staff that we were not protesting against them and gave out some of our leaflets for Subway workers.

We picketed this branch for over 3 hours, giving out hundreds of leaflets, explaining the situation to prospective Subway customers, many of whom decided to go to somewhere different to eat. There were very few customers that went into the Subway sandwich shop whilst we were outside. Lots of passers-by were very supportive of the National Day of Action, and talked to us about the sacking of Natalia Szymanska, and many other workers' rights issues too. The press also arrived to take photos of us and our placards as we picketed the branch.

At around 11.30am, there were enough of us to split up and picket two additional stores. One of these stores was very busy, being right in the centre of the shopping area of Brighton. The manager of this branch came out several times to move the picket away from the doors, but the picket was still successful, turning many people away over the course of several hours.

At around 2.15pm the picketers all met back at the first branch as the main lunchtime rush was over. We handed letters to the managers of the three franchises before we left, explaining why we were picketing, calling on them to put pressure on Subway and the franchisee involved, G.G. Cuisine in Belfast.

The demands being made on Subway are simple:

• Immediately reinstate the pregnant worker

• Reimburse her for loss of earnings

• Compensate her for injury to feeling

• Treat all workers fairly

On Saturday 4. April, we'll be taking part in the day of action against Subway across the UK and Ireland against their firing of pregnant worker Natalia Szymanska.
Natalia was fired by Subway on manufactured charges a month after informing her manager she was pregnant. In support of the campaign to reinstate her, and to give a message that we will not accept workers being treated this way, Subway branches across the UK and Ireland are being targetted.
Let Subway know they will not be allowed to go about their normal business, until they put this right!

Background:
19 year old Natalia Szymanska was a 5 months pregnant migrant worker at a Belfast branch of Subway. She was working until 10pm, and so arranged for her boyfriend - an employee of the very same company - to pick her up and walk her home. He had done this many times previously, with the full knowledge and agreement of her managers and never before had it been a problem. However, unknown to Natalia her managers had a different plan on this occasion, because a month previously she had informed them she was pregnant - a fact which would require them to provide her paid maternity leave.  

In the belief she would have no option but to live with it, management seized upon the presence of her boyfriend, and Natalia was dismissed in a farce of a disciplinary. Their excuse was violation of health and safety - allowing an “unauthorised member of staff” onto the premises. Quite why the presence of another employee of the same company represented such a dire threat to health and safety was never explained.

Natalia turned to the Belfast and District Trade Union Council, who for the past several months have been holding a regular series of pickets of the premises in question, supported by a wide array of organisations from the labour movement and beyond. Thus far, G.G. Cuisine, the franchise holder has been unwilling to budge, and so the decision was made to turn up the pressure, and spread the pickets across the whole of Britain and Ireland. The aim is to force Subway to pressure G.G. Cuisine into settling with Natalia and to show that we will not allow bosses to treat any worker with such contempt. Pregnant women are frequently treated in similar ways, as if they were somehow being selfish in having a child it is not just a problem for Natalia, but a pattern across thousands of workplaces across the country. Such attacks on workers must be resisted wherever they appear – an injury to one is an injury to all! 

Demands being made on Subway are simple:

• Immediately reinstate the pregnant worker
• Reimburse her for loss of earnings
• Compensate her for injury to feeling
• Treat all workers fairly

Leaflets:

We have made several leaflets that you can download:  leaflet advertising the Brighton picket. ; leaflet to be handed out at the picket ; leaflet for Subway staff ; press release for local media.

In January 2009 we produced a pamphlet entitled "Strategy and struggle - anarcho-syndicalism in the 21st century" as a clarification of the meaning of anarcho-syndicalism in the 21st century, and as a contribution to the debate over strategy and organisation.

Central to anarcho-syndicalism is the revolutionary union through which workers organise themselves to fight for their interests, including ultimately the expropriation of the means of production to be managed democratically without bosses. The revolutionary union functions according to the priciples of solidarity, direct action and rank-and-file control. In our pamphlet, we ask how such a revolutionary union can arise in a 21st century context, in the light of historical experience, contemporary anarcho-syndicalist successes and criticisms that have been made of anarcho-syndicalism. We argue that the revolutionary potential of workers organisations is tightly linked to the wider class struggle, and that organistions should be distinguished according to several characteristics: permanent organisations that are uncoupled from the level of class struggle vs. non-permanent organisations that are an expression of workers' self-organisation in militant class conflict ; mass organisations that are open to all workers vs. minority organisations that unite workers on the basis of shared politics ; and revolutionary organisations that are actually capable of making a revolution vs. pro-revolutionary organisations that only advocate social revolution. We argue that the revolutionary union is a non-permanent mass organisation that can only arise in the context of militant class-struggle, and we explain our interpretation of the Solidarity Federation's industrial strategy.

Our pamphlet is available in the libcom.org library, where it has also been discussed.