On Wednesday May 26th, rank and file sparks (electricians) blockaded the Atomic Weapons Establishment site at Burghfield, near Reading. The action, which was advertised in a previous Freedom article, was the latest in a series of protests held by construction workers across the country under the slogan “No to ESO”. The protests started in response
Since early March, rank-and-file sparks (electricians) have been holding regular actions targeting construction companies Balfour Beatty and NG Bailey. The dispute started with those companies attempting to bring in workers without sufficient training to carry out electrical work on the Hinkley Point C nuclear reactor, and it now looks set to spread to another part
The United Private Hire Drivers Branch of the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) protested on Tuesday 4 May outside Bolt offices in London. Following the murder of Bolt driver Gabriel Bringye while on a job for Bolt in February, drivers have been calling for better safety protections from the app-based operator. This protest
Along with the ongoing protests against the Policing Bill, the past month has seen another, less high-profile struggle playing out across the UK, as electricians and other construction workers have mounted a campaign against employers trying to de-skill their trade. The dispute started after an attempt to introduce a new grade of ESO, which stands for
Hundreds of Deliveroo riders from across the UK are expected to strike in an action to coincide with the company’s IPO valuation, taking place on the 7th of April. An investor briefing produced by the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB), Share Action and The Private Equity Stakeholder Project has highlighted some of the
Construction is one of the few industries left today where there’s still a living tradition of self-organised rank-and-file militancy, especially among electricians. This spirit was shown in a major dispute at the start of the 2010s, when a huge wildcat by electricians defeated an attempt by construction companies to impose a new national agreement that
George, 24, is having to go to work at a small London office during the pandemic, despite being able work from home. “The whole thing is to stay home, save lives…We are laughing in the face of that,” he says. There have been more than 3,700,000 cases and over 100,000 Covid deaths in the UK.
The TEFL Workers’ Union (a section of the IWW) has filed for a tribunal to support English language teachers who suffered financial loss as a result of Kaplan International’s use of rolling fixed-term contracts. TEFL stands for Teaching English as a Foreign Language. Kaplan is a global operator with schools in 25 locations across the
On 14th January, the workers of the British company Fresh Tom Export in Almería (South Spain), a vegetable grower and trading company specialising in tomato crops, decided by almost unanimous vote to go on indefinite strike. On Tuesday 19th January, the workers started the strike officially and it has been massively followed since then. The
We have to work most of our lives. Our efforts, time, ideas, successes and failures are compressed into rubles, dollars and euros – impersonal banknotes, which are constantly lacking to fulfill our desires and needs. Typically, work is fraught with wage delays, employers’ machinations, nervousness and humiliation from idiotic rules and bosses fooling around. (https://antijob.net/manifest)
Lyubov Lizunova is accused of terrorism for a "Death to the Regime" graffiti and "approving" the arson of military recruitment offices
The naïve ones believe that the economic system that is causing the trouble will also miraculously save us all.
Direct action has again halted production at Instro, a subsidiary of Israel's largest weapons company, Elbit Systems, preventing all entry.
The protest is inspired by the non-stop picket held outside the South African Embassy in London from 1986 until Mandela's release in February 1990.
Freedom received this statement from the Camden Art Cafe squatters who have liberated Gordon Ramsay's York and Albany Hotel restaurant in Camden:
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