Tag: NATIONAL

NO JUSTICE, NO PIECE

ACTIVISTS ACROSS THE southwest picketed Domino’s stores back in mid-September to show solidarity with striking pizza delivery workers in Australia. Pickets from Bristol to the South Coast were well received by the public, who were shocked to learn that greedy Domino’s bosses are slashing pay for Auzzie delivery drivers by 19%, adding up to a whole lot of lost dough, all with the collaboration of their boss-friendly union. In disgust, the workers set up their own union, affiliated to the anarchist International Workers Association and have since been striking, taking direct action and calling for solidarity actions all over the world. Bristol Domino’s workers, initially concerned about the demo, soon became more supportive when they learned that it was all to support their antipodean mates. Management on the other hand flew off the handle, angrily berating protesters and going to the top(ping) by bringing in a regional manager to the Bristol demo (brilliant news, as now the high-ups know what people think of their thin-crust pay and conditions). Meanwhile, solidarity protests cropped up in other parts of the U.K., as well as France, Germany, (home of the pizza) Italy and (home of the bastardised pizza) America. With every solidarity action reported to be boosting the morale of the Auzzie drivers, it can only be a matter of time before the Domino’s bosses get stuffed (crust) and the workers get a fair slice of the pizza-pie. Messages of solidarity and info about how to get stuck in can be left at: http://www.facebook.com/GeneralTransportWorkersAssociation

 

CHECKY CHAPPIES

IN YET MORE positive public transport-related news, a new campaign in the northeast has been setting a great example of how to deal with over-priced, profit-driven public transport. With fare prices shooting up and up, increasing numbers have been finding travel on the Tyne and Wear metro system an increasing financial burden. Enter ‘Checky Watch’, a leaderless movement dedicated to providing commuters with up-to-date information on the whereabouts of ticket inspectors (“checkies”) to help the hard-up people keep their quids. The campaign, started by 21 year-old Ben Heywood from Jarrow, attracted 10,000 Facebook followers in its first week and now has it’s own website, featuring intel on checky movements, and is organising public protests against the increasing cost of fares. From the start, the campaign has made it clear that the aim of the action is not to dodge paying for public transport indefinitely, but to pressure transport companies into charging affordable fares. A Checky Watch organiser said “This is not pushing to make Metros free, it’s trying to get the prices down. One person can’t make a difference, but 5,000-odd can.” And how have the metro bosses responded? Obviously not by taking the demands of commuters seriously, but by announcing plans to spend hundreds of thousands on expensive barriers and security checks!

Even though their demands have not yet been met, Checky Watch is a great example of how ordinary people, organising together, can fight back and win improvements in our daily living conditions when we stop begging for scraps off the table and take matters into our own hands.

Before signing off though, The Mutineer would like to remind it’s readers that, while fare-dodging (especially against rip-off merchants) is both big and clever, the checkies themselves are getting ripped off by the same company that rips off its commuters, with attacks on wages and working conditions. The bosses can deal with the odd fare dodger and even the occasional strike, but checkies and Checky Watchers uniting would be enough to make any fare-hiking, wage-slashing capitalist quake in their loafers.

 

LIFE ON THE EDGE

…THE EDGE FUND, that is! Fed up of having to choose between funding your revolutionary agit-prop at the printshop, or one more pint at the bar? Tired of sitting through the bullshit of yet another cheapskate trying to blag their way past the door at your benefit gig? Well, fear no longer! If your grassroots group is campaigning for social, economic or environmental justice and/or systemic change, or faces injustice itself, then you need The Edge! Grants of under £5,000 are available for U.K.-based groups now; simply e-mail a page describing who your group is, what you do, your group’s annual income and how you plan to combat the existing economic/political system(s) to: edgefund[at]riseup.net, or contact 07767 126915, before 1st December (The Edge Fund is not to be confused with the guitarist from U2, but if you ask nicely/mug him roughly, he may well be good for it, too).

http://www.edgefund.org.uk

BEARING THE BRUNT OF RED OCTOBER

OCTOBER 20TH WILL see hundreds of thousands descend on London for what is being billed as the biggest protest yet against the cuts. The demo, organised by the T.U.C., follows a steady stream of resistance to austerity over the last couple of years, including the massive March 26th demo of 2011 which saw 500,000 people swamp London, and banks, posh hotels and stores like the Ritz getting a much deserved ‘redecoration’. With the Coalition’s popularity at an all-time low, and the arguments for austerity in tatters, why not come along and let Cameron and his millionaire mates know we’re not going to take it any more? In the run up to the demo, teachers and other public sector workers will be on strike and there will be large protests at the Tory conference in Brum on the 7th – all in all, a ballache for the Bullingdon boys! There will be something for everyone – as well as a massive, peaceful march, direct action groups are already organising to make sure we give the rich and powerful their just desserts. Dozens of coaches will be travelling to the demo from all over the southwest – check out http://www.falseeconomy.org.uk/oct20 for up-to-date info on transport options near you.

SOLIDARITY FOR NEVER?

 

AFTER OVER 90% of the membership of Unison, the largest public service trades union, voted in line with their leadership’s recommendations – voting ‘Yes’ to accept the government’s new pensions deal – on the 24th August, an email leaked to anarchist website Libcom showed off the union leaders’ darker side. While the deal accepted was a better version than what the Con-Dems first offered before the strikes of November 30th, the agreement now still obliges the majority of workers to work longer, pay more contributions and earn less. In the run-up to the ballot, not only did the leadership campaign hard for a ‘Yes’ against the interests of their members, but when, despite bullying, some rebel branches still rejected the deal, the leaders hypocritically cited ‘Code of Good Branch Practice 4.4’ (a rule actually brought in to stop individual branches campaigning AGAINST industrial action when it had already been democratically voted in), and spied to coerce workers to toe the line: implying the threat of disciplinary action purely against those who would fight to defend themselves.

Whilst we recognise that unions are one of the most viable ways for people to organise to improve their lot, particularly in the face of current Tory-inspired economic attacks, we here at the Mutineer once again find ourselves disappointed by the actions of the bureaucrats at the top of certain unions, who seem to take every opportunity to side with the bosses and stifle meaningful resistance. Despite frequent tough talk and posturing, Unison head honcho Dave Prentis and friends have made a long-running habit of expelling and demonising members who really want to take the fight to the bosses. We can only hope that the Unison rank and file take a leaf out of his book and kick out the bigwigs who always seem to side with the boss at the first opportunity.

http://libcom.org/blog/unison-officials-spy-their-own-activists-ensure-yes-vote-pensions-25082012

 

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM

 

FREEDOM PRESS, THE publishers of the UK’s longest-running anarchist newspaper (circa 1886) are in danger of folding, after having to settle a copyright claim out of court for £4,000 with freelance photographer David Hoffman. As well as the newspaper, Freedom run a bookshop and publishing wing, and provide office space for various radical organisations, such as SolFed, the Advisory Service for Squatters and CorporateWatch. Like the rest of the movement they are woefully under-resourced. But Hoffman took exception to the fact that a number of his shots from the 80’s and 90’s were used in the book ‘Beating the Fascists’. Hoffman is now developing a charming penchant for financially crippling organisations he is allegedly sympathetic to, after his £10,000 payout earlier in the year bankrupted drugs charity D.A.R.E. In response to the crisis, Freedom have called a series of emergency meetings to rescue their paper, including one during this year’s London Anarchist Bookfair on the 27th October. To find out how you can help, check out http://www.freedompress.org.uk. David Hoffman need not apply.

http://www.freedompress.org.uk/news/2012/08/03/freedom-press-public-meeting

 

OCCUPATIONAL HAZARDS

 WORKERS FROM THE threatened Remploy program occupied their manager’s office in protest to the planned closure of their workplaces. Remploy is a government-run group of workplaces, providing employment for people with a range of disabilities. By the end of the year, the Coalition plans to close more than half of Remploy’s 54 sites, resulting in the loss of over 1,700 jobs. As part of its brutal program of austerity, and in keeping with its passion for hitting the poorest and most vulnerable hardest, they insist that the workers should be able to find ‘normal’ jobs in private industry. The facts paint a different picture – following the last round of jobs cuts at Remploy two years back, 85% of workers are still unemployed. After the most recent round of factory closures, some bosses didn’t even have the guts to let the workers – some with learning difficulties – know face-to-face that they were being made redundant. The hypocrisy is doubly hard to bear when it comes from a government attempting to ride a wave of popularity off the back of the Paralympics, while tossing disabled workers – including Brian Davies, a Remploy worker who has won four Paralympic gold medals – on the scrapheap.

On August 23rd, having booked a meeting to talk with a senior Remploy boss in Leicester, Remploy workers decided it would be more productive to occupy his office, refusing to leave until the Disabilities Minister, Maria Miller, committed to further negotiations before the closing of any factories! The workers are determined to fight back, with five days of strike action planned for early this month. They have called for solidarity in their fight for dignified employment; if you would like to support the Remploy workers, check out their website at http://www.remployworkers.info.

On the other hand, what to do when strikes and occupations fail? Well, we hope Remploy won’t follow the burning example of the Maruti Suzuki carplant staff in India. On the 9th July, following over a year of wage disputes and a poorly-timed nasty comment from a supervisor, the workers kicked off, ransacked offices, and then apparently locked the execs in a room and lit them up! Nine police were injured in the battle, an H.R. Manager fried, and at least 99 arrests were made. But honestly, we’ve all dreamed bout torching the boss, right?

http://rt.com/news/india-suzuki-plant-clashes-567

 

DIDDLY SQUAT?

THE LIVES OF squatters and the vulnerably housed will be made ever more interesting from 1st September, thanks to the Coalition’s new law – the tongue-tying s144 LASPO 2012. According to the Advisory Service for Squatters: “Not everyone who is squatting, or considered by others to be squatting, will be affected by the new law, but people will need to be prepared to explain, quite forcefully at times, why they are not affected.” For the exact wording of the law, see A.S.S.’s site (http://www.squatter.org.uk). Adding further to this, an internal police Powerpoint presentation is doing the rounds with the Met and other forces, on how to deal with the new law and the superpowers it bestows. Crucially, in situations where the new law has no impact (such as in non-residential buildings, or in buildings where the occupiers have been tricked into entering by bogus letting agents), police who desperately want to make an arrest are given a list of other crimes to try to fit up with.

COULDN’T GIVE ATOS

 Olympic Sponsors Medalling With The Lives of The Disabled

AS IRONIC AS it is, ATOS Origin – an I.T. company with the prize-winning £100 million deal to cut people with disabilities and mental health problems from their only means of income – has now been given sponsorship of the Paralympics! The tests which the company administer include whether the person can move an empty cardboard box from one table to another, and whether they can stand still or not: this takes around 20 minutes and is undertaken by apparent ‘medical practitioners’, though this does not necessarily mean doctors. In fact ATOS’ tests ignore anything your doctor may think about your condition and don’t take mental health into account at all. 32 people who’ve been kicked off the sick by ATOS, and found ‘fit’ for work, die every week. Not only are the tests ineffective and unfair, but they are very stressful for those forced to take them. It means months of worrying whether you’ll have enough money to live by, while awaiting your test. If you fail, then there is a chance of a tribunal (with one in three being won by the claimant), but as soon as your money is started up again you get asked to attend another medical! And so the cycle continues. The company disgustingly profits from misery, and the way the govermint are rubbing it in the faces of those whose lives are ruined, by making ATOS a Paralympics sponsor, is sick!

It seems that ATOS are trying to link themselves in with the idea of those few disabled athletes with ‘superhuman’ abilities, and trying to persuade us that they have some ethical reasoning. But are we that easily fooled? Most people with disabilities can’t even dream of being part of the Paralympics, just like most able-bodied people can’t participate in the Olympics. Maybe ATOS just want the opportunity to stand at the finish line telling the athletes they’re fit for work! There will be anti-ATOS demos and direct action ongoing throughout the country while the games are happening, including closing down ATOS’ H.Q. on Friday 31st August, joined by some Paralympians like gold-winning swimmer Tara Flood (which ended up being brutally attacked by police, who trashed wheelchairs and broke one man’s shoulder). For more information about ATOS, and for advice if you are being hounded to go to a medical yourself, please visit: http://www.dpac.uk.net.

 

NO NUKES IS GOOD NUKES

AS ENERGY SUCKRETARY Ed Davey is planning a new Energy Bill this Autumn, Somersettites are getting a little hot under the collar. The basis for the new Bill is ‘Contracts for Difference’, a form of fancy new subsidies for ‘low-carbon’ companies (read: nuclear power), where suppliers are guaranteed long-term contracts with a pre-agreed, artificially inflated price. Taxes, taxes! Not only are we going to be shaken down with £60 billion of extra taxes and higher bills, but, as we’re talking nuclear power, our kids and our kids’ kids will be sitting on a shitty legacy of radioactive waste.

But, we’re not all gonna take this lying down: in Japan, following Fukushima, between 75,000 and 170,000 are on the streets every Friday night calling for an end to nuclear power. Over here, back in March, 1,000 or so blockaded the entrance to Hinkley Point power station in opposition to E.D.F. Energy’s diabolical plans. The Stop New Nuclear Alliance is holding a non-violent weekend protest camp in Somerset from 5th to 9th October, with a demo in Bridgwater on the 6th, and a mass trespass of the proposed Hinkley C site on the 8th. Premature E.D.F. aren’t even waiting to receive planning permission before they Eagerly Destroy Fields in preparation, so trespassers will be sowing the seeds of resistance by planting wildflowers and other native species. If your dream Monday day-out involves yawning for hours in a police cell, this is the one for you!

26 years after the Chernobyl disaster, just 20% of Belarussian children are born healthy. For the first time in over half a century, Japan is nuclear-free, but the people are still footing the bill: the Tepco corporation was re-nationalised due to the cost of compensation and stabilising the reactors, people are still living in contaminated areas, and people are encouraged to eat radioactive food to support Fukushima farmers: the triple meltdown is still in full swing. Spiralling costs for new reactors in France and Finland are also causing a chain reaction of financial judders around the world. Over here, several Chinese companies are now considering building new stations at Wylfa in Anglesey and Oldbury in Gloucestershire. At Hinkley C, the toxic sludge will need to be stored on site for over 100 years: the dangers associated with flooding, accidental leakage and terrorist attack (real terrorists, not just the ones handing out leaflets) are apparently totally unacceptable.

But ecos say that a future without unclear power is not just a dream: Germany has set out a nuclear-free roadmap that is safe and affordable enough to reach its commitment of 80% carbon reduction by 2050; if they can do it, why not us? The way forward is through energy reduction and greater investment to make renewable energy fit for the 21st century. Further details of the protest weekend can be found at: http://stopnewnuclear.org.uk.

http://stopnewnuclear.org.uk
http://bristol.indymedia.org/article/710586