Today saw the London Solidarity Federation hold a picket in support of a victimised Whole Foods worker. The action was held in conjunction with protests in Boston, New York, Minneapolis, Seattle, Portland, Reno and San Francisco.

The demonstration had been called in defense of Natalia, a San Francisco Whole Foods worker who was sacked for speaking up in support of herself and her workmates and took place outside the Soho branch of Whole Foods in London.

Today saw SolFed members join a number of activists in the swanky Mayfair area of London to protest against the state killings of striking oil workers in Kazakhstan.

The demonstration took place outside the premises of the Kazakh-British Chamber of Commerce, a target that was chosen to highlight the role of British capital and the British state in the exploiting the workers in Kazakhstan’s oil communities.

More information can be found here:

http://solfed.org.uk/?q=protest-against-bloody-friday-in-kazakhstan

Urgent appeal for solidarity with workers in Kazakhstan:

The authorities in Kazakhstan have shot at a rally of striking oil workers in the West city Zhanaozen.The strike of about 1,500 workers demanding higher wages and better working conditions began in May, but was banned. The Oilfield of Karazhanbas, where conflict broke out, is being developed by the company, which belongs to the Chinese concern China International Trust Investment Company and the Kazakh company "KazMunayGaz".

Entering the council chambers of Liverpool Town Hall during a protest against his council's cuts programme, Labour Council Leader Joe Anderson claimed: "I got kicked in my ankles and punched in the side." This was reported unquestioningly by the Liverpool Echo and by Radio City 96.7.

The following video - taken by a member of Liverpool Solidarity Federation - shows him entering the town hall, surrounded by police officers and members of the City Watch. Neither they nor Anderson react at any point as if he is physically attacked. He enters the building unscathed.

Joe Anderson is a liar, as we can all see for ourselves!

North London Solidarity Federation hereby expresses its solidarity with Bloomsbury Fightback and the activists involved in the Bloomsbury Social Centre initiative in their resistance against the imminent threat of violent eviction by SOAS management.

Solfed members were on the pickets in London for the biggest wildcat strike of 2011 and one of the biggest electricians' walkouts of recent years. Below we summarise some of the events around Blackfriars as thousands of electricians downed tools against the breaking of national working agreements which will mean pay cuts of up to 35% and defied an injunction against official strike action brought by Balfour's legal team just days before. Below that we've collated summaries from elsewhere.

On November 30th, South London Solfed set out to support the strike in Lewisham. Members and friends got together with food, drink and positive energy for the pickets. We started at the town hall at 7am and moved north through the borough stopping at Kaleidoscope (NHS), Job Centre Plus, Lewisham Hospital, Wearside refuse centre and Goldsmiths college.

As well as bringing supplies, we helped leaflet and tried convincing workers not to cross picket lines. We found few union members willing to challenge their colleagues in a meaningful way. Having a group of 30 supporting picket lines boosted visibility and confidence, but workers will have to become more active in their workplaces to make the real difference. We hope that as this struggle goes on the social stigma attached to scabbing returns and we see stronger picket lines.

Yesterday, Liverpool Solidarity Federation members joined picket lines in Liverpool and Bootle to offer support to strikers and attended a 20,000-strong march through the City Centre. Below are several personal reports from members' blogs.

See reflections from striking Solfed members at Truth, Reason & Liberty and Working Class Self-Organisation.

A choice: race to the bottom or fight and win - blog by a Solfed member in the private sector who supported the strike.

An eyewitness account by a Hackney picket:

I went from my picket line to the CLR James library picket at about 10. On the bus up there I was a bit disturbed to see a police helicopter hovering above Dalston Junction. When I got to the library there were a huge number of TSG kettling about 35 people with a mobile sound system. I managed to speak to people in the kettle and they told me that two people had been beaten up and arrested earlier when people had tried to block the road.

I called people on my picket line and asked them to come quickly to the library. A small group of us stood around for ages occasionally having short conversations with the kettled protesters or telling the police that they were disgusting. I phoned my picket again and was dismayed to find out that they had all gone to another picket line that was nearer.

Brighton SolFed were out in force today for the public sector strikes, which saw a huge turnout of perhaps 10,000. Three feeder marches converged on Victoria Gardens in the city centre before marching around town and ending with a rally at the Level. A brief personal report and pictures are below:

Biggest march I've seen in Brighton, I'd guess 5-10,000. Couldn't see the back or the front of the march and it was overflowing the Level where it ended. Cops tried to randomly arrest a bystander and apparently some black bloc types dearrested them.

 

There were three feeder marches from across the city, one from council offices/hove town hall, one from whitehawk/the hospital and one from the universities picking up the parks and bin workers. There were huge cheers when the cityclean workers joined the feeder march from the unis. Very tangible sense of cross-sector solidarity.