demonstrations, pickets and protests

Hull Solidarity Federation have picketed Holland and Barrett again, on the 26th of May. From 11am to 2pm we handed out leaflets and struck up conversations with passersby and potential customers, informing them about use of 'workfare' and encouraging them not to shop there. Handing out the same leaflets we made for last time, we successfully turned away a fair few potential shoppers, whilst we estimate that our presence in official hi-visibility Solidarity Federation picket vests deterred further amounts of people through their sheer brightness in the mid day sun.

250 people marched through Hackney on Saturday against the threat of 55 redundancies at Hackney College. Although there have been redundancies every year bar one for ten years, this year the proposed cuts are much more serious.
In a borough with 11, 243 people claiming JSA chasing just 669 jobs in the jobcentre, courses that may be closed include basic literacy, basic maths and health and social care. All the courses in the Access department are at risk even though Access to Nursing, for example, is already full with more than a hundred people on the waiting list. 

Re-posted from Johnny Void's blog:

Workfare campaigners staged a lively day of action in South London [on 19th May] following the call out from South London Solidarity Federation.

Snake oil salesmen Holland & Barrett, who have plans to replace around a quarter of their staff with unpaid labour, were the target on a day which also saw actions in Hackney, Brighton and Lincoln.

In Lewisham protesters met in the town centre and thwarted a heavy police and security presence outside Holland & Barrett in the shopping centre by heading to leafy Blackheath instead.

On Saturday 19th May Holland and Barrett once again felt the heat in Brighton and Hove as the Solidarity Federation staged a further picket just a week after the last one. This time we used the opportunity of our monthly tenants’ and workers’ rights stall to target the health food chain in George Street, Hove.

On the 19th of May Thames Valley SolFed coordinated a day of action against Holland & Barrett as part of the national SF anti-workfare campaign. Pickets were held in both Reading & Oxford.

Hull Solidarity Federation took to the streets at 12pm on Saturday 12th May, to protest against Holland and Barrett's participation in the government's "Workfare" program. We provided a visible and persuasive picket, requesting people refuse to shop at Holland and Barrett so long as it continues to use unpaid labour in its shops.

Before doing so, we handed a letter to the staff, indicating that our picket was not aimed at them, but only their employers. Fortunately for them, due to it being a Saturday, there were no "workfare" staff there at the time. We also handed out a number of leaflets to passersby and potential Holland and Barrett customers.

Saturday 5 May saw joint action against workfare by Liverpool Solidarity Federation and UK Uncut Liverpool. We held pickets at both Holland and Barrett stores as well as at WH Smith and distributed over 1,000 leaflets to the public.

When we arrived at the first Holland and Barrett, the security guard instantly shut the doors on us, fearing an occupation of the shop. Instead, we lined up outside with banners, signs and flags and began distributing leaflets. As well as announcing why we were there over a megaphone, we spoke to members of the public who were curious what we were doing and were largely receptive.

There were one or two people who were hostile to the picket, but they were in the minority. We also had a visit from a security guard who had tried to get pictures of everyone's faces at the last event, but he soon left after being followed around with a camera.

May 1st was, of course, Mayday, International Workers’ Day, held in memory of the six anarchists executed after the Haymarket riot, a protest in Chicago way back in 1886 over the 8 hour working day.  Despite it falling on a normal working day this year, both London SF branches called an anti-Workfare roving picket through central London, as well as attending an electricians’ picket and, least interestingly, the official, Trade Union Congress (TUC) march.

The electricians’ picket – called by the Sparks rank and file group – was in response to employers trying to block rank and file activists from even attending the ongoing negotiations over the JIB agreement. We braved the bleak, grey early morning for a couple of hours befire retreating to a
café for a break and a caffeine fix.

MEET: 12:00pm @ Clerkenwell Green.

RE-CONVERGE: 16:00pm @ West One Shopping Centre (by Bond Street tube)

MAP OF LOCATIONS: http://g.co/maps/wx93f

On May Day we are calling on all those fighting back against the government's austerity plans to join us in taking direct action against companies participating in the workfare schemes. Instead of standing around and listening to speeches at the end of the TUC march we will be heading straight into the West end to regroup and start taking action.

Workfare is a range of government schemes that make people on benefits work for their dole. The government and some in the media present it as a way of encouraging people back into work by gaining experience. This ignores two things – first, there are not enough jobs available for those who want them; and second, workfare placements themselves are taking jobs away from paid workers.

On Saturday 28 April, Liverpool Antifascists picketed Quiggins Attique, owned by National Front mayoral candidate Peter Tierney.

Anti-fascists held a banner aloft over the shop front between 10am and 12.30pm, whilst giving out leaflets and speaking to passers by. Tierney, previously a member of the British National Party before defecting to the National Front, has a prior conviction for attacking a trade unionist with a camera tripod. He was also involved in another fracas in December 2010 which saw his brother charged with assault for punching an anti-fascist.

The response from members of the public was overwhelmingly positive. The only exception was a man who lives above the shop, who tried to threaten the picket with a large dog and a chain wrapped around his hand. He soon fled when the threat failed.

Throughout the event, Tierney stayed within his shop and kept it closed until around 2pm. It was due to have opened at 10.30am.