IWA-AIT

On January 5th 2013, South London SF hosted a conference to celebrate the 90th Anniversary of the International Workers Association (IWA), to which SF is affiliated. The programme was lively and aimed not only at the history of the IWA but also at the current activities of the sections. As well as participants from across the UK, comrades came from France (CNT-F GAP), Slovakia (Priama Akcia) and Germany (FAU).

Despite the late notice and shortening of the programme due to unforeseen circumstances and illness of the main organizer, the conference was a success. There were four main talks, interspersed with breaks. The talks were well received and there were over one hundred attendees at various points in the day. You can find the IWA-AIT conference programme on the SolFed website. What follows are the notes taken from all the presentations.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, including one of the key organisers and speakers having been taken seriously ill, we have had to reduce the conference to just Saturday 5th January 2013. Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.

IWA-AIT 90th anniversary conference
Hosted by South London Solidarity Federation

Final programme

12:00 – 13:15 IWA - 90’s years of ideas & practice
For 90 years the IWA has been at the forefront of the struggle against capital and the state, a SolFed member with decades of experience as an workplace militant and long time IWA affiliate introduces the theory and practice behind anarcho-syndicalism.

13:15 – 14:00 Break

Domino's delivery drivers in Australia have had their pay cut 19% overnight. As their trade union was complicit in the cut, the drivers have formed a new union, the General Transport Workers Association (GTWA), to fight the pay cut. The GTWA called for a global day of action to support their struggle, and SF members in Brighton were happy to respond to the call. We spoke to staff about why we were there, giving them information on workplace rights, and leafletted the general public with information on Domino's attack on workers' conditions.

Solidarity actions also happened across the UK and around the world, and are continuing this weekend. The GTWA is affiliated with the Anarcho-Syndicalist Federation (ASF), an Australian 'friend' of the Solidarity Federation's international, the International Workers' Association (IWA).

Picket outside Holland and Barrett, Saturday 31st March. We managed to turn away a good proportion of customers, handing out leaflets at the door and to passers by. Despite being a Saturday in the Bigg Market - a popular drinking haunt for stag and hen parties - the picket went down well.

We had hoped to support the CNT and the general strike in Spain only to find that the Spanish Consulate has been closed. On the 30th, we leafleted the Holland and Barret shop we were going to picket the following day and had a chat with the workers in the shop. We leafleted then went on to leaflet the shops close by again talking to workers. We then went on to leaflet shops round the centre of Manchester.

On 31 we picketed a Holland and Barret shop in the centre of Manchester. We gave out several hundred leaflets. The picket followed the usual routine: manager came out, asked us to leave, we refused. She then called police a bit of a heated exchange and so on. One person who had just finished a Warkfare programme stopped to have a go at the police and went into the shop to have a go at the manager.  

Members of West Yorkshire Solidarity Federation were joined by Huddersfield Anarchists to picket Holland and Barrett in Halifax today as part the anti workfare campaign in conjunction with the IWA days of action.

We were met with a good response overall and gave out 250 leaflets. H&B had a member of staff on the door to "welcome shoppers" which shows they were worried we'd have an impact.

One person who we gave a leaflet to took it to the local Job Centre and handed it round. It apparently went down well. Other feedback included an ex member of staff at H&B who stated that they were a rubbish employer and leaving was the best thing she'd ever done.

This isn't the end, we will continue to hold pickets at various H&B branches (as well as other slave labour companies ) until they stop using unpaid slave labour.

On Friday 24th February members of York Anarchists and others took part in a picket of Adecco in solidarity with members of the CNT in Cordoba, Spain. This picket was part of a series of pickets held across the UK organised by the Solidarity Federation.

Read their blog on the event here.

Article by Vadim Damier at the occasion of the 140th anniversary of the Federalist International Workingmen´s Association

The “first” International Workingmen´s Association was founded in 1864 through the initiative of workers themselves but also with some participation of “politicians”.  Organizationally, it was built as an association of workers´ unions. According to the Statutes, there was no centralism. The workers of the same profession or area formed a section, all sections of any country formed a federation, and every country federation sent delegates to the General Council. This Council was purely a coordinating body - it could  not issue any decrees, instructions, etc. It was to analyze disputes and misunderstandings between the sections. All sections and federations maintained their autonomy.

Workers at a Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) factory in Cordoba, Spain have been on indefinite strike since 28th November, camped out all day and night in front of the factory.

The strike was called in protest at plans to make workers redundant and replace them with non-union labour with no experience or qualifications, hired through EUROCEN -  the logistics division of the ADECCO Group.

ADECCO is the largest employment agency in the world. Beside profiting on precarity and casualisation, ADECCO and other employment agencies are fast becoming the go-to source for scabs and strikebreakers. Case in point: At the Asea Brown Boveri factory in Cordoba, Spain workers have struck over pay and conditions.

Besides sacking nine of the twelve members of the strike committee, ABB has now begun hiring scab labour from ADECCO. This disgusting behaviour must stop. Employment agencies have exploited us long enough. It's time for us to fight back. A win for workers at ABB, a giant multinational that operates in over 100 countries, will not only improve working conditions for Spanish workers, it will let employment agencies like ADECCO know that workers are willing to fight back against their unscrupulous practices.

Globally, ADECCO has over 5000 locations. In the UK, they own the Office Angels employment agency.