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Wage theft is when an employer takes money that rightfully belongs to the worker.

Wage theft is often illegal, but sometimes your boss can steal your pay without breaking any laws.

We believe that all wage theft is wrong, whether it's legal or illegal. Just because your boss isn’t breaking the law, doesn't mean you should put up with how they are treating you.

What is wage theft? | I’m worried about wage theft. What should I do? | How does wage theft happen? | Unpaid trial shifts | Non-payment of travel time | What if you work in social care? | What does this have to do with anarchism? | Deductions for uniforms, clothing and equipment | “Punitive” deductions | Other deductions | Non-payment of the National Minimum Wage | Unpaid overtime | Sources

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Capitalism is shit, oppression is shit - but what can we at SolFed do about it?

We need to change the world we live in - a world where exploitation at work and home, state violence, oppression and inequality run rampant.

We can’t do this as individuals - only mass collective action from across the breadth of the working class can achieve this. This doesn’t need to be controlled by a small handful of self-appointed leaders - but if we want to build a movement that challenges capital, the state and all forms of oppression, we need to get organised.

The Red represents the workers’ movement. We belong to the global class of people who work to produce all the goods and services in the world but receive only a fraction of the rewards. Through collective action, mutual-aid and solidarity we seek to empower the oppressed, to improve our lives and ultimately to end the exploitative relationships that dominate our society so that we can create a world where everybody everywhere can enjoy the benefits.

• Minimum wage - 21+ years: £12.71/ 18-20 years: £10.85/ under 18 or apprentice: £8
• Holiday - 28 days paid holiday per year from the day you start pro rata
• Breaks - uninterrupted 20min rest when working over 6 hours!
• Days off - at least a full 24hrs per week or 48hrs a fortnight
• Sick pay - no less than £123.25 per week up to 28 weeks
• Rest - at least 11 hours rest between shifts 

Don’t settle for the minimum! Organise for better! 

The Solidarity Federation is an anarcho-syndicalist union

Whether we’re working temporarily or permanently, with an agency, full or part-time, we have certain basic rights ... (read more)

updated April 2026. In some cases there may be exceptions

Anarcho-syndicalism is not an abstract theory that was created out of thin air. It is based on a simple observation: that society is built by the work that most of the population does, but only a few people own the world’s resources, reap the profits and hold power.

The Solidarity Federation is an organisation of people seeking to improve our lives. We believe that the best way to make change happen is to do it ourselves and for that reason we seek to organise with others in our communities and workplaces, to stand-up for our interests against a system that traps and uses us.

By working together we have the power to improve our lives, but we recognise that any gains we make today can be taken away tomorrow and so we aim to put an end to this constant struggle through revolutionary social change.

To that end SolFed seeks the abolition of capitalism and the institutions of power that are associated with it. Our goal is to create a society centred on needs rather than profit, based upon the principle “from each according to ability, to each according to need.”

SolFed is a revolutionary union initiative: a means for people to organise their struggles in their workplaces and communities and find support. SolFed brings together people in all occupations regardless of industry, craft or trade — whether we’re employed or not.

We organise as Locals and Networks which are made up of people who take part in the group’s decisions, campaigns and activities, standing side-by-side in each other’s struggles and working to build a nonhierarchical culture of solidarity.

The way we organise reflects the free society that we want to create: one based on voluntary association, democratic participation and workers’ self-management. We oppose all forms of oppression, discrimination and exploitation.

We believe in the principle of direct action — that means doing something for ourselves and not expecting leaders or representatives to act on our behalf. This can mean working together to make a change or to force the hand of those who rule us.

SolFed is the British section of the International Workers’ Association founded in 1922 as a worldwide federation of organisations similar to SolFed. The roots of our organisation go back to just after the second world war and the Syndicalist Workers Federation (1950-1979) which dissolved into the Direct Action Movement (1979-1994), finally becoming the Solidarity Federation in 1994.

www.solfed.org.uk

ANARCHISM

Anarchy is a scary word. It is associated with chaos, violence, and disorder. However, the word anarchy simply means without (an) rulers (archy). Anarchism, as a political theory, is the idea that humanity can and should organise without rulership, and doing so will lead to less chaos, violence, and disorder than we suffer today. This is because rulership has always allowed those who rule to exploit, oppress, and neglect those they rule. This is a simple fact of how rulership works; to rule is to have the ability to ignore the wants and needs of those under you, and to be ruled is to be expected to put aside your own desires, reason, and sense of right and wrong to obey orders.

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TWO IDEAS OF SOCIALISM

Today socialism is mostly associated with social democratic political parties like Labour or totalitarian states like North Korea. So close is this association that most people assume that socialism is an inherently statist idea that depends on great leaders to guide us to utopia through government action.

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A BLEAK FUTURE

The trade union movement has been extremely important in furthering the desires of workers and improving our living conditions. This movement was vital in raising many workers out of the gruelling fourteen hour days, unsafe working conditions, poverty pay, and general degradation of the industrial revolution.

However, the modern trade union movement seems unable to extend or defend those gains. For many workers, the next decade looks like it will be bleaker than the last, and in the long term we may be slowly sliding back to the soul crushing working conditions of the 19th century. In the face of this, modern unions often seem to lack the ability to effectively stand up for their members. They are also often wracked with problems of internal abuse and a lack of accountability to their membership.

This pamphlet will argue that this failure is inherent to the way that modern unions are structured, and that in order to defend the interests of the working class we need to build a better kind of union with a radically different structure. However, before that, we will explore why the trade union movement developed in the first place and what the purpose of those early unions was.

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THE RIGHT TO PROTEST

The right to protest is a key right within our political system, and the suppression of protest is a sign that a government has become oppressive and authoritarian. Protest is seen as the voice of the people, and an important tactic to raise issues and push for changes that the political system would otherwise ignore.

However, protest has also had a very uneven record of bringing about such changes, especially on its own without other forms of political action. This pamphlet will argue that this is due to the limited ability of passive protest to effect politics, and will discuss other tactics outside of the formal political system that are needed in order for people to assert their interests against a government that often does not care about them.

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