education

Kinder Sports campaign school picket

On Friday 18th March, members of Solfed informed parents of Dartford Primary Academy, part of the Leigh Academies Trust, about the ongoing campaign to get Lydia’s wages back. Lydia worked for Kinder Sports, who are contracted by Leigh Academies Trust to provide Physical Education lessons and after school sports coaching. Lydia worked for Kinder Sports for 30 hours between 6th and 30th of October 2015 (including at Dartford Primary Academy) however she has not been paid for this work. We are supporting Lydia in demanding Kinder Sports pay her the full £360 she is owed.

Kinder, Pay Up

Lydia worked 30 hours for Kinder Sports between the 6th and 22nd of October. Kinder Sports have repeatedly tried to weasel out of paying Lydia fairly and promptly for the work she undertook for them.

Lydia and South London Solidarity Federation are now calling for a communications blockade on Twitter against Kinder Sports for unpaid wages. Kinder Sports, run by Matt Longhurst, provide after-school sports activities and some school hours provision at locations around Dartford in Kent.

Self-Education In Action

During a September Saturday Brighton SolFed held a network and skills day covering; the immigration act and healthcare, the attack on benefits, fighting wage theft and anarchists on austerity. This full day, including a mighty lunch prepared by members, maintained a constant level of debate and information, concluding in practical action points to continue agitating around Brighton and beyond.

Newcastle's great escape!

Newcastle SolFed are planning regular trips into the country. For those new or used to hiking, rambling or just casually strolling well away from the hustle of the cities and towns, this is a great way to meet members of Newcastle SolFed in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. Not all of us are outdoors types - some of us will have to be dragged kicking and screaming - so there are no pressures if you are a novice or unfit. People with any concerns regarding access or mobility should first contact us for further details.

We won't be advertising all of these events, and so are asking those interested to keep in touch, either by email or by phone - or better still by joining our email list.

A year in the life of...Newcastle SolFed

Newcastle Local has closed the year in a much stronger position having gained new members, new contacts and developed a new direction for the Local. We’ve been involved in 3 successful workplace battles - one of which being the Santander conflict in Spain, that was in support of a sacked member of our Spanish sister union, the CNT; another being a week of international action against a company our German union, the FAU, were in conflict with; and closer to home a local pay theft case in North Tyneside, which won a four figured settlement. http://www.solfed.org.uk/newcastle/another-win-for-solfed-this-month

Support workers striking at Lambeth College!

Workers at Lambeth College will enter the fourth week of their indefinite strike soon. UCU members have been out since June3. Tomorrow (Tuesday 24 June) they will be joined by UNISON, who will be striking for three days.

This strike is important for many reasons. Teachers are fighting against changes in their contracts which will drastically worsen their working condition. They are taking action for themselves but also for all future workers in the college – at the moment many of the changes would only affect new employees. In the attack on the workers the management is specifically targeting the unions. They plan to cut 10 posts in ESOL department, where there are 3000 students on the waiting list but also UCU is the strongest.

Hackney residents march for their college

Saturday's market crowds in Dalston were taught a valuable lesson in solidarity today as a large crowd of supporters marched, sang and shouted their opposition to education cuts all the way from Hackney College to Gillet Square.

Neighbours, students, teachers and friends turned out to support the College staff, who are fighting to stop compulsory redundancies and changes to contracts that will make life impossible for language teachers in the borough. 

Victory against wage stealing language school!

After a short but intense campaign, Marta, a receptionist at the Speak Up London language school, has won a week’s unpaid wages and a glowing reference.

Marta was sacked without reason and without the required one week’s notice.  She got in contact with Solidarity Federation who quickly organised over a dozen people to March into the bosses’ office with a letter demanding she be given a week’s pay in lieu of notice and a positive reference.

After Speak Up failed to respond to Marta’s letter, SolFed and other supportive individuals and organisations organised a massive blockade of the Speak Up Facebook page.  Hundreds of post appeared within the 45 minutes. An hour and half into the action, Speak Up shut down their Facebook page entirely to all UK users.

Marta: 2, Speak Up: 0

The North London Solidarity Federation would like to thank everyone who participated in last night’s Facebook blast of the Speak Up London language school.  As it appears Speak Up has deleted their Facebook page entirely, the action was indeed an unqualified success.

The action was to defend Marta, a well-liked and respected receptionist who was sacked without prior warning. She was told she wasn’t doing her job well because she didn’t take out the rubbish one night and then failed to turn on the TV the next morning. 

But we all know the real reason: Speak Up is run by two bullying bosses who sack any worker who resists their cowboy style of management.