In the last election, about 22 million of us didn’t vote [1]. That’s more people than voted for any political party. It’s not because we’re apathetic – it’s because most of us see through the “good cop, bad cop” routine of Labour and the Tories. Both parties support cuts, privatising the NHS, and making life hell for benefits claimants. [2] In the same way that a “good cop” will offer a cup of tea and a “friendly chat” while a “bad cop” shouts and makes threats, the Tories jeer at “scroungers” while Labour smiles and talks about the need to be practical. But whatever they promise in their manifestos, they both want to do the same thing – to screw us over on behalf of the rich.

Join the anti-workfare Street Party in Bristol this Saturday, 13th December 2014.

Meeting at the Castle Park bandstand at 2pm sharp before moving off to visit some firms who profit from using unpaid workfare labour. Please try and make this and pass it on to your mates.

Bristol Solidarity Federation will be there, so look out for our banner! Our friends and comrades in Bristol Anarchist Federation and Bristol IWW are also helping mobilise for the event.

There is a facebook page for the event: "As we approach solstice we are told that we are in a season of giving – yet some companies still aren’t giving workers a wage. As we approach solstice we are told that we are in a season of giving - yet some companies still aren't giving workers a wage!

Recently, workers at YHA hostels around the country launched a campaign for the living wage (£7.85 an hour, up from their current average of £6.50). Bristol Solidarity Federation would like to extend our Solidarity to YHA workers, who are also campaigning around irregular shifts and unfair payment for sleepover shifts. We meet regularly at the YHA in Bristol, which has also hosted our workplace organiser training, conference, new members days and other events. However, we will be boycotting the venue and encouraging other groups to do so until the demands of the YHA workers campaign are met. As a further show of solidarity, members of Bristol SolFed visited the YHA to make sure the workers there were aware of the campaign. Good conversations were had with staff and leaflets distributed in English and Spanish.

A fourth International Day of Action saw Westcountry members of the Solidarity Federation take to the streets of Bristol, Dorchester and Swindon in support of a Spanish worker sacked for organising a union branch in his workplace. The worker, a member of the anarcho-syndicalist CNT union was fired during a campaign by his colleagues for decent contracts and against illegal outsourcing by ISBAN, a subsidiary of Santander. Solidarity actions took place in 13 countries around the world.

This year Bristol SF are participating in two workshops.

At 1.00pm, in Marquee Z, we will introduce "State Repression in Spain". This talk will be hosted by a Spanish comrade. Below is an short introductory text to set the background of this talk.

During the last four years Spanish society has witnessed a period of intense social protests against austerity, corruption, evictions, unemployment and so on. The greater and more radicalised the protest the bigger the state repression. The intensification of demonstrations and actions has resulted in an escalation of detentions and absurd fines. Every form of protest is now a new article in the criminal code.

Solidarity With The Arrested Comrades For Fighting In Spain.
Against The Reform Of The New Law Of "Public Safety"

Members of Bristol Solidarity Federation answered a call-out for solidarity and showed their opposition to the recent arrest of Spanish Anti-fascists and and the introduction of punitive anti-protest laws.

Below is the text of the leaflet produced by Spaniards living in Bristol.

Multinational banking group Santander was targeted for union busting across the breadth of their empire on Tuesday 1st October 2013 by the anarcho-syndicalist International Workers Association (IWA). A number of actions were held in Britain by the Solidarity Federation (SF-IWA). In Bristol, the local SF-IWA section was joined by members of Bristol Anarchist Federation, BARF & migrant Spanish workers to deliver a message of resistance to the company and solidarity with the sacked union organiser of the Spanish anarcho-syndicalist Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT-IWA) union. The CNT has been organising within Isban, a computer services company owned by the Santander Group into which thousands of workers have been transferred. Workers at Isban are controlled and dismissed through the use of employment agencies.