Picket Subway - Day of Action, Sat 4th April 2009
Mar 31 2009 13:34
Press release from the campaign:
"Campaign in Defence of Sacked pregnant Subway Worker
Natalia Szymanska, a 19 year old polish woman, was sacked from Subway Belfast during her fifth month of pregancy on a dubious charge of being in breach of the company's health and safety policy.
The Trades Council have now called for:
A Day of Solidarity Action
Saturday 4th April
12 - 2pm
Protest @:
Belfast: 8 Callender Street
141 Lisburn road
6 - 8 Great Victoria Street
Dublin: 47 Nassau Street
Brighton: 109 Queens Road
146 North Street
65 Western Road
26 London Road
Other events are being organised in Galway, Derry, Cork, Liverpool, Glasgow and London for more info on these events please contact: belfasttradescouncil@burc.org
Leaflets and Posters for this event can be downloaded
Don't support the mistreatment of workers
It could be you next!
For more information on the dispute and to see Subway's reasons for Sacking Natalia
Click Here
Info at: http://belfasttradescouncil.com/"
I know Brighton SF have their own leaflet, maybe they could post it here or a link?
Mar 31 2009 13:45
#2
I can't post the direct link off my phone, it's on our website tho- www.brightonsolfed.org.uk
Mar 31 2009 13:50
#3
Mar 31 2009 13:50
#4
Alan wrote:
Anyone planning to picket in SE London should get in touch...A&S and South London Solfed are planning to cover a few branches but there's plenty more and we should aim to cover as many as possible for maximum impact.
Sweet 
Mar 31 2009 16:08
#5
Just done first draft of leaflet for the day for both staff and workers. I'll put them up as soon as comrades have checked for obvious mistakes.
Apr 1 2009 22:34
#6
these are all up now on our site (bottom of the page). We also have a letter for the Franchisee/management with the demands stated - contact me or Jack for a copy if you want one.
Apr 3 2009 15:27
#7
http://belfasttradescouncil.com/ wrote:
In relation to support of Natalia Szymanska's claim and protest on 4th AprilWe have had to give undertakings in the of an application for an injunction by the franchisee
As a consequence we are asking that the previous materials distributed are not used in any protest on the 4th April
The leaflets from that site were taken down too.
Also, the "leaflet to be handed out at the picket " link is broken on the brighton solfed page.
Apr 5 2009 23:57
#8
A court judgment today is placing severe restriction on protests of this nature taking place in Belfast.
Apr 3 2009 17:09
#9
Joe wrote:
Also, the "leaflet to be handed out at the picket " link is broken on the brighton solfed page.
Sorry about that - it's fixed now.
Apr 3 2009 20:09
#10
Excuse me, what do they mean by "undertakings"?
What sort of injunction is this?
And - why the hell would any of you care what a fucking court says?
Don't tell me that anybody is listening to these bastards.
Apr 3 2009 21:13
#11
akai wrote:
And - why the hell would any of you care what a fucking court says?
I think members of the Trades Council are at risk of facing charges as private individuals???
Apr 3 2009 21:31
#12
akai wrote:
Excuse me, what do they mean by "undertakings"?
an undertaking is a sworn statement to the court to do or not do something
akai wrote:
And - why the hell would any of you care what a fucking court says?
breach of an injunction is contempt of court, which can land you in the shit. if enough people defy it it can be beat though.
Apr 4 2009 14:27
#13
Double post.
Apr 4 2009 14:27
#14
Pickets were going well a little while ago in Brighton, at two branches. A lot of support from the public expressed, and most folks respecting the pickets.
Apr 4 2009 15:59
#15
I didn't fancy a one man picket but I passed the Brighton SF leaflet to staff at the branch in Cheltenham. Hope the campaign succeeds.
Apr 4 2009 18:27
#16
Cheers for all the support
Akai - the undertakings were signed because some people in the campaign face VERY serious repercussions as a result of the ongoing case. I don't expect anyone to make sacrifices I wouldn't make myself.
Apr 4 2009 19:24
#17
OK, but is this information public or not? Can somebody say what the repercussions are and why?
I don't know any of the details, but I do know that sometimes companies try to threaten people with libel lawsuits and the like. We get this all the time - even from government ministers, but we tend to say that they should sue us. Then again, the fines we would face even if we lost would not be so high to bankrupt us. I understand that the people making the demo may not be militant anarchists and may feel differently, but we can't really allow the bosses to gag people. (If this is what it's about. That's only my assumption.)
Also, how did the demos go?
Apr 5 2009 00:27
#18
Dublin's contribution to the day of action saw the longest established and best known branch in the city, in Nassau Street, suffer an almost total shutdown of its lunchtime trade. At any time there were at least a dozen people - mainly from the WSM - outside with posters and leaflets.
And - why the hell would any of you care what a fucking court says?
Maybe because we don't want to see anyone go to jail without a good reason. If you break an injunction you can be held until you apologise and promise not to do it again. There is no time limit on how long you can be held, and the judge can also impose additional punishments like fines.
Sometimes there is sufficient confidence and militancy among a wide layer of workers to force the state to backdown. When you can count on mass pickets and solidarity strikes you can tell them to take a hike. But it's not always like that, and you have to go back many years for well known examples like the Pentonville dockers in England or the power workers in Ireland (who humiliated the government by making them send taxis to the prison to take the men home).
But it's not always like that. Levels of confidence and militancy rise and fall, it's in the nature of class struggle - or any form of struggle - sometimes you move forward and sometimes you fall back. And, while we should make the case for defying the anti-union laws, we should only pose that as an immediate suggestion in situations where there is a chance of gaining something as a result.
When engaging in any battle we have to look at what is possible and not just what we would like to happen. Afterall, confidence tends to be built more through victories than defeats.
Apr 5 2009 06:23
#19
You are held until you promise not to do it again? Are you serious? It never ceases to amaze me what crap laws exist. That really sucks.
Apr 5 2009 23:50
#20
It's cool Alan35, Akai knows the deal.
I can understand the surprise at just how crazy laws can be 
Apr 5 2009 23:50
#21
alan35 wrote:
Dublin's contribution to the day of action saw the longest established and best known branch in the city, in Nassau Street, suffer an almost total shutdown of its lunchtime trade. At any time there were at least a dozen people - mainly from the WSM - outside with posters and leaflets.
This is fantastic!
It's become more of a 'right to protest' issue now too as this protest restriction might set a disturbing precedent.
Also, we raised another £50 for the support fund yesterday in the pub alone since a few of us on here are doing the marathon relay
If anyone has reports from elsewhere - Brighton, London, Manchester wherever we'd love to have them here, and if you don't mind, include snippets in our features about the issue.
Apr 5 2009 12:31
#22
Three branches were picketed in SE London.
Apr 5 2009 12:32
#23
awesome
Apr 5 2009 16:46
#24
Someone from Brighton is writing a report for our website tomorrow, will post it here when done.
In brief - just over 20 people there. Did 3 stores over the course of the day over 3 1/2 hours. Local paper came along at the start and took pics. Decent numbers turned away (especially at the most central one), and obviously business down in general as people prefer to avoid the fuss of going past demonstrators.
Some things could have been better - we should have targeted the more central branch as our main focus, the one we chose was less busy.
Also didn't help that there was the G20 death demo and Enfield demo on the same day - got a few people who called me and cancelled coming along the night before / on the day as they'd went to one of them.
Also, on one of the ones secondary ones we did we really noticed the difference numbers made. Even just on people we spoke to, a lot turned away when there were 4 of us than when there were just 2 for a brief period at the end.
Apr 5 2009 17:29
#25
i love u choccy
Apr 5 2009 18:01
#26
We did the one in Greenwich and with the exception of a marching band from Atlanta, Georgia (!) who couldn't be persuaded to go elsewhere, the four hour stint was pretty much a total success. The vast majority of people chose not to eat with varying degrees fury and the store was pretty empty for much of the middle of the day. The most heartening bit however was talking to the guy who holds the sign with the arrow on it. After being given the leaflet on his rights as a subway employee he came out after his lunch break well chuffed as he'd just booked himself some holiday he had no idea he was entitled too. Mmmmmm.....
Apr 5 2009 18:36
#27
Great stuff
Apr 6 2009 22:12
#28
brief report from Dublin up here:
any more news on the court restrictions?
Apr 7 2009 08:49
#29
Thats great jack white, could you please post your link?
Apr 7 2009 10:22
#30
Anyone planning to picket in SE London should get in touch...A&S and South London Solfed are planning to cover a few branches but there's plenty more and we should aim to cover as many as possible for maximum impact.