London
Bus strikes in East London
Bus drivers and engineers in East London walked out today in a 24-hour action which stopped around 750 buses and either froze or disrupted 58 routes.
The East London Bus Company employs 2,600 workers, of which all but 200 are members of the Unite Union. The union balloted its members after the company imposed a pay freeze on its staff, claiming the recession had forced their hand. The vote was in favour of strike action by 84%.
Ford Visteon Enfield Workers Occupation - Alan Woodward
An eyewitness account of the 2009 Enfield Ford-Visteon factory occupation, written immediately after the event. The author was the only full-time occupier who was not a former worker at the plant.
An eyewitness account and first thoughts
Note to readers
Tower Hamlets College strikers interview
The Commune interviews two participants in the September 2009 ESOL teachers strike in East London against job cuts.
Tell us about what unions workers are in, their organising capacity, and of their previous relationship with management
Tower Hamlets College strike ends in partial victory
After a month-long strike against cuts, teaching staff at Tower Hamlets College have voted to return to work.
UCU said it was "delighted" that an agreement has finally been reached.
UCU head of further education Barry Lovejoy said: "Our members have fought a tremendous campaign and UCU is pleased to have finally reached an agreement with the college.
Tower Hamlets College strike continues into fourth week
ESOL teachers in east London continue their indefinite strike. A striker reports...
Teachers again affirmed support for continuing the indefinite strike action in a mass meeting Tuesday. About 150 people voted to stay out, with 13 abstentions and no votes against.
Solidarity with Tower Hamlets ESOL workers leaflet
A solidarity leaflet for September 12th 2009 rally in support of striking Tower Hamlets College workers.
Solidarity with Tower Hamlets ESOL workers!
ESOL teachers on indefinite strike in Tower Hamlets
Over 250 UCU members at Tower Hamlets College are in day 10 of an indefinite strike against cuts.
The package of cuts includes:
1 - Cuts in courses, particularly English for Speakers of Other Languages courses (1000 places going).
2 - Over 30 teachers’ jobs lost, including 13 compulsory redundancies.
3 - Attempts to turn a community college into a business for selling diplomas.
Lewisham Bridge School Heritage listing upheld
Parents occupying Lewisham Bridge Primary School in south-east London are a step closer to keeping the school open after the English Heritage Grade 2 status of the school was upheld.
Supporters and parents of children have been encouraged by the news that Lewisham Bridge Primary School's status as a Grade 2 English Heritage site has been upheld. This means that the school cannot be knocked down and replaced, as had been intended.
South London stress - Practical History
Leaflet distributed at a Reclaim The Streets party in South London in June 1998, to place the event in context, and explain the radical history of the South London area.
Reclaim the Streets,
Today Reclaim the Streets are planning to turn part of South London into a free festival zone for the day. Most non-residential streets in South London are dominated by bumper to bumper traffic with nothing much to do except shop. RTS parties are about creating our own space where we can dance, play, eat and drink - all without any money changing hands.
A review of Joe Jacob's "Out of the Ghetto" - Red and Black Notes
Review of Out of the Ghetto Joe Jacobs, London: Phoenix Press, 1991 (originally published in 1977). For a review of this book by Al Richardson, see here - http://libcom.org/library/review-joe-jacobs-out-ghetto-al-richardson. A chapter from Out of the Ghetto is here - http://libcom.org/library/battle-cable-st-1936-joe-jacobs
It might seem curious to be reviewing a book that was posthumously published more than twenty years ago. Curiouser still, that in this age of the dismissal of the working class as a force for change this book deals exclusively with working class, predominately Jewish, life in the East End of London in the years between the first and second world wars.
