international day of action against UBS: stand up for migrant workers!

Friday 19th March will see an international day of action in solidarity with cleaners at Swiss bank UBS in the City of London. The cleaners are facing cuts in working hours – effectively an 11 percent wage cut – and shop steward Alberto Durango has been sacked. For more background see Alberto’s article on events at the bank.

The day of action follows two strong and vibrant demonstrations on 12th February and 5th March at UBS’s 100 Liverpool Street site in London (as depicted in video). Tomorrow there will be protests in London (100 Liverpool St from 5pm), Manchester (1 Marsden St from 3pm) and also in Edinburgh, Zurich, Kyiv, Stockholm, Buenos Aires and New York.

video of 5th march demo at UBS

The latest demo in solidarity with cleaners in the employ of Lancaster at Swiss bank UBS in the City of London took place on 5th March. The cleaners are facing cuts in working hours and shop steward Alberto Durango has been sacked, and the demo demanded the maintenance of existing conditions as well as Alberto’s reinstatement.

There will be an international day of action on Friday 19th with protests already planned in the USA, Sweden and Switzerland as well as around the UK. More details shortly – and come to the Cleaners’ Defence Committee organising meeting on the evening of Monday 15th to help the campaign (email uncaptiveminds@gmail.com for venue details).

demo at ubs in the city of london, friday 5th

The next demonstration in solidarity with cleaners working for contractor Lancaster at Swiss bank UBS will take place from 1pm on Friday 5th March outside the bank’s 100 Liverpool Street office, in London. See below for a video of the previous protest, which attracted over 70 people.

We are demanding a reversal of planned cuts in cleaners’ working hours, as well as the reinstatement of Alberto Durango who was sacked by Lancaster because of his organising work.

solidarity with UBS cleaners: demo 5th march

The next demonstration in solidarity with cleaners working for contractor Lancaster at Swiss bank UBS will take place from 1pm on Friday 5th March outside the bank’s 100 Liverpool Street office, in London. See below for a video of the previous protest, which attracted over 70 people.

We are demanding a reversal of planned cuts in cleaners’ working hours, as well as the reinstatement of Alberto Durango who was sacked by Lancaster because of his organising work.

manchester class struggle forum, wednesday 24th

The first Manchester Class Struggle Forum will host a discussion on the Labour Party and the upcoming General Election.

We will discuss the 2010 general election and the position that communists should take towards bourgeois elections.

video of ubs cleaners’ demo

The next demo for the reinstatement of Alberto Durango and in defence of cleaners’ conditions at Lancaster/UBS will be at 1pm on Friday 5th March outside 100 Liverpool Street, London. See here for report.

action around unemployment

by Brian Rylance

For those who experienced the deprivation caused by the recession of the 1980s, and were galvanized by the strength of the fight against it, there can be a feeling of hopelessness at today’s relative lack of organisation and militancy to defend the position of the working classes as many are pushed into unemployment again.

Vast numbers of people who struggled against Thatcherism will have used one of the many unemployed workers centres and heard the unions protest on behalf of those without work, but what of this 21st century global recession? It must be admitted that the fightback has been slow in gathering strength, but there now appear to be three main strands of resistance appearing. At a national level there are campaigns to protect the rights to benefits and protest against erosion of the safety net welfare state legislation. This is linked with an attempt to revive the unemployed workers centres that have shut. At a grassroots level there are attempts to create action groups with a more combative approach – some of these have been remarkably successful.

issue 11 of the commune

The February issue of our monthly paper The Commune is now available. Click the image below to see the PDF, or see articles as they are posted online in the list below.

To purchase a printed copy for £1 + 50p postage, use the ‘donate’ feature here. You can also subscribe (£12 a year UK/£16 EU/£20 international) or order 5 copies a month to sell (£4) online here. If you want to pay by cheque, contact uncaptiveminds@gmail.com.

UBS: the fight for justice for cleaners continues

Involved in cleaners’ struggles in the face of the anti-migrant repression of the UK state and the opposition of the Unite union bureaucracy, Alberto Durango was recently victimised by contractor Lancaster working for Swiss bank UBS. See here for details of the 12th February protest in the City of London defending migrant workers’  right to organise. Here he reports on the UBS case (haga clic aquí para leer en español):

As a representative of UBS workers I am very satisfied with the many activists’ and union organisations’ response to the call for solidarity, against the injustice committed by UBS and Lancaster: a fine example of working-class solidarity.

‘right to work’ conference report

by Mark Harrison

On Saturday the 30th of January I attended the ‘Right to Work’ conference in Manchester, organised by the Socialist Workers Party. In spite of the unfortunate title slogan it was billed as “a conference of resistance and solidarity” it was heavily over-subscribed, around 900 people crammed into Manchester Central Hall.

The first to address the conference was Ian Allinson, member of UNITE’s First Executive Council and a senior rep for Fujitsu Manchester, which recently saw the first ever IT strike in Britain. Ian explained that although we may all have had different hopes for the day, we all share the same interests. We were reminded that we are experiencing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, there was worse to come, we would be made to pay for it and that resistance is essential. This was followed by a generic bout of populism as Ian finished by attacking ‘the bosses and the bankers’: in reality it is the barbaric system of capitalism that oppresses us all which is the problem and must be replaced by a society in which we all have control of our own lives.

Austerity: public sector cuts in Sheffield

by Barry Biddulph

Cuts in public services, jobs and wages have arrived in Sheffield.

what choice is left in the general election?

Steve Ryan responds to recent debate over who – if anyone – we should vote for in the general election

So the general election is in May, probably on the 6th. As a left, what should be our position as regards voting? This question has always exercised the left and sometimes seen some strange conclusions.

This year is a very difficult one. Clearly the Labour party bears no resemblance at all to any kind of workers’ party. The memory of the minimum wage and tax credits is a very distant one as Labour ploughs on with cuts in the public sector , more privatisation than the Tories managed, war, the expenses scandal… the list grows each day.

urgent appeal for solidarity – defend alberto durango

by Chris Ford, UNITE Clerkenwell & St. Pancras 0694M branch organiser

In an act of vindictive union busting Alberto Durango, a leading activist in the campaign to achieve justice for cleaners in London, is facing the sack. Alberto, a leader of the Latin American Workers Association and member of UNITE, has been in the forefront of a series of campaigns to organise mainly migrant workers to challenge the exploitation and dire working conditions amongst cleaners.

pcs to ballot for strike action

by Steve Ryan

The PCS civil service union is to commence a ballot of all 300,000 plus members for strike action. The ballot is due to begin on 4th February.

It comes after talks on the governments proposals to cut the value of the Civil Service Compensation Scheme (CSCS) proved fruitless.