THE RED FEAST
(Ralph Chaplin)

Go fight, you fools! Tear up the earth with strife
And spill each other's guts upon the field;
Serve unto death the men you served in life
So that their wide dominions may not yield.

Stand by the flag, the lie that still allures;
Lay down your lives for land you do not own,
And give unto a war that is not yours
Your gory tithe of mangled flesh and bone.

But whether in the fray to fall or kill
You must not pause to question why nor where.
You see the tiny crosses on that hill?
It took all those to make one millionaire.

It was for him the seas of blood were shed,
That fields were razed and cities lit the sky;
That he might come to chortle o'er the dead;
The condor thing for whom the millions die!

The bugle screams, the cannons cease to roar,
Enough! enough! God give us peace again.
The rats, the maggots and the Lords of War
Are fat to bursting from their meal of men.

So stagger back, you stupid dupes, back to
Your stricken towns to toil anew,
For there your dismal tasks are still undone
And grim starvation gropes again for you.

What matters now your flag, your race, the skill
Of scattered legions - what has been the gain?
Once more beneath the lash you must distil
Your lives to glut a glory wrought of pain.

In peace they starve you to your loathsome toil,
In war they drive you to the teeth of Death;
And when your life-blood soaks into their soil
They give you lies to choke your dying breath.

So they will smite your blind eyes till you see
And lash your naked backs until you know
That wasted blood can never set you free
From fettered thrall unto the Common Foe.

Then you will find that nation is a name
And boundaries are things that don't exist
That labor's bondage, worldwide, is the same
And ONE the enemy it must resist.

At the beginning of the month I quoted the Wobbly slogan, "In November we remember", and the current edition of the 'Industrial Worker' has a list of Wobs who lost their lives in the class struggle. Also remembered are some non-members killed by trigger-happy cops and deputies as they fired on our Comrades.
The list starts with an unidentified IWW picket killed in explosion in 1907, and ends with FW Frank Gould who disappeared in the Philippines in 1974. There are certainly some names missing from the list, and others were unidentified. Then there were those who couldn't even be numbered as no records were kept. There were Wobblies who died at Kronstadt, men who had returned to Russia to play their part in the revolution. Likewise the Wobbly miners who worked in the Kuzbass mines until their independence became a nuisance to the Soviet authorities. Officially some stayed on in the "workers' state" and others returned to the USA. The IWW claims that an unknown number were liquidated.
How many died in the militias in Spain is also unknown, not all died fighting the Fascists. Stalin's hit squads were at work on the Republican side. A particularly chilling example of their methods is reported in the list -
September 1938, Ivan Silverman and two unknown IWWs were "forced by commies onto a bare field to face fascist machine guns".
Wobblies were killed in Canada, Mexico, the USA, and Australia. December 1916, Frank Franz and Nicholas Roland Kennedy, "framed for murder and executed during a time of IWW hysteria, New South Wales."

"In November we remember" is a saying of the Wobblies. Here's a poem by FW Ralph Chaplin, best known for the anthem of organised labour, "Solidarity Forever". I hadn't seen or heard it before FW Viola posted it online -


Red November, black November,
Bleak November, black and red.
Hallowed month of labour’s martyrs,
Labour’s heroes, labour’s dead.

Labour’s wrath and hope and sorrow,
Red the promise, black the threat,
Who are we not to remember?
Who are we to dare forget?

Black and red the colors blended,
Black and red the pledge we made,
Red until the fight is ended,
Black until the debt is paid.

The One Big Union, now open for business in Iceland.
Welcome to the IWW, Fellow Workers.

The Preamble to the Constitution of the Industrial Workers of the World - in Welsh

Nid oes gan y dosbarth gweithiol na’r dosbarth cyflogi unrhyw beth yn gyffredin. Ni all fod dim heddwch tra fod newyn ac angen ymysg miliynau o bobl sy’n gweithio, a bod elit bychan; y dosbarth cyflogi, yn cael yr holl bethau da mewn bywyd.

Mi fydd rhaid i’r frwydr barhau rhwng y ddau ddosbarth yma nes bod y gweithwyr y byd yn trefnu fel dosbarth, yn cymryd meddiant o’r dulliau o gynhyrchu, yn diddymu’r system cyflog, ac yn byw mewn cytgord â’r Ddaear.

Gwelwn fod y canoli o rheolaeth diwydiannau gan llai a llai o bobl yn gwneud hi’n anoddach i’r undebau llafur ymdopi gyda grym cynyddol y dosbarth cyflogi. Mae’r undebau llafur yn meithrin sefyllfa sy’n caniatáu i un set o weithwyr gael eu ddefnyddio yn erbyn set arall o weithwyr yn yr un diwydiant, a thrwy hynny helpu trechu ei gilydd mewn rhyfeloedd cyflog. Ar ben hynny, mae’r undebau llafur yn helpu y dosbarth cyflogi i gamarwain y gweithwyr yn y gred bod gan y dosbarth gweithiol buddiannau sy’n gyffredin gyda’u cyflogwyr.

Gall yr amodau hyn cael eu newid a gall ddiddordeb y dosbarth gweithiol cael eu cadarnhau dim ond gan sefydliad a ffurfiwyd yn y fath fodd bod ei holl aelodau mewn unrhyw un diwydiant, neu yn yr holl ddiwydiannau os oes rhaid, yn pallu gweithio pryd bynnag fod streic neu cloi allan sy’n digwydd o fewn unrhyw adran ohono, felly mae’n golygu bod anaf i un yn anaf i bawb.

Yn lle yr arwyddair ceidwadol, ”Ddiwrnod o gyflog teg am ddiwrnod o waith teg”, mae’n rhaid i ni ysgrifennu ar ein baner yr arwyddair chwyldroadol, “Diddymu’r system cyflog.” Cenhadaeth hanesyddol y dosbarth gweithiol yw i ddinistrio cyfalafiaeth. Mae’n rhaid i’r fyddin o gynhyrchu gael eu trefnu, nid yn unig y frwydr bob dydd gyda cyfalafwyr, ond hefyd i barhau i gynhyrchu pan fydd cyfalafiaeth wedi cael eu diddymu. Drwy drefnu diwydiant, rydym yn ffurfio strwythur y gymdeithas newydd o fewn cragen yr hen.

End Metroline race to the bottom: Reinstate Oscar Alvarez now!

Posted 8 May 2013

We, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) want to express our deep concern and strong condemnation of the unfair dismissal of Oscar Alvarez, Union Representative of the IWW at the West Perivale garage.
Oscar Alvarez has been a London bus driver for 8 1/2 years. He reached the 10th position nationwide in Blackpool Best Bus Driver of the Year 2007 competition, which to date is still unbeaten by any Metroline driver. But Oscar’s sacking is far from being an isolated occurrence. This is part of an escalating wave of sackings on the buses over the last few years, which has seen all London bus companies imposing terrible contracts on new starters, often without union agreement or any serious attempt to fight this ‘race to the bottom’.
Beginning in December 2012 new contracts for all bus drivers began to be rolled out, first Brentford garage and then West Perivale in February. Whereas the Brentford contracts were all accepted, in West Perivale there was a furious rejection by the drivers who refused to sign, apart from a half-dozen or so.
Oscar Alvarez was one of those drivers, bravely opposing these blatant attacks to their terms and conditions, only to be sacked soon after following a minor altercation with a car driver on the road who had cut up his bus.
What is worst, during the disciplinary that resulted in his dismissal there were a number of breaches in procedure which rendered the process unfair and disproportionate, most notably, the withholding of crucial CCTV footage which Oscar could not access prior to the disciplinary. We are certain that, far from constituting gross misconduct, Oscar’s behaviour ought to be construed as an attempt to correct the driving behaviour of a another driver who had not only endangered her own safety, but also that of her baby and other road users. As such, we urge Metroline to reconsider the merits of this case and to reinstate Oscar Alvarez.
Now Oscar needs all the support he can get in order to win reinstatement, as it was already achieved by fellow worker Gerry Downing last Tuesday 30th April following his successful appeal against dismissal. Gerry, from the Cricklewood garage, was also sacked on spurious charges. Gerry Downing is a Unite member and the Chair of Grass Roots left.
Understanding that these gross misconduct verdicts were undoubtedly management revenge for the strong reaction to the attempts to impose new contracts on all drivers, an impressive demonstration of support was gathered in a public meeting that took place last Monday 29th of April, called by the Brent Trade Union Council.
Several sacked bus drivers attended and their stories were similar; harsh dismissal decisions for what were minor incidents. And the reasons were identified by many of the speakers and from the floor; new contracts from January 2012 took on starters on far lower terms and conditions than existing bus drivers.
For these reasons it has now been articulated wide ranging support for a bus driver defence campaign as a rank and file body on the London buses to fight these increasing victimisations.
The Industrial Workers of the World joins forces with this rank and file initiative and demands not only for the immediate reinstatement of our member and union representative Oscar Alvarez, but for all the London bus drivers to keep the resistance going and REFUSE to sign any new contracts.
Whichever union you belong to, we must hold together, because they can’t force us if we ALL refuse.
For Oscar’s case, the IWW are mobilising our members and supporters by encouraging people to send letters and make phone calls this week expressing their dismay at Oscar’s sacking to the Metroline Bus Company. Supporters will also be leafleting outside the Cricklewood Bus Garage.

For all updates on the campaign actions please visit http://tiny.cc/REINSTATEOSCARNOW

TAKE ACTION. SUPPORT OUR BUS DRIVERS. END METROLINE RACE TO THE BOTTOM
REINSTATE OSCAR ALVAREZ NOW!


Groups:
London General Membership Branch
ERA
Britain and Ireland Regional Administration of the IWW.

London IWW: Bring SOAS Outsourced Cleaning Staff Back In-House!

Posted 19 Mar 2013 at www.iww.org.uk

London IWW Press Release - For Immediate Release (PDF attached below): We, the Industrial Workers of the World London General Membership Branch wish to express our unconditional solidarity with our fellow workers from SOAS [School of Oriental and African Studies] UNISON who have been campaigning tirelessly since 2006 to have the currently outsourced cleaning contract brought back in-house.
As staunch supporters and campaigners for the London Living Wage within our own union, we welcomed SOAS' decision in June 2008 to introduce the London Living Wage as the minimum wage for all SOAS outsourced contract staff. However, we are fully aware that this measure alone does not resolve the issues related to the two tier workforce system that prevails in your institution.
An important section of our IWW members are also students and workers at the University of London and other Higher Education institutions in the UK. We therefore know full well that outsourced staff working for SOAS' contractors still face significantly worse terms and conditions of employment, which in our view is an unacceptable situation.
The London IWW also expresses its full support for the SOAS UCU branch representing SOAS Academic and senior support staff, who have overwhelmingly backed the Justice for Cleaners Campaign.
1,294 SOAS staff and students were consulted about this matter in a referendum on December 7th, 2012. An impressive 98% of the participants backed up the call for the SOAS cleaning services and staff to be brought back in-house.
We call on the Governing Body Working Group to recognise this overwhelming majority sentiment within SOAS by recommending to the Governing Body that it immediately bring SOAS cleaning services staff back in-house, and also, in light of its broader remit, that it look at the practicalities of returning other outsourced services in-house. Where specific issues can be identified that would make the in-sourcing of some of these other services impracticable, we would urge the working group to make recommendations to the Governing Body to ensure that any remaining outsourced staff receive broadly similar terms and conditions as directly employed SOAS staff, particularly in the areas of sick pay, annual leave and pension entitlements.
SOAS is a unique institution in many ways, and we at the IWW know first hand that your students are rightly proud of its reputation for supporting social justice and equality across the disciplines and regions the School covers.
Failing to rectify this situation of unjust and unequal employment conditions for outsourced cleaning staff would be very detrimental to SOAS' reputed ethos of community, inclusivity and social justice.
Furthermore, it should be underlined that other academic institutions in London have recognised the many benefits of returning such services in house, including the good business sense of doing so (Queen Mary University, January 2009.Report available at: http://www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/docs/staff/8041.pdf )
Universities cannot be critical in theory but indifferent in practice. We urge the Governing Body Working Group to pledge to move in favour of the demands made by the Justice for Cleaners Campaign and the SOAS community.

Groups:
London General Membership Branch
Britain and Ireland Regional Administration of the IWW

THE DOMINOS FALL

Branches: San Francisco Bay Area GMB
Campaigns: Food & Retail Workers Organizing
Union News: Foodstuff Workers Industrial Union 460

Domino’s Pizza sucks. Not just in the sense that it treats its workers heinously, the pizza itself is of a low quality. Eating a slice of Domino’s pizza is a similar experience to swallowing a salt shaker. So its not surprising that on a Saturday night in Berkeley, the Domino’s storefront was dead. A delivery car would run out the back every 15 minutes or so, but business was not booming.

Us Wobblies posted up at a Chinese restaurant next door, waiting for 6 PM, when our demonstration was set to begin. We had committed to stage an action in solidarity with Domino’s Delivery Drivers in Australia, who have received an arbitrary wage cut of 19%, a punishment for the 23 delivery drivers who raised complaints over a trend of paychecks that came up short of their promised salaries.

The consensus in the Chinese restaurant was that this was going to be a git ’er done and out kind of deal. Walk around with signs in front of the location for a couple hours, chant some angry chants, and flyer passersby. Hopefully, by the end of the night, we’d cost Domino’s a few customers, get the workers thinking about the stability of their own wages, and bother the boss enough that they’d give corporate management a call.

But we got so much more.

The first step we took was to enter the Domino’s, tell the workers what was happening, give them flyers for informational purposes, and make it clear that we were on their side. But one of the workers at the front end wasn’t having it. She ran to the back, screaming for her boss like we were trying to rob the place.

Her boss came out in a ridiculous fury, charging us with disrupting the operation of some sort of mom n’ pop shop.

“I treat my people well here!” she said. “And you’re trying to mess that up! This is a franchise! I’m a small business owner! YOU DAMN WOBBLIES!”

It’s strange to think that someone would have the nerve to argue that a store with the Domino’s logo on it had no relationship whatsoever with the Domino’s Pizza Corporation.

So at first there were 4 of us, marching in a circle. Then a veteran wob showed up and we had 5. Then 3 comrades from the WSA appeared, followed by two more fellow workers, and we had quite a mass rally going on. Some guy I’d never met before was walking down the street, saw what was going on, thought it made sense, and joined in.

It was nice, but not very exhilarating. The cops had been called, but Berkeley PD doesn’t exactly make small demos on the sidewalk a high priority. Eventually a cop did show up, but he only stuck around for a few minutes, told us our rights, and left. He was almost sarcastic in how little he seemed to care about what was going on. There was a quality of excitement lacking from the whole affair.

Fortunately, the boss changed that in a bigger way than we could have ever hoped.

Suddenly, workers started running outside with flyers and pizzas, and started passing them out to anyone that seemed interested. A fellow worker who had been passing out flyers at the corner asked what the deal was, and ran back to us with an big grin on his face:

“That idiot is giving free pizza away to everyone. She thinks it’s gonna convince people that Domino’s isn’t so bad.”

That’s right, the boss’ response to our attempt to cost Domino’s money was… to cost Domino’s way more money than we could have ever anticipated.

Not wanting anyone to miss out on this opportunity, 3 of us split up and ran to the busiest intersections in Berkeley, telling everyone that they could get free pizza just by asking for it. Most folks were skeptical, but hordes of hungry teenagers were willing to take the risk that we might be pulling a fast one. Within minutes, twitter was crackling with the news. From Telegraph to Shattuck, crowds of Berkeley’s nightlife were descending upon Domino’s.

By the time I had returned to the pizza joint, a dense line was stretching out the door and down to the corner. Domino’s workers were passing out free sodas to everyone waiting. As we observed the people coming out the door, it was obvious that they weren’t just getting free slices, the boss was throwing away full pies. Some even had the gall to ask for sides… and got them.

Wobblies soapboxed to the crowd waiting in line, educating them on what had happened in Australia. People who had came just wanting to take advantage of the situation left shocked at the contempt with which Domino’s treats its workers. We were congratulated on our ability to help people by hurting profits.

By this time, the boss had clearly realized that her clever plan was a disaster, but there was nothing she could do but wait it out. The people were too many and too hungry. Delivery drivers were rolling in laughter at the spectacle, thanking us for also getting all the workers inside free pizzas, apparently out of the boss’ fear that our demonstration would get them to think about organizing. The bribe didn’t seem to work at all.

Eventually it was decided that we should leave, figuring that if a riot ensued when Domino’s ran out of commodities, we didn’t want the IWW banner across it. We had done our part. But after our demo had dissipated, we drove past the storefront one more time, only to behold the sight of a line just as long as we had left it, the costs to the corporation still spiraling even in the absence of our presence.

Someone estimated the damage we did that night puts the cost to Domino’s somewhere between $2,000 to $4,000.

Just out of curiosity, I called the location several hours later to see how they were handling the fallout:

Domino’s Worker: “Thank you for choosing Domino’s, how can I help you?”

Me: “Hey, I heard y’all are giving away free pizza. What’s going on?”

Domino’s Worker: “No, no, that just ended, we ran out of… no that just ended.”

Me: “Oh, ok. So what’s the deal with that? Is it a Saturday thing, or just a random event, or what?”

Domino’s Worker: “No, we just did that to get rid of… I mean, that was a… spur-of-the-moment customer appreciation thing.”

Domino’s obviously won’t tell the real story, so it falls to us. If anyone asks what went down in Berkeley that night, just tell them that the biggest pizza company in the world was thrown into such a panic by the sight of Wobblies at the door that they threw a couple grand worth of surplus value down the drain.

(Lifted from www.iww.org)

IWW John Lewis Cleaners Win Pay Rise

Outsourced John Lewis cleaners have won an immediate and backdated 9% pay rise following their pledge of industrial action. The increase, backdated 5 months, takes their pay to £6.72 per hour at three central London sites, and £6.50 at one outer London site. Supervisors will now get £8.00 per hour and £7.84 respectively.
United in the IWW trade union, the cleaners notified their employer, ICM, last week of the trade dispute and impending ballot for industrial action. This ballot could have seen visible and noisy industrial action by cleaners at four John Lewis sites in London in the run up to Christmas.
John Lewis has seen pre-Christmas profits increase on last year already. The company are proud of their partnership structure, where all staff are ‘partners’ who share in the company’s profits.
But John Lewis’ cleaning contract is outsourced to MML, who outsource it again to ICM. The cleaners have seen their hours reduce and workload increase, while they were paid minimum wage of £6.19 – and they don’t share in the profits.
This increase, including a backdated lump sum just before Christmas, will make a real difference to our members’ lives. ICM further pledged to look at the potential to pay a Living Wage of £8.55 as they enter contract talks early in 2013.
IWW National Secretary Frank Syratt said:
“It is our members’ unity, solidarity and courageous stance that has won this increase. They are an inspiration and a lesson to other workers”
“There is still work to do. John Lewis needs to ensure all their workers – whether partners or outsourced - take home a Living Wage of £8.55 and receive full sick pay, lifting them out of poverty and insecurity. IWW pledges to continue organising and campaigning to make this happen”.

Contact: south[at]iww.org.uk for more information.
(Press Release)

JOHN LEWIS CLEANERS IN NEW PAY DISPUTE

Striking cleaners win victory against John Lewis
"Cleaners at the flag ship John Lewis store on Oxford Street have won a fantastic victory against job cuts and low pay. The management have now agreed to withdraw, totally, plans for mass compulsory redundancy, and to give cleaners 10% pay rise, backdated to March – following a strike by staff who had organised themselves within the IWW."

John Lewis IWW Cleaners Strike Friday 13th July

(6 Jul 2012)

The independent union the Industrial Workers of the World has today served notice for strike action of cleaners at the John Lewis Partnership’s flagship Oxford Street store. This is the first strike in the history of the Partnership only recently hailed by Deputy Minister Nick Clegg as a model for the British economy.
The campaign of industrial action will commence on Friday 13th July 2012. If a settlement is not reached the IWW has made clear it will announce further strikes in July and August, including through the Olympic period.
The members of the IWW Cleaners' Branch announced a resounding mandate from its members to take strike action, the strike ballot had an 80% turnout with 90% voting in favour of industrial action.
Cleaners at John Lewis Partnership are employed through a contractor Integrated Cleaning Management (ICM) who recently announced up to 50% cuts, comprising cuts in cleaners hours (wages) and jobs. ICM have refused to recognise the union for collective bargaining and rejected outrights a claim for the London Living Wage of £8.30 per-hour, a rate set by the Greater London Authority and championed by Mayor Boris Johnson.
The London Citizens campaign has been engaged in several years of discussions with John Lewis to bring the cleaners into the Partnership and pay the London Living Wage, making no progress. The cleaners feel exasperated by a contractor who recently offered a mere 24 pence pay increase, conditional on 100% attendance.
IWW have been approached by numerous John Lewis partners have expressed sympathy with the cleaners and also have wondered why the cleaners have not been brought into the partnership.
This IWW dispute has had wide ranging support including various MPs from Labour and Plaid Cymru that have signed the Parliamentary Early Day Motion 301. The IWW and its supporters expect the cleaners to be treated with respect, paid fairly and remain employed in sufficient numbers to meet the demands of a flagship store on Oxford Street.

Industrial Workers of the World
London Regional Secretary
2nd Floor,
145-157 St John Street,
London,
United Kingdom, EC1V 4PY

See also this article in the New Internationalist.

Cleaners Protest at John Lewis in Oxford St - London

Photograph Peter Marshall; more can be seen accompanying the linked short report.

( by FW Flo, 10 Mar 2012)
IWW Cleaners and Allied Trades, London - Dear friends, compañeros, on the 5th March 2012, after a long and high profile campaign, the IWW secured yet another victory for our cleaner members employed at Exchange Tower who will now be paid the London Living Wage of £8.30 per hour.
For ten years many members have been earning poverty wages on the minimum wage. The arrival of the IWW immediately set about changing this situation launching a campaign for the London Living Wage, this saw widespread publicity, a motion in Parliament, our members stood firm in the face of the intimidation of the management company Cashmens who also managed Heron Tower.
On March 8th IWW in Frankfurt and industrial unionists in Warsaw and Tokyo were planning solidarity demonstrations at the offices of the MGPA owners of Exchange Tower.
However, the employers have finally conceded to the overwhelming and just demands of the workers.
Some of the traditional unions at Canary Wharf have abandoned the cleaners - full-time officials declared 'you need to keep your head down in a recession'. The IWW has continued to fight, organising the unorganised, the abandoned and the betrayed.
At Reuters nearby IWW is engaged in another campaign for the London Living Wage and for the removal of a gang of a feral managers intimidating cleaners. The gains at Exchange Tower send a clear message that solidarity wins justice in the workplace!

Thank you to all our members and supporters!
An Injury to One is an Injury to ALL! Solidarity Forever!

IWW CLEANERS LIVING WAGE VICTORY AGAINST CONTRACTOR DYNAMIQ!
Friday 17 Cleaners Demo against NTT Communications CANCELLED

London, 16/02/2012 -IWW Cleaners and Allied Trades
Once again vindicating the IWW mottos - "An Injury to One is an Injury to All" and "Don't Mourn - Organise!" - the Fighting Industrial Workers of the World Cleaners and Allied Trades Union today gained yet another victory notch on their belt against unscrupulous bosses! Not ones to passively accept injustice, after their unfair sacking for organising a union, the Cleaners of NTT Communications stood up and confronted the management of cleaning services contractor Dynamiq for this unacceptable act of union-busting. Through the IWW Cleaners' Union's negotiations with Dynamiq management, the NTT Cleaners today obtained their reinstatement as a workforce onto a single worksite, and payment of the London Living Wage. The demonstration planned for Friday 17 February has thus been CANCELLED for cause of VICTORY!!
Dynamiq Cleaning and Program Management Ltd kicked out an entire workforce who had been at NTT for years - why? Because they joined a union and stood up for their rights in the face of bullying and intimidation.
Following today's negotiations with the cleaning contractor Dynamiq, who cover the contract for NTT, the Workers, with the IWW Cleaners Union's representation, secured an agreement which puts all the workforce in one site and provides full-payment of the London Living Wage.
As a result the IWW Cleaners Branch and London Delegates Committee has cancelled the demonstration called for Tomorrow at Devon house. We thank all trade unionists and fellow workers for their solidarity and support.

Hardy Sheffield Wobblies brave the elements to show support for ripped-off P*zza H*T workers.
According to the British IWW website, "Solidarity demos were held all over the UK and worldwide, including Birmingham, Glasgow, London, Calais, Portland, Vancouver, Berlin." In Hull the placards were taken up by our comrades of the Solidarity Federation, living up to their name. The manager called the cops on them, but - silly manager! - the picket was legal. Book that man a place on the company's next union-busting seminar!

AN ACT OF VICTIMISATION
(From the London Regional Secretary, Industrial Workers of the World)

The Industrial Workers of the World Cleaners and Allied Grades Branch
Secretary Alberto Durango was today sacked from his job at the Heron Tower
by the contractor Incentive FM Group Ltd. It is an act of victimisation
of a leading union activist well known for campaigning to defend and
improve the conditions of workers in the cleaning industry.

In August 2011 IWW secured a significant success on the London Living Wage
for cleaners at Heron Tower and in defence of victimised staff. Since
then there have been those seeking revenge against Alberto and the IWW.
In November 2011, Alberto was suspended for using a service lift used
daily by other staff. The same month IWW negotiated an agreement with
the cleaning contractor LCC that there would be no compulsory redundancies
and any staff reductions would be by transfers to alternative posts. A
new contractor has taken over at Heron Tower who have not recognised this
agreement which continues under TUPE, Incentive have singled out Alberto
for redundancy without any objective justification.

The company Cushman & Wakefield who manage Heron Tower also manage
Exchange Tower where IWW has a campaign for the London Living Wage. This
company had taken an excessively aggressive stance against IWW and our
members, preventing leaflets being distributed and threatening IWW members
with investigations.

The Industrial Workers of the World is based on the principle that an
injury to one is an injury to all. We call on all workers to show their
solidarity with the Cleaners Branch Secretary and demand the immediate
reinstatement Of Alberto Durango and no compulsory redundancies.

Welcome to the home page of Sheffield Pizza Hut Workers Union – 460. Sheffield is the birth place of our union, which started up the hill in Crookes. Get Organised Get Involved – email us at pizzahutIU640@IWW.org.uk
http://iwwgmbsheffield.wordpress.com/pizza-hut-workers-union/
The Pizza Hut Workers Union is currently fighting on three key issues -

1.Drivers Conditions

2.Pay

3.Union Recognition

In drivers conditions we are demanding regular updates of all moped drivers safety gear. We are also demanding an increase to deliver drivers per-delivery commission, which now stands at 60p, which clearly does not cover costs.
Over pay we are demanding pay increases in line with inflation, as currently our pay is seeing regular decreases. We also that we deserve time and a half for working Bank and National Holiday days. This is industry standard, we are not demanding the earth!
Lastly on the subject of Union Recognition, we believe it is only right as the workers that make the Pizza Hut company what it is we deserve to be talked to on an equal footing to management and have the right for our union to be recognised, giving us all stronger voice

"City of London shame on you."

Film of IWW cleaners' protest on BBC website.