Brighton SolFed

On April 4th, several Locals of the Solidarity Federation, alongside other anarchists, trade unionists and activists took part in the national day of action against Subway, in support of victimised pregnant worker Natalia Szymanska. This day saw pickets of Subway stores across Britain and Ireland, demanding her reinstatement and compensation.

19 year old Natalia Szymanska worked at a Belfast branch of Subway. As she was 5 months pregnant and working until 10pm, she arranged for her boyfriend - an employee of the very same company - to pick her up and walk her home. He had done this many times previously, with the full knowledge and agreement of her managers and never before had it been a problem. However, unknown to Natalia her managers had a different plan on this occasion, because a month previously she had informed them she was pregnant - a fact which would require them to provide her paid maternity leave.

Management seized upon the presence of her boyfriend, and Natalia was dismissed in a farce of a disciplinary. Her managers believed she would have no recourse, and be forced to accept their decision. Their excuse was violation of health and safety - allowing an “unauthorised member of staff” onto the premises. Quite why the presence of another employee of the same company represented such a dire threat to health and safety was never explained.

Natalia turned to the Belfast and District Trade Union Council, who for the past several months have been holding a regular series of pickets of the premises in question, supported by a wide array of organisations from the labour movement and beyond. Thus far, G.G. Cuisine, the franchise holder has been unwilling to budge, and so the decision was made to turn up the pressure, and spread the pickets across the whole of Britain and Ireland. The aim is to force Subway to pressure G.G. Cuisine into settling with Natalia and to show that we will not allow bosses to treat any worker with such contempt.

The pickets were well attended across both countries, being hold in a wide range of cities, including London, Brighton, Belfast, Bradford, Manchester, Bristol, Liverpool and Dublin. In Brighton and London pickets were also held at a wide range of different Subway store Since the pickets, the franchise holder has attempted to get an injunction against Belfast TUC in order to stifle the protest, but as we go to press, the struggle for Justice for Natalia continues.

Latin American cleaners on Friday 3rd April held the latest in a series of weekly demonstrations outside their former workplace in the insurance firm Willis in the City of London against the sacking of five of their colleagues by the Mitie cleaning contractor. The four men and one woman were dismissed following an email conversation with management, in which the cleaners registered their unhappiness at a sudden change in shift patterns, done without consultation.

The Mitie Five were clearly considered to be the ‘ringleaders’, yet this campaign has been organised by all the cleaners, using the resources of their Unite union when necessary but acting on their own initiative when the union has not given them what they want. A recent deal between Unite and Mitie was rejected by the cleaners, who consequently found themselves abandoned by the union. Their firing is also clearly linked to the recent Justice for Cleaners campaign, in which Mitie and Willis were forced to increase the cleaners’ wages from a minimum wage of £5.73/hour to £7.20/hour.

Following the cleaners’ victory, management changed their shift times from 7-11pm to 10pm-6am in a deliberate provocation. As one cleaner commented, “I have four children in school. How can I be expected to suddenly start working all night and not be there for my children in the morning?” Many other Mitie employees work second jobs, which have now been thrown in jeopardy by the shift changes.
The demonstrations have yielded responses from both Willis – who insincerely claim that the cleaners’ pay does not concern them – and Mitie, who recently called the cleaners into “negotiate”, only to issue them with a lawyer’s letter accusing them of libel! Regardless, the struggle continues, with the cleaners determined to win their jobs back.

Despite working on the same streets as the nation’s new Public Enemy Number One (the greedy bankers of the City of London), migrant cleaners represent some of the most poorest and most vulnerable workers in the UK, and have found themselves on the frontline of the recession’s assault on living and working conditions. The Square Mile has been the target of various attacks in recent weeks, but while a smashed bank window may make for a good photograph, it is struggles such as these which have the potential to reverse the consequences of the economy’s implosion via workers’ self-organisation.