The third issue of Liverpool Solidarity Federation’s free local newsletter, Wildcat!
Contents:
- Why we need to look beyond the TUC
- Barcelona: General strike 2010
- Nick Griffin sent packing in Liverpool
- Radical Workers Bloc calls for class war against capitalism & ConDem cuts
- Crosby 1 Sainsbury’s 0
- Mini-Sudoku
[see 19 February 2025 Meghan Glover Follow @MM_newsonline] https://www.mancunianmatters.co.uk/news/19022025-almost-famous-no-notice...
A former employee of popular burger chain Almost Famous protested outside a partner restaurant in Manchester after his no-notice redundancy left him without pay for a month.
On January 27, Almost Famous made more than 110 employees redundant across their branches in Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool – with many only finding out about their redundancies via social media.
Outside of the Northern Quarter’s burger spot Super Awesome Deluxe – which is run by the Almost Famous team – members of Solidarity Federation Hospitality Workers’ Union handed out flyers to bring light to the recent struggles of the chain’s redundant workers.
Among them was a former Almost Famous employee who said he was made redundant from his role at the Great Northern restaurant without proper notice, and left without a month’s pay – which he is currently in the process of disputing.
He said: “We got a message from our head chef telling us that we had all been made redundant, with zero notice whatsoever.
“Some people got to the door and thought that they were working as normal, but were told they couldn’t get in because the business was in the process of becoming insolvent.”
Liverpool-based firm D2 has since acquired the keys to Almost Famous’ Manchester Northern Quarter restaurant – but not the Great Northern.
Asked if there was a possibility he may return to work there, the former employee said: “Wouldn’t go back myself as Almost Famous is tainted for me now, but can see why some people would.”
The SF Hospitality Workers’ Union said the inability of Almost Famous to pay its workers came just months after it opened Super Awesome Deluxe restaurant at the end of 2024.
Tony, from SF Hospitality Workers’ Union, said: “They went bankrupt, but they’ve got this [Super Awesome Deluxe] open.
“They knew they were going bankrupt a month before, and they had people working all that month.”
Almost Famous employees have been told to apply via an external company and the Government’s Redundancy Payment Services rather than receiving outstanding wages directly.
The SF Hospitality Workers’ Union has claimed that Almost Famous pooled its resources into Super Awesome Deluxe, and is now urging Almost Famous to ensure workers are paid what they are owed.
Almost Famous and Super Awesome Deluxe were contacted for comment.
Featured image: Manchester Almost Famous protest with SF Hospitality Workers’ Union by Meghan Glover
https://www.mancunianmatters.co.uk/news/19022025-almost-famous-no-notice...
On January 27th, over 110 employees at restaurant chain Almost Famous (Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool) were made redundant, tossed aside with zero consultation or notice. The owners were quick to inform the media but some staff only found out via social media.
Redundancy without notice is illegal. The owners of Almost Famous knew at least a fortnight beforehand about the pending insolvency, but kept staff in the dark, and monthly paid staff effectively worked for nothing in January. Rather than getting outstanding wages and holidays, staff were told to apply via an external company and the Government’s Redundancy Payment Services. The owners didn’t even bother to submit the details needed for staff to begin a claim.
They offered empty words about making the decision with “heavy hearts”, but “support” for their “extraordinary” staff amounted only to a few jobs in their new venture. Over 100 redundancies, yet they thought advertising less than a tenth of that was sufficient!
The question remains, what makes a worker “extraordinary” or worthy in the owners’ eyes? Their lack of care or support is repugnant, and empty words and gestures don’t hide the facts. They launched a new burger restaurant, Super Awesome Deluxe, in Manchester’s Northern Quarter in November, yet expect staff to believe they lack funds. They can fund secret raves with rappers at Super Awesome, so they’re capable of paying Famous staff their due. This supports the idea that Almost Famous sites were culled to pool resources into Super Awesome, a reprehensible action.
Solidarity Federation’s Hospitality Workers’ Union strongly condemns these heartless actions and will do all in our power to support staff treated so contemptuously by Almost Famous, applying pressure to the owners of Super Awesome Deluxe until these employees receive all payments owed. If you’ve been affected by the actions of the crooks behind Almost Famous, or want to get involved, please contact us:
SF Hospitality Workers’ Union – sfhwu@riseup.net
Manchester Solidarity Federation – mcrsolfed@gmailcom
Do you want to organise in your workplace? Do you want help others organise? Do you want to form a solidarity network to fight dodgy landlords and grasping bosses? Do you want to do some grenade organising and flyer random workplaces or blocks of flats just to see what happens? Do you want to do all that along anarchist principals and not get bogged down in union bureaucracy or derailed by party political wrangling?
Well, North London Solidarity Federation wants to do those things to, and we will be holding an open meeting at London Action Resource Centre, 62 Fieldgate Street, London E1 1ES, from 2pm to 4pm, on Saturday the 23rd of November, with the aim of getting some of those projects going in London.
While we have some ideas on what we want to do, ultimately the desires of whoever shows up at the meeting will dictate what comes out of the meeting. If someone shows up with workplace they want help organising in, and everyone else wants to help, then we will do that. If everyone shows up and want to focus on building a solidarity network in a particular borough, then we will do that. So come along, bring the problems you have at work, bring your ideas, and together we can bring anarcho-syndicalism back to London.
https://solfednl.noblogs.org/post/2024/11/06/open-meeting-on-the-23rd-of...
For our fifth reading group we will be reading Anarchism and The Black Revolution by Lorenzo Kom’boa Ervin. Ervin was a Vietnam war conscript who became an anti-war activist, went on to join the Black Panthers, and became an anarchist while in prison for high-jacking an aircraft to escape to Cuba after being alleged in an attempt to kill a Ku Klux Klan leader. Anarchism and The Black Revolution, written in prison and first published in 1979, is not only a classic work of late 20th century anarchism, but brings a black perspective to anarchism that has often been missing in a movement dominated by the ideas of white European thinkers.
This book places its critique of both capitalism and racism firmly at the centre of the text, discussing capitalism and white supremacy, the differences between anarchism and Marxism, the anarchist critique of the state, police violence, the threat of fascism, and, as the title suggests, anarchism and the black revolution.
Free versions of Anarchism and The Black Revolution can be found on the Anarchist Library here [1] and our friends at Freedom Press here [2] have offered a 10% discount on physical copies for the reading group. Just quote “London SolFed Reading Group” or pop into Freedom for your general radical book buying needs.
The reading group will be meeting on Tuesday the 26h of November, 19:00, at Well Space, Hackney, 241 Well Street, E9 6RG. You are welcome to come and join in the discussion even if you have not finished the book, and if you have the money, please bring a donation for the space.
[1] https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/lorenzo-kom-boa-ervin-anarchism-...
[2] https://freedompress.org.uk/product/anarchism-and-the-black-revolution/
https://solfednl.noblogs.org/post/2024/11/04/reading-group-05-anarchism-...
http://solfed.org.uk/north-london/tue-26th-nov-7pm-london-reading-group-...
After an initial run of Anarcho-Syndicalist theory and practice, we are going to change things up and read something from a different perspective for Octobers’s reading group. From this point on we will alternate from month to month between more syndicalist/workplace focussed books and more general anarchist and radical books, both to add some variety and to provoke debate.
We will be reading at Palestine, Mon Amour, by Alfredo M. Bonanno, aiming to discuss what has changed since it was written, and what has remained the same. Description from Active Distribution here [1]:
“A large collection of short writings on the ever topical, and thorny topic of the Palestinian struggle for self-determination. Originally published from 1988-1995, they are more mediations on the likes of Jewish identity, the role of the Kibbutz, and the need for an overall Israeli-Palestinian insurrection, than commentary on current events.”
A free versions of Palestine, Mon Amour is available from the Anarchist Library here [2], and although we are not sure if this pamphlet is currently in print, Freedom Press have offered a 10% discount on physical copies of books for the reading group, so we will still them a shout out just for being cool. Go get books from them here [3].
The reading group will be meeting on Tuesday the 29th of October, 19:00, at Well Space, Hackney, 241 Well Street, E9 6RG. If you have the money, please bring a donation for the space.
[1] https://www.activedistributionshop.org/product/palestine-mon-amour-by-al...
[2] https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/alfredo-m-bonanno-palestine-mon-...
[3] https://freedompress.org.uk/
https://solfednl.noblogs.org/post/2024/09/26/reading-group-04-palestine-...
For our third reading group we will be moving away from history and theory and looking at modern forms of anarcho-syndicalist practice, and instead of reading a single book we will be reading three pamphlets that cover different struggles, with the aim of discussing what kind of tactics are needed to build a truly radical working class movement.
We will be looking at both of Solidarity Federation’s Theory and Practice pamphlets; Workmates, which describes building a parallel organisation alongside a traditional union on the London underground, and Anarcho-Syndicalism in Puerto Real, which describes how a workplace dispute led to broader community organising. We will also be looking at Seattle Solidarity Network’s The Seattle Solidarity Network: A New Kind of Working Class Social Movement, which describes forms of working class resistance that do not rely on a strong workplace presence.
Free versions of the Theory and Practice pamphlets can be found on the Anarchist Library here [1] and here [2], and our friends at Freedom Press here [3] have offered a 10% discount on physical copies for the reading group. Just quote “London SolFed Reading Group” or pop into Freedom for your general radical book buying needs. A New Kind of Working Class Social Movement is only available online, and can be found a LibCom here [4].
The reading group will be meeting on Tuesday the 24th of September, 19:00, at Well Space, Hackney, 241 Well Street, E9 6RG. If you have the money, please bring a donation for the space.
[1] https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/solidarity-federation-workmates
[2] https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/solidarity-federation-iwa-anarch...
[3] https://freedompress.org.uk/
[4] https://libcom.org/article/seattle-solidarity-network-new-kind-working-c...
Reading Group 02 – Fighting for Ourselves
For our second reading group we will be reading Fighting for Ourselves. Written by members of SolFed, this book looks at different currents within the workers movement, what went wrong during the 20th century, what we can learn from those failures, and chart a possible way forward in the 21st century. From the back cover:
“We are living in times of unprecedented attacks on our living conditions on all fronts, of rising social tensions and sometimes violent eruptions of class conflict. And yet, if anything, the surprise is not that there have been riots and the odd strike, but that there have been so few. How are we to make sense of this? How are we to fight back, and take the initiative? Against capitalism, what do we want to put in its place? The 20th century discredited state socialism, and rightly so. But with it, a whole history of international class struggle, of revolutions and counter-revolutions, victories and defeats, spontaneous uprisings and vast workers’ organisation has been eclipsed too.
This pamphlet aims to recover some of that lost history, in order to set out a revolutionary strategy for the present conditions.”
A free version of the book can be found on the Anarchist Library here, and our friends at Freedom Press here have offered a 10% discount on books for the reading group. Just quote “London SolFed Reading Group” or pop into Freedom for your general radical book buying needs.
The reading group will be meeting on Tuesday the 27th of August, 19:00, at Well Space, Hackney, 241 Well Street, E9 6RG. If you can spare the money, please bring a donation for the space.
We are starting a new reading group, and for our first book we will be reading Anarcho-syndicalism: Theory and Practice by Rudolf Rocker. Written during the Spanish Civil War, this book is a short explanation of classic anarcho-syndicalism at its height, and is a good introduction to the general tradition of politics that the Solidarity Federation comes out of.
The North London Solidarity Federation is running an introduction to the group with the aim of getting more people involved and becoming more active. All are welcome to come along and discuss what syndicalism is, what SolFed is, what we have done, what we would like to do, and why you should get involved.