Today saw the start of the Royal College of GPs conference in Liverpool. Keep Our NHS Public held a protest outside the venue, the BT Convention Centre, as health minister Andrew Lansley was set to be the day's keynote speaker. Members of Liverpool Solidarity Federation joined the action.
As the land was private property, the security had taken the trouble to set up a protest pen using steel barricades, in which the demonstrators were to be contained. Liverpool Solfed members and others were resistant to this, but too many of those who turned up complied willingly either by going inside or by keeping their distance from the centre whilst giving out leaflets. The minority who chose not to be caged - especially as there were no police present! - simply kept moving about so that they were never static enough to be herded back to the pen.
On Sunday 2nd October, members of Solidarity Federation were amongst those who descended on Manchester to demonstrate at the start of the Tory Party Conference. 30,000 people took part in the march, and there was an occupation of Albert Square which at the time of writing is still ongoing.
See Liverpool Solidarity Federation's pictures of the demo here.
Ryanair Don't Care campaigner John Foley appeared at Liverpool magistrates court on Thursday (September 8th) following his rooftop protest at Liverpool John Lennon Airport.
SolFed members and supporters held a solidarity demo outside the court to support John and help promote the campaign.
Below is an interview we did with John and a few photos from the demo.
Below we reproduce some photographs of the rooftop protest held by John Foley at Liverpool John Lennon Airport. To avoid embarassment to the airport and Ryanair, the police placed a news blackout on the protest, meaning the local media were unable to report the story. As a result, Solidarity Federation was the only organisation publicising the action against Ryanair's exploitation of young cabin crew recruits.
The airport's management has particular reason to be concerned as they only realised John was on the roof of one of their buildings after he'd been there for over an hour and a local journalist informed them.
After spending 15 hours on the roof, John was arrested and spent 28 hours in police custody.
Workers' rights campaigner John Foley has begun a rooftop protest at Liverpool John Lennon Airport to highlight the exploitation of cabin crew by Ryanair.
Nearly 50 people attended a public meeting organised by Liverpool Solidarity Federation about the Liverpool general transport strike of 1911.
• First off, local historian and BBC Radio Merseyside regular Frank Carlyle gave us an overview of Liverpool's growth as a port city, it's economic development, the influence of immigration and the rise of the city's working-class.
Liverpool SolFed members joined around 150 people on St George's Plateau in Liverpool city centre today to commemorate the brutal attack on workers by police that took place 100 years ago .
" We’re gathered here today, peacefully, to demonstrate our determination to win this long and terrible battle against the employing classes and the state. What does that mean? Only this. All the transport workers of Liverpool are arm-in-arm against the enemy class."
- speech given by strike leader Tom Mann, read it in full here.
John Foley, founder of the Ryanair Don't Care campaign against the exploitation and scamming of cabin crew, has staged a protest outside the offices of Dalmac, a recruitment company in Dublin used by the airline.
The YouTube video below shows someone connected with the company mounting the pavement in her car to drive over John's banner and, at one point, almost run over him.
John also attended a recent meeting of our local to talk about the campaign and how we can actively support it. He told us: "I have never told anyone not to work for Ryanair. I want to make information available about their employment practises. It's then up to individuals to make a choice for themselves." He also insisted that attempts by Ryanair and its partners to intimidate him will be fruitless.
Teachers, parents, and students in Sefton are currently engaged in a struggle to stop a number of schools in the area becoming academies. As part of that fight, they today held a "funeral for education" in Liverpool. Despite the wet weather, a number of people joined the mock funeral procession from St George's Hall to St Luke's Church and handed out leaflets to the public about the issue of academies and why they should be opposed.
Members of Liverpool Solidarity Federation were amongst those present on the march, as were those involved in a similar struggle over Shorefields College in the Dingle - whose picket lines we have previously supported.
A protest was held outside Liverpool John Lennon airport yesterday to highlight Ryanair's exploitation of employees and also remember Paul Ridgard, a Ryanair pilot who passed away in May of this year. More actions are planned for the future. SolFed are also making enquiries through the IWA/AIT about how we can help make the campaign against Ryanair go continental (our Spanish sister organisation, the CNT, has organised some workers at the airline, see here).
On Thursday 14 July, a meeting held in Unite's regional office saw the establishment of Liverpool Against The Cuts. 85 people, including members of Liverpool Solidarity Federation, were in attendance.
As around 750,000 public sector workers took strike action, Liverpool Solidarity Federation offered our support to picket lines around Bootle as well as joining a march and rally in the City Centre. We found that strike action was strongly supported, not just by the staff walking out but by the broader constituency of those affected by and fighting the cuts.