Submitted on Wed, 01/03/2007 - 12:44pm
"Why I'm a wobbly" - Three members of the Industrial Workers of the World, from different political and working backgrounds, explain why they joined the IWW, and how they see their union.
The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) in Britain is growing. Freedom talked to three of its members about why they joined the union, its relationship with the anarchist movement and the relevance of the organization today.
Why did you join IWW?
Barbara: I am in an unusual employment situation. I am employed by elected representatives (members of the Scottish Parliament) who are also my comrades in the party of which I'm a member and activist. However there was no obvious trade union to be a member of. The vast majority of us were employed at the same time, shortly after the last Scottish Parliament elections and were encouraged to join the National Union of Journalists by a comrade. However I was unhappy about this as my work does not involve any journalism, and to be a member of the NUJ you have to state what percentage of your work is journalism. When I asked the full time organiser who came to recruit us, he was patronising and sexist - using phrases about me like "just a secretary". I challenged him but he only made it worse with more inappropriate comments. There was no way I could join the NUJ. I looked around and decided that I would join the IWW. I liked the idea that it's a union for all workers, no matter what kind of work you do. I also like the idea of one big union. Quite a few of my colleagues also joined the IWW as dual carders and we now have a job branch in the parliament.
Submitted on Mon, 12/11/2006 - 3:52am
IWW Staff Report - Industrial Worker, January 2007
As Christmas approaches, 11 workers at the Scottish Parliament face broken contracts and unemployment in the new year, courtesy of the self-proclaimed champions of the Scottish working class, MSPs Tommy Sheridan and Rosemary Byrne.
They are both Members of Scottish Parliament, Sheridan being the only candidate for the Scottish Socialist Party elected when the parliament was founded in 1999, and Byrne one of five more who joined him after the second election in 2003.
Their party has been torn by a bitter dispute, centred around Sheridan's leadership, and a legal action he took against the News of the World when the paper made allegations about his private life. The rancour ended in Sheridan and Byrne's resignation from the SSP to found a new party called Solidarity.
Submitted on Thu, 11/16/2006 - 6:34am
As Christmas approaches, eleven workers at the Scottish Parliament face broken contracts and unemployment in the new year, courtesy of self-proclaimed champions of the Scottish working class, Tommy Sheridan and Rosemary Byrne. They are both MSPs, Sheridan being the only candidate for the Scottish Socialist Party elected when the parliament was founded in 1999, and Byrne one of five more who joined him after the second election in 2003.
Their party has been torn by a bitter dispute, centred around Sheridan's leadership, and a legal action he took against the News of the World when the paper made allegations about his private life. The rancour ended in Sheridan and Byrne's resignation from the SSP, and their founding of a new party called Solidarity.
Submitted on Wed, 10/25/2006 - 4:03am
Over forty people squeezed into a tiny room at this weekend's London Anarchist Bookfair to sow the seeds of a network of anti-authoritarian left education workers. Members of the IWW, Solidarity Federation and Anarchist Federation were all present, along with a large number of unattached workers and students from education institutions all over the UK.
The meeting discussed pressing issues in the education sector, including privatisation, job cuts, pay cuts and casualisation, and a productive debate ensued over how we can form a strong network to combat these problems in our individual workplaces and on regional and national levels. The answers were encouraging, alluding to principles and practices of democracy, industrial organising, direct action, militancy and disrespect for the business unions that the IWW has used for the last 101 years.
Submitted on Mon, 10/09/2006 - 9:16am
As a sister campaign to the Starbucks Workers' Union in the US, wobblies in the UK have created an IU 660 website devoted to coffee shop workers.
Visit www.baristasunited.org.uk for more information