- Solidarity Network and workers’ inquiry in Avonmouth
We want to start laying some groundwork to make contacts in and around the warehouses in Avonmouth. We’ve worked in lots of warehouses over the last 8 years and they’re a crucial site of essential work – our shelves would be empty if it wasn’t for these workers! At the moment, we don’t know too much about the Avonmouth logistics area. Who works there? What contracts are they on? What is their pay like? Did the pandemic change their work-life in any way? What needs improving and are they doing anything about it..??
We hope to find out the answers to these questions and meet some like-minded workers along the way. How do we plan to do it?
– do an initial investigation into the area by driving around, talking to people who work there and getting the lay of the land.
– we want to start a solidarity network for workers at Avonmouth to build up links and a support network for those with problems with bosses/landlords etc.
– we want to reach out to Amazon workers through a regular newsletter. We have contacts with Amazon workers in the USA, Poland and Germany, all of who have had lots of experiences struggling openly against the bosses. Amazon workers at Avonmouth may find it useful to hear about these experiences, compare their own situation, and see if they want to do anything to improve theirs.
Dates:
Meet-up to discuss plans in more detail, including writing an initial leaflet for Avonmouth workers and getting to know each other:
Sunday 8th May, 3pm.
Venue: Contact us for meeting place!
Drive around Avonmouth to get the lay of the land, put up posters, see where we can hold drop-in sessions for the solidarity network:
Date and time TBC depending on your availability.
- Ongoing organising within the NHS
We’re also part of an independent health workers’ network that tries to organise with our co-workers at the largest hospital in Bristol. The NHS is a tough nut to crack. It’s massive for a start. Then you’ve got patient safety to worry about, which makes people scared about going on strike for example. Still, problems run deep and there’s so much more we could be doing to make care and our own conditions better. We are in close contact with health workers in Germany, Greece and Czech Republic who have recent experience of open struggle in the sector. We reflect on some of their experience in our second newsletter. The main topic of the newsletter is the last and upcoming NHS pay campaign, which in all honesty, was a dismal failure. We ask ourselves what went wrong and what we can learn. We distribute these newsletters (for free) outside Southmead and the BRI and we need help to do it!
Dates:
BRI distribution: Friday 13th May. Meet us outside BRI, 6am-7am. Let us know if you can join us! We’ll go for a nice breakfast after!
Southmead distribution: TBC depending on your availability
- Reading and discussion group
And if all that sounds like a bit too physical, you could also join us for a reading group meeting where we discuss past and current texts about class struggle. These reading groups are a regular thing that we share with other AngryWorkers in the UK and beyond. Rather than just meeting online we want to meet face-to-face in Bristol and discuss over some food and drinks.
Dates:
Next Bristol reading group meeting: Wednesday 18th May, 7pm-9pm. Text on Operaismo (‘workerism’)
Venue: contact us for address.
- General AngryWorkers meeting
On 27th/28th of May 2022 we’re having a general AngryWorkers meeting here in Bristol, where some comrades will come from other parts of the UK. We will finalise the programme soon, but it will probably include climate change and revolution and past and current imperialist tensions. If you’re interested in attending some or all of the meeting, let us know!
Dates:
AngryWorkers’ Discussion Meeting (open to non-AngryWorkers in Bristol, venue TBC)
27th and 28th May
- Future working together
AngryWorkers Bristol wants to build bridges between different groups of workers in the city, so that, in future, we can put real solidarity into action – from warehouses to universities, from manufacturing to healthcare. We ‘re all about encouraging working class self-organisation. If that sounds like something you’re interested in, or you want to find out more, drop us a line!
angryworkersworld@gmail.com
