Latest sparks siteworker demos from 2nd nov

Icon_article Star Published: November 03, 2011 14:41 by strike occupy resist!

Tagged as: occupylondon occupylsx siteworker sparks workers_struggles
Neighbourhoods:

The latest in a series of protests and action by electricians and their supporters took place on wed 2nd Nov. Assembling at 6.30am for a blockade of the site at 110 Cannon Street run by Gratte Brothers, they found the site already shut. Whilst the cops declared their protest illegal and threatened arrests the sparks entered Cannon st tube station and held a short rally, before marching to the OccupyLSX protest camp by St Paul's Cathedral.

A major national day of action has been called in London for 9th November [2] with plans to shut down several high profile construction sites. The National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts (NCAFC) has also called a national demonstration in London "Defend Education - Fight Privitisation" on the 9th with the financial centre of the City of London as the target. NCAFC said they "stand 100% behind the sparks, and want to work with electricians to make sure that the protests converge". See also Cabbies protest + Nov9 Demo website.

Previous: Wed 19th Blocakde Report / Wed 26th Oct blockade report

Sparks1-medium
Pic: neilcaff http://twitpic.com/79pcf7

 

See: Police could arrest sparks at Pinnacle protest
http://www.constructionenquirer.com/2011/11/02/police-could-arrest-sparks-at-pinnacle-protest/

VIDEO: Sparks protest - Canon Street November 2 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZOn8Wp2vPw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihwgTy6Gpbw

London sparks break media black out
http://www.shopstewards.net/news.184.htm

See also:
Sparks protest forces Balfour Beatty off Carrington site
http://www.shopstewards.net/news.182.htm

Plus

Text produced by London Anarchist Federation and distributed to construction workers:
http://afed.org.uk/blog/workplace/261-sparks-special.html

The Cautiously Pessimistic blog takes a look at the current struggle of electricians in the UK and puts it in the context of struggles against austerity around the world:
http://libcom.org/news/chance-start-writing-ourselves-back-story-28092011

 

Balfour Beatty, who run the Blackfriars construction project, are not only the driving force behind the 35% pay cut and withdrawal from the JIB National Agreement. They are also one of the main culprits in the blacklisting of construction workers for taking part in trade union activities. Other employers are Bailey Building Services, Tommy Clarke, Crown House Technologies, Gratte Brothers, SES and Spie Matthew Hall.

 

http://www.jibelectrician.blogspot.com

http://union-news.co.uk/tag/sparks/

 

Additions

good quality video of sparks demo 2nd nov

Comment Published: November 04, 2011 08:42 by vids

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFh4ylUDIRc

JIBelectrician report

Comment Published: November 04, 2011 09:03 by strike occupy resist

110 Cannon Street, London - 2nd nov

The rain held off this week, which was a good start. There were around 300 at this weeks protest. We started at 110 Cannon Street outside the Grattes Brothers job where the twat of a site manager said he would pay us £1 an hour if he could. The site was absolutely dead. No one at all coming or going. We can only presume that Grattes and the main contractor decided to shut the site for the day to stop any trouble. There were plenty of City of London police to keep guard though. On of the speakers stated that it was the only site in the country with security being provided by the police.
After a while outside the site we voted to move on to Farringdon, the location of the now famous storming of the gates and occupying the site.
The only problem was that the police were being rather awkward in letting us march freely up the road. Constantly pushing us onto the pavement and slowing us down.
So it was decided that we would stop in Cannon Street Station and set up in there for a while where more speakers took to the mic.
We then moved off again up to Farringdon but enroute we came up to the 'Occupy' protest at St.Pauls. There were cameras from ITV and BBC there so we headed over. Once on the steps of St Pauls the photographers and news cameras came over to find out what was happening.
We were live on Daybreak on ITV at just gone 8am.

There were also protests in the North West, Newcastle and Ratcliffe Power Station, Notts. For reports see:
http://jibelectrician.blogspot.com/2011/11/i-have-now-lost-count-of-how-many-weeks.html#more

two good pieces on sparks revolt

Comment Published: November 04, 2011 09:20 by fyi

Make or break moment for ‘sparks’

The grassroots ‘Sparks’ movement of electricians continues to organise direct actions and protests across the country, but it is running out of time before construction companies impose huge pay cuts. Meanwhile, the same Unite bureaucracy whose negotiator Bernard McAulay labelled the Sparks “cancerous” is seeking to gain control of the struggle, the better to strangle it. The rank-and-file workers need to develop a resistance strategy, and fast.
http://thecommune.co.uk/2011/10/30/make-or-break-moment-for-sparks/

Pay cut sparks electricians protests in Manchester

Electricians from across the North West this week again took part in the latest nationally coordinated protests against plans by employers to reduce pay and worsen working conditions. For the second week in a row the building site for the new Carrington Paper Mill, operated by the construction firm Balfour Beatty, was picketed by around 50 workers, with many of those employed on site choosing to turn away rather than cross the picket line. Similar actions have taken place in Newcastle, Glasgow and London over the past fortnight.
http://manchestermule.com/article/pay-cut-sparks-electricians-protests-in-manchester