Save SMLC press release Closed before Xmas, the Tory council in Southampton locked out hundreds of users from St Mary’s Leisure Centre (SMLC) halfway through a council consultation on its future. 86% of the 1,758 of people who responded oppose the closure. Yet council leader Daniel Fitzhenry said the result would be ignored, the centre […]
Southampton Tory council closed St Marys Leisure Centre on 22 December, locking out hundreds of users. They falsely claim that the building requires “millions” to maintain. The decision has been met with widespread anger. Campaigners gained coverage for the fight to keep the centre open, with interviews on local TV, radio and in the local […]
University management was forced to meet the student union after 95% of the over 7,000 people that participated in an all-student vote favoured moving exams from in-person to online because of the latest Covid crisis. But the outcome of the meeting was not what we wanted. Our demands were rejected. We have now been sent […]
Covid cases are surging across university campuses. I’ve never known this many people who have tested positive. We expected the university to move the in-person January exams to online assessments. The university has not organised any in-person exams since the begining of the pandemic in early 2020. But there has been no such announcement. This […]
Over 50 trade unionists from unions such as Unite, RMT, PCS, Usdaw, and NEU, and reps from local trades councils in Southampton, Hull and Liverpool met with the assistance of the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) to discuss what ‘Freeports’ mean for workers and how trade unions should respond. Rob Williams, chair of the NSSN, […]
Southampton’s lockdown easing on 12 April was met with a loud and vibrant protest in solidarity with sacked RMT bus safety rep Declan Clune. Outrageously, he was dismissed for reporting a safety issue. The rally, which included the Socialist Party, took place in front of Bluestar buses’ city centre shop, was part of the RMT […]
Declan Clune, secretary of the Southampton District Bus and Coach branch of the RMT and a Socialist Party member, was sacked on 26 February by Bluestar Bus company, on the spurious grounds of “bringing the company into disrepute”. His crime? In line with health and safety regulations, as branch secretary he reported a bus collision […]
Despite all the limitations of lockdown restrictions, local branches in the Southern and South East Region recruited well last year. It has been a boost to many of our branches to have a vibrant and fresh influx of new members, eager to discuss socialist politics and to get active spreading our ideas. Keen to encourage […]
Southampton Trades Council held a protest rally on Saturday 7 November, which in the circumstances of lockdown was small, but with a bold, positive spirit. We had done a risk assessment, maintained social distancing, and wore face coverings to be as safe as possible, while maintaining our right to protest. As local trade unionists, we […]
On 8 October, two people walking in the residential area of Coxford, Southampton, were surrounded by six people on mopeds who taunted them with racist abuse, stole the woman’s phone and injured her, and then stabbed the man. Fortunately he survived. Coxford Labour councillors, Tammy Thomas and Barrie Margetts, organised an anti-racist rally at short […]
Read this week's #NSSN bulletin no.566: Workers start 2022 on the picket line!
https://shopstewards.net/2022/01/nssn-566-workers-start-2022-on-the-picket-line/
