A-Infos (en) Britain, Anarchist journal Direct Action #42 - Direct Action Casework; Exposed: Social Landlord Breaches Tenant Privacy; Education Workers Network

Direct Action Casework ---- is about knowing our rights and using direct action 
to enforce them in the same way that workers use disruptive action (go-slows, 
work to rule, sabotage and strikes) to gain their demands applies this approach 
to life outside the workplace disrupting the smooth functioning of institutions 
which are failing to meet their legal requirements, forcing them to concede to 
our demands is designed to cut through official processes to get people what 
they deserve and facilitates self-organising by the people directly affected 
enables those people, whose immediate problem having been resolved, to become 
involved in helping others without feeling that they need specialist expertise 
is effective but it isn’t enough – campaign work is crucial to challenge the 
underlying problems and extend the experience of direct action to a broader context

How to Enforce your Rights at Work

Held recently by LCAP, this workshop consisted of three sessions:

    1. ‘Exploring Workers’ Rights’, looked at basic rights through explor- ing 
what rights apply in particular scenarios and where to find sources of further 
information. Participants received a booklet containing what was covered in this 
session.
    2. ‘The Whys and Hows of Organising’, was divided into two sections

     a. ‘Why Organise at Work?’, was presented by South London Solidarity 
Federation, and looked at the specific reasons why we need to organise to 
enforce our rights and the other benefits of organising in your workplace.

     b. ‘How we Organise’ was led by the London Industrial Workers of the World 
and focused on the nuts and bolts of organising, look- ing at different ways and 
models of working collectively and at their strengths and weaknesses.

The feedback was pretty positive and LCAP intend to do more training in 
different parts of London, including more in-depth sessions focusing on 
particular issues.

Like what you’ve read?...then get in touch: 07 932 241 737 
londoncoalitionagainstpoverty@gmail.com lcap_news-subscribe@riseup.net

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Comment - Exposed: Social Landlord Breaches Tenant Privacy

A new housing association in Lambeth, Community Trust Housing, provided personal 
details of over a thousand tenants and leaseholders in a serious breach of the 
Data Protection Act.
 
Community Trust Housing (CTH) gave a 30 page spreadsheet containing over a 
thousand names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, and dates of tenancies 
and leases to ‘persons unknown’ as part of a court action to gain possession of 
five houses. These documents were filed with the court and attached to the 
outside front door of each of the properties, where anyone walking past could 
have read them. Given recent incidents with organisations being casual with 
personal data, there was certainly enough there for identity theft.
 
CTH was set up in 2007 after a transfer of over 1000 homes on the Stockwell Park 
Estate from Lambeth Council. It is promoted as a tenant-led housing association 
whereby seven of the twelve member board are appointed by tenants, four are 
independently selected and one is a Lambeth councillor. At the time of the 
tenant ballot on the transfer, it briefly became headline news after New Labour 
acolyte Polly Toynbee used her media power to back the transfer against 
opposition to it from the Defend Council Housing campaign group.

CTH took possession proceedings in the Lambeth County Court against the five 
properties that were occupied by unknown persons. On Friday 25th January 2008 
they were awarded possession of the properties. It was in attempting to prove 
the legal determination of previous tenancies that the document was submitted to 
the court.  However the document also contained the details of over a thousand 
other tenants and leaseholders. There was no attempt to erase or block out the 
details of the other properties not affected in the court proceedings.
These proceedings are public and the court documents form part of the public 
record. Any person can inspect the court record and access these private 
details. It is a serious breach of the Data Protection Act and shows that it is 
not just government that is cavalier with people’s data.
 
SolFed fights for the rights of workers at work and where they live. We support 
community involvement in managing housing but will continue to keep watching the 
management.

------------------------------

Organising - Education Workers Network

SolFed members in education recently held the 4th EWN national conference in 
Liverpool considering among other things:

     * new publicity material – stickers, intro leaflet and poster to advertise 
Education Worker
     * solidarity messages, including disputes at Keele University and Leicester 
Adult Education College
     * tips for workplace activists on working within and outside official union 
structures
     * the following statement on the current dispute over the pay bargaining in 
Higher Education:

EWN Statement on ‘single table bargaining’

     “EWN has a 2-pronged approach - on one hand we favour all Higher Education 
workers combining their industrial muscle; on the other hand we oppose national 
bargaining ‘at any price’, especially an employer-dictated time-table designed 
to avoid industrial action by lecturers interfering with student exams.

     Given the state of the unions there’s a danger of national pay bargaining 
ending up as a glorified works council (a bureaucratic body dominated by a 
management agenda, with employers consulting union leaders in a manner totally 
detached from the needs of ordinary members).

     There’s a crying need in Higher Education for more contact between 
activists in workplaces to promote greater militancy and greater solidarity 
between different groups of workers across union divisions. This is a key aim of 
EWN and ultimately we wish to see a single, militant, fighting union for all 
education workers.”
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