Activists from the Independent Workersâ union of Great Britain (IWGB), United Voices of the World (UVW), UCU, Unite, RMT, Bectu, and other unions and workersâ organisations came together for the âHow To Win At Workâ conference on Saturday 18 August, hosted by the left-wing think tank New Economics Foundation.
The culmination of a project aimed at linking up the struggles of âprecariousâ workers such as cleaners, bar workers, restaurant workers, delivery couriers and others, the conference saw activists take part in workshops on the basics of workplace organising and planning workplace action.
The event gave workers an opportunity to understand and contextualise their own workplace experiences, with casualised education workers discovering commonalities of experience with cleaners and track maintenance workers on London Underground, Deliveroo couriers, and others.
A committee of volunteers was formed to help the unions involved coordinate ongoing solidarity and joint action. The project has also produced a series of videos on organising and fighting back at work.
The conference ended with a rendition of âSolidarity Foreverâ, after a closing speech from Workersâ Liberty supporter and RMT activist Daniel Randall, which explained the history of the song. Randall said: ââWe can bring to birth the new world from the ashes of the oldâ, runs the last line of the songâs final verse.
âSolidarity is our mechanism for doing that; our struggle aims to elevate solidarity from the organising principle of resistance to the governing principle of society.â
