Anybody still wishing to send an e-mail can do so now via:
 julie@workstation.org.uk
 ian@showroom.org.uk
 iain@showroom.org.uk
 bill@showroom.org.uk

here are 10 more images taken from this mornings action, the first being published using the wifi from The Showroom.. More due soon..

i called to ask them to premier my next smash-hit-indy-masterwork but their phone was down.

Guess i'll have to give it to Miramax.

Lockweed was a five hour a week casual barman who pissed off lots of the staff there by trying to get them to join the IWW when they didn't want to.

Despite the efforts of the IWW to push this as some sort of us v them labour dispute its just the latest in an increasingly sorry attempt to get members by the IWW by cheap stunts like this.

There are bigger and more important fights than the falling membership of a trade union

...a troll!

even by management standards, that is a pathetic attempt to a) impersonate a real worker and b) convince people that unions are rubbish.

seriously, what do you think you'd achieve by posting here??

Even if the employees of Showroom did want to join a union, the chances of them wanting to join an organisation like IWW is almost zero. For a global union it has been a total failure - one can assume it is a reflection of the quality of its activists and its inability to provide any tangible benefits for its members. Further to bobby's claim that 'move on' is trying to 'convice people that unions are rubbish' he was clearly actually referring just to the IWW. Unfortunately, the evidence is there for all to see - it is a rubbish union which is why it only about 1000 members (out of a global population of nearly 7 billion!)

So red robbo, you know how many workers at the Showroom are in the IWW do you? Go on then, enlighten us.

if you were a true red you'd support workers whatever union they're in (except that fash one, Solidarity, of course).

"only" 1,000 members? first of all it's more like 2,000. and secondly, that's more members than most socialist parties could ever dream of!!

To reply to a previous post.

Yes there are bigger issues out there, but I don't think you can seperate them from the decline of trade unions. The breakdown of the working class' only defence mechanism certainly is linked to things like the housing crisis, fascist immigration policies and drug abuse in our communities.

The Point of the IWW is to provide solidarity when it's needed. Clearly here, it's been requested, and as such im gonna stick up for my fellow worker. A phonecall is shit-all to ask for and Im more than happy to do it.

Defending a guys job is admirable. Employment is going down and down, and it's getting harder and harder to find work, while food and energy prices are going up and up. This might not bother our middle class comrades. But it bloody well does bother the people effected by it. A tiny victory here gives good cred to the IWW and proves people are prepaired to stick up for eachother. It builds confidence and shows a defience of the bosses that may well encourage others to follow suit.

Solidarity,
Dave

I don't think you are a management troll, just a disgruntled leftist with an axe to grind.

The IWW is a small but growing radical union. It has roughly 500 members in the UK, with roughly 300 of them in active membership. In the US it has about 1500 members.

It has not 'failed' - it was wildly successful in its first incarnation from 1905 to the mid 30's in America, which is why it was crushed, along with the rest of the labour movement and socialist parties over there. Crushed by anti-Communist laws and by state massacres. I'd repeat, it is far from alone in this - all of the militant labour movement and left was utterly crushed at this time in America; what survived were either tiny socialist groups or unions happy to play ball with the bosses and never go beyond getting a 'fair deal', and keeping their member in line being part of the MO. Thankfully this has chamged a bit over time.

The version you see today is the revived IWW that has started to grow rapidly from the late 1990's. It is much changed, but in the most important ways, no different at all; it is not a begging bowl union, it aims to take complete control of industry democraticaly, through industrial unionism. This is called syndicalism and it is FAR FROM ALONE in this aim. The CGT, an anarcho-syndicalist union is the third largest union in Spain - that's "a membership of approximately 60,000 people, while representing around 2 million workers through industrial committees". So playing the numbers game is bullshit on 2 counts - firstly cos this is quite a new union, and secondly cos this is not a union that offers life insurance and a credit card, this is a fighting union with next to no paid organisers.

"Even if the employees of Showroom did want to join a union, the chances of them wanting to join an organisation like IWW is almost zero."

That must be why they are joining the IWW.

The likelihood of them joining another union? well go on then, which one? Cos the service industry isn't exactly union busy is it. The truth is, the IWW had members here, so the IWW organised here. There wasn't a mad rush with other unions to get new members.

"One can assume it is a reflection of the quality of its activists and its inability to provide any tangible benefits for its members."

- right, so why are many of its organisers ALSO paid organisers for mainstream unions? They must get paid by the TUC to be shit at organising, that would make perfect sense.

In the IWW we will fight to defend our members first and foremost, and we will fight to increase the militancy of all workers, and organise together to win more and more.

If that is what you object to, then hey, you aren't red. Not even a little mauve!

Whoever the person slagging of Chris Lockwood and the IWW was has evidently got no idea what they're talking about. If people in the workplace didn't want to join, why is it that 15 out of 23 people across the unit HAVE joined and have done so because they recognise that they need to fight in order to protect their conditions. I suggest you come and speak to us rather than patronising us.

As for Chris Lockwood, he was a well liked, hard working members of staff who worked 40 hour weeks until management started to attack his work hours. He is supported by all those who have joined the IWW at the Showroom and even some who haven't. This is not just my feeling as a worker there but also the feeling of duty managers, supervisors and other full time salaried staff who recognise what total bollocks his sacking was.

To make the middle class history, if you think people don't want to be recognised in photos, please remove the faces entirely.

Your pixelated faces are quite recognisable. Blurring the whole picture makes them even more so.

The simplest way to remove faces is to just cover them with a solid colour. Tricks like pixelating, bluring, and swirling give a false impression of anonymity.