Leicester Wobs Activities Around May Day

Early May and Leicestershire IWW was involved in a host of diverse activities, ranging from participation in the May Day demo, running a stall at a local Social Forum event, flyering a local blood donor surgery as part of the National Blood Service dispute, and engaging in IWW social activities.

 

As the official Leicester Trades Council march was to be held on the 5th May, Leicester Wobblies decided to celebrate the real May Day with a social event at a cheap and friendly local Indian vegetarian place. The new local branch is a great believer in the notion that, 'people who play together will fight together' so social events are seen as essential for not only building branch cohesion but also for bringing new members into the local Wobbly scene.

 

Saturday 5th May we mobilised 15 Leicestershire Wobblies and were joined by a couple of members from Cambridge and Milton Keynes for the Trades Council march to defend public services. It was a small demo but our numbers meant the IWW made up over 10% of the actual march.  We brought banners, placards, red and black flags, drums, loads of flyers, enthusiasm, humour and style! We also had a speaker at the rally - see the YouTube film to catch the speech.

 

On the Sunday, a group of Wobs flyered a donor session at the National Blood Service in Leicester, talking to donors and workers alike.  Many people are still unaware of the soon to happen drastic changes to this service.  All in all, a fruitful day's action.

 

Monday 7th was a public holiday and the Leicester Social Forum was holding a Festival of Alternatives.  So on the day we ran a nicely stocked stall with flyers, pamphlets, badges and T-shirts.  We also hosted a well attended workshop in the afternoon, with plenty of discussion and a showing of the Starbucks film, too.

 

All in all, a busy few days and very positive for the branch - especially when you consider that only a year and a half ago, there were no IWWs in Leicester.  Yet now, we've already got approaching 40 members in the GMB, a strong job branch at DMU, and hopefully a couple more job branches in the pipeline.

 

Onwards and upwards!

 

Rob X355616