This short podcast comes from two talks delivered at a panel event hosted by Manchester Industrial Workers of the World branch. The first is on Deliveroo organising, focused on the ideas of worker leadership and the role of union organisers, activists and rank-and-file workers. The two strikes organised in February of this year are used to highlight these concepts. These ideas are popularised by a US trade union organiser and academic, Jane McAlevey. We discussed some of her ideas in our first episode of 'Talking Shop'.

This is followed by a short talk by a worker involved in the McStrike, an organising drive in McDonald’s stores inspired by the Fight for $15 campaign in the US. McDonalds workers in England have been on strike 3 times, 4th September 2017, the 1st May 2018 and on the 4th October 2018 alongside Unite members in TGI Friday’s and IWW & IWGB organised strikes in Deliveroo and UberEats. On November 12th, McDonalds’ workers will go on strike again in 6 stores in London.

Their demands are:

* £15 an hour

* The option of guaranteed 40 hours work a week

* An end to youth rates

* Union recognition

The second episode of Material Girls is about work. We talk about what waged work means from an anti-capitalist perspective, social reproduction (the unpaid, hidden work that allows capitalism to keep going) and gender in the workplace.

In our previous podcast we critiqued 'Lean In' feminism, and liberal feminism in general. One of the many problems with liberal feminism is that it takes an uncritical approach to our exploitation at work, so we wanted to explain some of the anti-capitalist feminist perspectives we find more helpful. The abolition of waged labour is fundamental to the anti-capitalist project of transforming society. So much of the work we do to look after ourselves and each other (social reproduction) is unrecognised and unpaid. As anti-capitalist feminists we want to reorganise society to enable this work to be redistributed in a truly egalitarian way. When we go to our jobs as women, we are oppressed on the basis of our gender (as well our race, ability, sexuality etc) and our status as workers. It is possible to fight back in the workplace, through collective action. We briefly discuss some of the ways women have organised themselves, and won, at work. We'll record a future episode on unions and workplace organising.

We’re looking for guests who’d like to join in the discussion or be interviewed. We’d particularly love to hear from women of colour, black women and trans women, who are not represented by our regular hosts. You can also let us know if you’re doing some feminist organising that you’d like us to plug, especially if it’s happening outside of London. Email us at [email protected].

Links to recommended reading -

https://libcom.org/files/the-problem-with-work_-feminism-marxism-kathi-weeks.pdf

https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745399881/social-reproduction-theory

http://monthlyreview.org/1998/11/01/on-gender-and-class-in-u-s-labor-history/

Subscribe to New Syndicalist on Soundcloud or your favourite podcast app to keep up to date with Material Girls, Talking Shop, and our other audio content.

Here at New Syndicalist we have been perhaps guilty of following a tendency within the wider anti-capitalist Left of burying our heads in the sand and waiting for the nightmare that is Brexit to be over. In the hope that someday soon it will be done with and we can get back to "proper politics". What is becoming increasingly clear, however, is that Brexit and its effects will be defining issues for not just the next few years but most likely the next generation (if not generations). It will shape our politics, our economy and, by extension, out organising and the prospects for radical, social transformation. Unfortunately as activists and organisers we have to recognise that we never really fight in circumstances of our choosing. If we are waiting for the perfect issue to mobilise and recruit around we will be waiting a long time. If we do believe that member-led unions have an important and more transformative role to play in society then we also have to accept that they need to be engaging with the central and defining political issues of the day. For us right now, this is Brexit.

In a wider sense Brexit also tells us much about the strengths and weaknesses of trade unions operating within a labour market with a global reach. For our international subscribers, where Brexit may be of interest but perhaps less immediate and practical relevance, we ask them to consider how Brexit reveals an important challenge of making unions relevant in a global context where the rules are set by powerful and remote multi-state organisations like the EU, IMF, WTO among others.

We felt that while there has been a great deal of comment and analysis on Brexit from all ends of the political spectrum not a great deal has focused on the impact on trade unions and labour law specifically. As a result we decided to structure the episode around areas of priority for union organisers - how has the EU impacted European trade unions? What are the benefits and limitations of EU membership for trade unionists? How might Brexit change the relationship of trade unions to the state? How might we expect trade unions to respond in best and worse case scenarios? And what should the immediate priorities for those group at the sharp end of the Brexit process?

This episode ended up being longer than we would normally plan, however, we hope our listeners see the value in this exercise and if you'd like us to produce more content along these lines where we engage with current affairs from an organising perspective then please let us know in your feedback.

Finally, we'd like to once again thank all of our subscribers, Patreon supporters and all of you who share our content on social media. Your support helps to sustain and to grow the New Syndicalist project. Thanks for helping the work along.

Enjoy.

For the benefit of listeners - Liz Truss gets angry about cheese: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_wkO4hk07o

'Material Girls' is a new podcast from New Syndicalist, about anti-capitalist feminism. Lydia (from our editorial team), Vanessa, and Emily will explore issues such as work, reproductive justice, violence and mental health from a feminist anti-capitalist perspective. 'Material Girls' aims to be an introduction to these ideas, and an antidote to liberal feminism. There will be no encouragement to 'lean in' on this podcast.

The first episode is an introduction to some of the ideas and debates within anti-capitalist feminism, and an explanation of the differences between our perspective and liberal feminism. We talk about representation, the limits of liberalism, and carceral feminism. We also recommend some relevant reading, plug some feminist events, and permanently cancel some misogynists.

We’re looking for guests who’d like to join in the discussion or be interviewed. We’d particularly love to hear from women of colour, black women and trans women, who are not represented by our regular hosts. You can also let us know if you’re doing some feminist organising that you’d like us to plug, especially if it’s happening outside of London. Email us at [email protected].

Links to recommended reading -

https://globalstudies.trinity.duke.edu/sites/globalstudies.trinity.duke.edu/files/file-attachments/v2d2_Lugones.pdf

https://www.versobooks.com/books/2924-feminism-for-the-99

https://caringlabor.wordpress.com/2010/10/20/nicole-cox-and-silvia-federici-counter-planning-from-the-kitchen/

Subscribe to New Syndicalist on Soundcloud or your favourite podcast app to keep up to date with Material Girls, Talking Shop, and our other audio content.

In this episode of Talking Shop, we interview Simon Pirani, the author of 'Burning Up - A Global History of Fossil Fuel Consumption'. Simon is a writer, historian, and researcher on energy, as well as an activist involved in social and labour movements.

In 'Burning Up', Simon argues that, throughout the twentieth century, industrialisation, urbanisation and mass consumption were the driving forces for the technological changes and changes in energy consumption that created the current climate crisis. He also discusses the social transformations that would be needed to build fully sustainable relationships to the environment.

We asked Simon about what climate change looks like in the present day and near future, the promise of movements like the school strikes, and the climate denialism of big business. We talked about how and why unions should be mobilising their membership behind climate issues, and about moving beyond the false dichotomy of jobs vs positive environmental policies.

Simon's excellent book is available here -https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745335612/burning-up/

New Syndicalist was invited to give a presentation at the Freie Arbeiter Union - Free Workers' Union (FAU) conference on activism and growth within syndicalist unions (we extend our gratitude to FAU for the opportunity and their hospitality during our visit). We took this invitation as an opportunity to reflect on our experiences as organisers and activists within the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) in a period of rapid growth, following a rebirth in the UK in the mid-2000s.

Universal Basic Income (UBI) is a new approach to welfare supported by many across the political spectrum from Elon Musk to John McDonnel.

UBI is an approach to pay citizens wages from the state or independent organisations like charities or unions. This is either with the intention of bringing all out of poverty or, as critics would argue, providing a supporting structure for a jobs market of impermanent, short-term and precarious work, the so-called “gig economy”.

In this episode of Talking Shop we are joined by Ednaur who will discuss their research into UBI, its value as a policy and its relevance to trade unions. We discuss criticisms of UBI, examples of where it has been trialed and, perhaps most importantly, can you trust Ellon Musk?

You can also listen to and subscribe to the ‘Talking Shop’ series via ACast – https://www.acast.com/newsyndicalist

And iTunes – https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/talking-shop/id1393839035

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On this episode of Talking Shop the editorial team take on the wide-ranging topic of populist politics attempting to understand a collapse in the political centre-ground with seemingly global dimensions. Is it, in the words of Paul Mason, "kicking off everywhere"? Is populism a new and powerful political force? Or is this just the old politics re-packaged for changing times?

 The discussion concludes on the need for an inclusive, union-centred vision of popular political action that effectively empowers everyone marginalised, impoverished and dis-empowered by the "moderates" and centrists of the past two decades. This is while also acknowledging the need to understand better how union organisers should position themselves in respect to emerging populist movements and parties.

New Syndicalist were invited to Loughborough University to give a presentation on the project, how it relates to the resurgence in base unionism and how we see our media supporting organising on the ground. This was followed by a brief Q and A also included in this recording. Apologies for any inconsistencies in the audio quality.

On the 2nd February, one of our editors attended the women and non-binary organiser training organised by Solfed. The full-day training included strategies for building relationships of solidarity with co-workers, how to run an effective first meeting and how to plan a successful campaign. The focus was on issues faced by women at work, from sexual harassment, to ill-fitting personal protective equipment.

At lunch time Lydia had a chat with attendees about the training, their experiences of unions, and the barriers they've faced in their own workplace organising.