WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE UK uk United Kingdom - news journal UPDATE - (en) Uk, ACG, Jackdaw #23 - Key Workers United (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 In the beginning were the words. Key Workers United newsletter was

launched during Covid to record what key workers in Norwich were
experiencing at work during the pandemic and lockdown.
We began by asking our contacts in the NHS, rail, retail, education, and
the post office to write short accounts of work and our contacts
responded wholeheartedly. What seemed unique was that these were the
voices of workers themselves, most of whom were not in a party or sect-
a kind of local 'Notes from Below' with worker correspondents. It was
bi-monthly, giving us enough time to collect articles and images and
went from 2 to 4 pages very quickly.  ---- After Covid, it was
inevitable that contributions would fall off but the 2022-23 strike wave
began to reactivate people. The strikes brought a massive revival.
Picket lines at the local hospital (Norfolk & Norwich), pickets at rail
stations and postal depots were regularly supported. RMT picket lines
were set pieces of solidarity supported by NOR4NOR, Unite Community and
DPAC: we sang 'Oh show me the way to the next picket line'. At UEA, it
has chronicled the long running disputes over redundancies whilst the
closure of Norfolk's flagship adult centre Wensum Lodge provoked a
community fightback. Over time, it has evolved: more general articles, a
regular column called 'Whatever would Gerrard[Winstanley]say?' as well
as play and book reviews and regular comments on the Palestine genocide.
And the opening of new left bookshop called Caracol has been a welcome
home for reading, writing and gathering in Norwich.
It's clear that any local newsletter rides a wave of wider political and
social currents e.g. Covid, the strike wave and Palestine. But unlike
the national publications of the left, it talks about identifiable local
workplaces or issues e.g. Benjamin Court in Cromer and in Lowestoft and
Yarmouth. Secondly, that it is not affiliated to any political party
(especially not the Labour Party or the Socialist Workers Party).
Although the comrades involved in the meetings are from all shades of
opinion and bring with them huge reserves of political experience
they're not dogmatic. Thirdly it is an independent forum with a clear
formulation of working class politics and tries to overcome the 'silo
syndrome' that divides campaigns and projects. It asserts that it is
vital to link the workplace with communities, for example in the work of
NOR4NOR which argues that rail workers need to forge links with local
passenger groups as shown successfully by the fight to retain guards on
trains and by the ticket office victory.
If Key Workers Unite can begin to unite struggles in Norfolk is, as yet,
unclear. This is urgent but difficult. But the issues of climate change,
inequality, migrants' rights, Palestine and the proto-fascist
right/militarism do not stop at county boundaries.
It is now the newsletter of the Norfolk & Waveney Solidarity Network.
Contact Dave Welsh: davidwelsh83@btinternet.com or phone 07946284089
Dave Welsh (in a personal capacity)

https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/jackdaw23c.pdf
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