Help needed please!

[Steve_j]

Hey comrades,

A former employer of mine has gone into administration, no one has been paid and things arnt looking good.

Although I no longer work for the company i still have alot of friends there and am very concerned for them. The company is not unionized, and the majority of the workers (in the warehouse) are non english speaking poles so they are easy to take advantage of.

I will leave the company unnamed but if shit hits the fan, ie. sent home with no pay or adequate redundancy package, where do the workers stand? Anyone know what action they can take?

Any advice would be greatly apreciated.

[h9socialist]

What industry is your company in? What State is it in?

Frankly, if I were you, I would try to get someone who is still there in touch with the IWW (www.iww.org). The IWW's advice on "direct action" could be very helpful, because it doesn't sound like there's much time for an organizing drive.

[Pogue]

steve what country are you in? This is something you'd have to deal with in the real world, I could give you some contacts, tell me where your talking about, through personal message if you want.

[PRC-UTE]

Hey comrades,

A former employer of mine has gone into administration, no one has been paid and things arnt looking good.

Although I no longer work for the company i still have alot of friends there and am very concerned for them. The company is not unionized, and the majority of the workers (in the warehouse) are non english speaking poles so they are easy to take advantage of.

I will leave the company unnamed but if shit hits the fan, ie. sent home with no pay or adequate redundancy package, where do the workers stand? Anyone know what action they can take?

Any advice would be greatly apreciated.

are you in Britain, comrade?

[Steve_j]

Sorry guys yeah im in London. The company is london based and has shops across England. Was a bit stressed when i did the post so no doubt left out important info, any questions just ask and any advice as to where to start by all means shoot. Am happy to speak openly on the forum.

Like i said i am actually an ex employee but i still care about the people who work there.... and care very little for those that own the company.

Any contacts, legal advice or anything that i can pass on would be great, im actually sorry i dont work there anymore, i would love to fight this one with them.

[Pogue]

Steve I can talk to you in PM about some people you might want to contact, if you want? I don't think we should really talk about this in public but we might be able to sort something out. I'm in London too.

[Steve_j]

Oh and as for the industry, it is importation and retail. So its mainly warehouse, logistics and shop staff that i am concerned about.

[Steve_j]

Thanks Pogue message sent.

[cyu]

Anyone know what action they can take?

Of course, it's always easier said than done, but the best thing to do, in my opinion, is to always assume democratic control of the location. The employees just show up and start operating as normal while ignoring upper management. Of course, if language is a problem, they'll probably need more outside help than usual - but it shouldn't be too hard to find left-leaning people to lend a hand, especially with capitalism going down the tubes the way it is.

Building up community support is also very important - so you might have to recruit some people to do community outreach. Democracy in the workplace - who doesn't support democracy, right? =]

You might also try to contact some of the people here to get some pointers: http://savevestas.wordpress.com/