Wednesday 11th March Sheffield Save Our NHS zoom meeting
Please note change in start time to 7.30pm Join Zoom Meeting https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87271050399?pwd=CJmlRkgLjPzRU5V1rhYBbvaCCKSkN5.1 Meeting ID: 872 7105 0399 Passcode: 200761
Agenda includes: REPORT ON PALANTIR MEETING – SHARON MILSOM FOLLOW UP TO MIGRATION – RACISM & THE NHS Boycott of Israeli Pharmaceutical Company TEVA STALL & ACTIVITIES – KONP UPDATE – HEALTH SCRUTINY COMMITTEE – ICB – MEDIA UPDATE
Mick Suter, Chair SSONHS 07380139142
Thursday, March 12th No Palantir in the NHS
9-11am outside Sheffield Town Hall. This campaign is relevant to us all – health workers, users of the NHS and people who know what Palantir does from its work with Israel. Join us!
Friday 13th March Friday night rally for Palestine
5pm to 6pm outside Sheffield rail station. Regular Friday night rally for Palestine
FREE PALESTINE? Organised by Sheffield Palestine Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid
Saturday 14th March Sheffield Day of Action against the Far Right
12 midday to 2pm outside Sheffield Town Hall. Stalls- Speakers-Music
Sheffield city centre event to promote the upcoming Together Alliance national event.
Progressive campaign groups & union branches – all welcome!
Building for the London “Together against the Far Right” march on Saturday 28th March. Several coaches are going from Sheffield
Wednesday 18th March Talk by Sharlene Farrugia: “The Countervailing Power of Trade Unions in Welfare Reform”
1pm Strines 37 04 05, Hallam University (off Howard Street S1)
Analyses of trade unions, power, and gender inequality have traditionally focused internally upon women’s representation within trade union organisational structures, or how mainstreamed ‘women’s issues’ are on trade union agendas. Less focus has been given to how trade unions utilise their power resources to more effectively represent women occupying [precarious] positions within the labour market – itself potentially a reflection of unequal gendered power relations within the trade union movement. By analysing data taken from five of the most established trade unions within the UK, this paper examines the sources of ‘power’ trade unions draw upon when engaging with a significant welfare policy reform – Universal Credit. Departing from the dominant ideological position within IR scholarship, that power negotiated between capital and labour serves all workers equally, the article positions women as economically, socially and politically situated through welfare reform, and contributes to the study of power resource theory by giving focus to trade union power(s) in relation to labour. The conceptualisation of ‘countervailing power’ within the context of Universal Credit, demonstrates how broadening the strategic choices of trade unions has potential to transform their role within the regulation of women’s labour, while challenging the gendered character of employment relations maintained through welfare systems.
Biography: Sharlene Farrugia is a doctoral student, based in the Decent Work and Productivity Research Centre at Manchester Metropolitan University. Her doctoral research focuses on the role of trade unions in welfare reform. Sharlene has extensive experience working in local government and the non-profit sector both in the UK and Australia, working in areas of access, social inclusion and gender equity.
Wednesday 18th March Roger McKenzie and Nigel Flanagan in discussion
7pm Central United Reform Church, 60 Norfolk Street S1 2JB. Organised by S.Yorks Morning Star Readers and Supporters Group. Roger is well known internationally as a leading anti-racist campaigner and trade union organiser. Roger is the international editor of the Morning Star and author of African Uhuru and African Phoenix.
Long time union organiser, Nigel’s career has taken him as union militant, strike leader, full time organiser and activist to diverse corners of the global labour market. Nigel is the author of Go South: union organising in the 21st century and Our Trade Unions: what comes next after the summer of 2022. Together they will bring their extensive union experience and insight to the global state of work. Join them for what is sure to be an insightful and lively discussion. No advance booking required
Tuesday 24th March 2026 Panel: Understanding Iran Protests:
6:30pm to 8:30pm University of Sheffield – place to be confirmed for registered people. Organisers: Migration Research Group, Kurdish Society of the University of Sheffield, SYMAAG and Iran Solidarity Net Sheff. Domestic and International Perspectives /Woman- Life – Freedom
Join us for a panel featuring diverse perspectives on the current protests in Iran. We have assembled experts and people with lived experience and access to diverse information sources from Iran. We will debate the following questions: What is happening in Iran? Why are people protesting? What are the domestic discourses and narratives about the Protests? What are the International perspectives on the Iran Protests? What are the implications of that for Iran and the world?
Chair: Dr Patricia Nabuco Martuscelli (University of Sheffield) and Pouyan, M.D (Member of the South Yorkshire Migration and Asylum Action Group – SYMAAG: https://www.symaag.org.uk/about-us/)
Panellists:
- Yassamine Mather (Editor of Critic Magazine, University of Oxford).
- Dr Hosnieh Djafari-Marbini Senior NHS Consultant Anaesthetist; Independent Oxford City Councillor and Migrant Champion; Union Delegate of the British-Iranian Medical Association; Member of Medact.
- Dr Anahita Hosseini Lewis (Expert in international relations, international law, human rights, and political sociology. She has worked as an advisor for different international organisations).
Please register using the link. https://forms.gle/c1GLsP4G5oLoMKwP7
Saturday 28th March Together Against the Far Right demo London
Assemble 12 noon Park Lane. Coaches depart Sheffield https://buytickets.at/sheffieldtradeunioncouncil/2050053 Coach departs 7:30 AM Outside the HUBS Paternoster Row, S1 2QQ Coach returns to Sheffield 9:30 PM. Tickets Cost £25 waged £10 Unwaged.
The Together Alliance –is a new coalition of over 80+ campaigns, organisations and civil society groups, alongside thousands of everyday people. Together is building a major national demonstration in London next year on Saturday, 28 March 2026. This is the first public action — and your participation will set the tone, showing that the majority of people in this country stand for unity, not division. We Hope to be back around 9pm but coaches will leave London from an agreed pick up point agreed with the Driver . Your coach steward will ensure you know the exact pick up point. sign up yourself: https://togetheralliance.org.uk
We are asking for a voluntary donation to help with cost and have solidarity tickets if you can’t come but want to help pay for someone else See more: https://www.in
stagram.com/p/DVONhgxiKQs
The Palestine coalition is mobilising for 28 March. The organisers of the massive national demonstrations against the genocide in Gaza are mobilising for a feeder march to the Together against the far right demonstration on 28 March. FOR ALL THOSE REQUESTING DETAILS ON COACH TO THE UNITY MARCH (Saturday 28th march) – There is a Sheffield PSC and Women Against the Far Right coach-
Use this link to book your seat-
https://buytickets.at/sheffieldtradeunioncouncil/2103210
Monday 13th April Sheffield Nablus Twinning Association AGM
6.30pm 45 Channing Hall, Surrey Street (upstairs -lift available) S1 2LG
Speakers from Nablus and the West Bank on the illegal Israeli occupation and creeping annexation. Also speaker from the Free Marwan Barghouti campaign and the campaign to free all Palestinian hostages/prisoners. Nearly 10,000 Palestinians are in Israeli detention, more than a third of whom have not been charged with any offence and are held indefinitely under so-called “administrative detention”. This includes many women and children. Torture, rape and other abuses are reportedly rife.
Sheffield Nablus Twinning Association is campaigning to make Sheffield and Nablus officially twinned to ensure a stronger and more immediate form of solidarity with Palestinians and a greater understanding and awareness of the oppression and violence under Israeli occupation and apartheid.
You can become a member of SNTA here
The AGM is open to the public – you do not have to be a member to attend
Tuesday 28th April International Workers memorial Day
1230hrs by the Memorial Tree outside Sheffield Town Hall, Pinstone Street.
Sheffield TUC will hold a wreath laying ceremony with speeches outside Sheffield Town Hall by the Memorial Tree. Branches and other organisation are invited to lay a wreath. This is an international trade union event to mark the importance of health and safety at work. The TUC says “Every year more people are killed at work than in wars. Most don’t die of mystery ailments, or in tragic “accidents”. They die because an employer decided their safety just wasn’t that important a priority. International Workers Memorial Day (IWMD) 28 April commemorates those workers.”
Saturday 2nd May General Strike centenary Barnsley, 2026
Unite the Union is working with Durham Miners Association and the National Union of Mineworkers to mark the 100 year anniversary of the 1926 General Strike. We are bringing together trade unionists, historians, musicians, artists and authors to make this a truly memorable celebration of working class pride.
Add the date to your calendar, and register your details here for news and updates as the day takes shape.
Monday 4th May Chesterfield May Day rally and events
We await more details
Saturday 9th May “General Strike 1926” – pamphlet launch
2-5pm, Showroom 5 – Showroom/WorkStation
As part of our annual May Day celebrations, Sheffield TUC is pleased to announce the launch of a new pamphlet commemorating Sheffield’s – and Sheffield Trades Union Council’s – involvement in the General Strike of 1926.
The pamphlet is being produced by archivist and local historian, Edd Mustill, author of a new centenary history, Britain’s Revolutionary Summer: The General Strike of 1926, and the pamphlet, The Sheffield Workers’ Committee: Rank and file trade unionism during the First World War.
At the launch event, Edd will provide an overview of the pamphlet and lead a discussion on this pivotal moment in Sheffield labour movement history.
Tea and coffee will be provided.
Save the date – booking information will be provided shortly.
Sunday 31st May Two Peaks Bike ride
Save the Date! Dear Friends!
The Sheffield Estelí Society will be running our annual Two Peaks Bike ride (with walk option for non-cyclists) on
more information coming soon
All best,
Jane and Ros form SES