Protestival 2.0 - Bath's Festival of Protest

Following the success of this June's gathering in Victoria Park, Bath will see a second Protestival this year on Saturday at the Royal Oak on Lower Bristol Road.

The press release for the event reads:

Jessica Milton will host Protestival 2.0, taking place at The Royal Oak pub on Lower Bristol Road on 03/10/15. It will be a day event filled with workshops, short talks, performance poetry and music.

Jessica Milton is proud to bring Protestival 2.0 to Bath for the second time. Protestival 2.0 will kick off with acoustic music performed by local musicians, followed by talks on community projects, campaigns and local opinions throughout the early afternoon. There will be diverse workshops all day in the beer garden, and music all evening to keep us dancing long into the night!

More information can be found online at:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1692671017614244/
Eventbrite: http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/protestival-tickets-18650461031?aff=es2

The event has been lovingly founded with the intention of creating a platform of shared ideas, knowledge, and expertise, to create a better connected society. It has been called the “spiritual successor to the Visions for Change event that drew in hundreds of people in 2012 and 2013”, and is a celebration of activism and radical thought in Bath and the surrounding community.

LINE UP

WORKSHOPS
running throughout the day in the side room (or the beer garden, weather permitting):

Kieran Denman: Anarchism and building your own solidarity network
Jesse Perrett: Poetry and spoken word activities
Clothes swap: bring something from the back of your wardrobe and you could go away with something new!

TALKS
commencing early afternoon:

Paul Reid-Bowen; Bath Spa Philosophy lecturer, on Sustainability
Zenon; ex-hermit and artist, on the importance of Collective Unity
Chris Roche; recently-ex-student and Unionist, on the importance of activism and how student groups can encourage change (subject to change)
Zaria Philips; from Unite in the Community, on community solidarity
Holly Templer; from Fossil Free Bristol, talking about successful local campaigns
Louise Somerville; from Frack Free Somerset, on practical campaigning skills

MUSIC
throughout the day and continuing through the night!

Chris Johnston; chilled, positive vibes, drawing on his own life experience

Tom Harris; self proclaimed 'musician, poet, astronaut' - make of him what you will
https://soundcloud.com/tomharrismusic

The Domino Collective; funk-influenced feel good grooves
https://thedominocollective.wordpress.com/

We will also be teaming up with the Royal Oak for the evening, and inviting a "mighty fine collection of West Country style bands for a jolly evening of cider swilling" at The Royal Oak in Bath from 9pm:
Surfin' Turnips, Scrumpy Swillers and Hater UK at The Royal Oak

 Times for the events are as follows:

1.35 - 2.15 EMMY LILA
2.15 - 2.30 INTRODUCTION TO PROTESTIVAL: the vision
2.30 - 2.55 PAUL REID-BOWEN
2.55 - 3.10 HOLLY TEMPLAR
3.10 - 3.30 SAMMY CROCKER
3.30 - 3.50 CHRIS ROCHE
3.50 - 4.20 TOM HARRIS
4.20 - 4.30 ZARIA PHILIPS
4.30 - 5.15 BEN LYTHE
5.30 - 7.00 DOMINO COLLECTIVE
8.00 til late STEVE WURZEL AND THE SCRUMPY SWILLERS


 

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Budget Day Protest in Bath

In response to George Osbourne's emergency budget on Wednesday, which will see £12bn in welfare cuts and a £20,000 benefit cap (£23,000 in London), Bath Against Cuts organised a demonstration against the elements of the budget that will affect the disabled, the poor, students and the low-waged.

After assembling at the Conservative Party HQ in Bathwick at 5.30pm, demonstrators marched to the council offices at the Guildhall where a meeting between Conservative councillors was being held. Around 100 people representing groups Bath Against Cuts, Bath Students Against Fees and Cuts, 38 Degrees Bath and the local Green and Labour parties, as well as other members of the public, attended the demonstration. Speakers, including Labour councillor Joe Rayment and representatives from University of Bath UCU and 38 Degrees, addressed the protest via a megaphone, condemning the budget.

Security guards at the Guildhall were heavy-handed, with one demonstrator pushed down the Guildhall steps and other being shoved around by security.

The demonstration in Bath was just one of many that took place throughout the UK, including protests in London, Bristol, Glasgow, Milton Keynes, Cardiff, Cornwall, Portsmouth, Nottingham, Birmingham, Northampton, Manchester, Edinburgh, Plymouth, Liverpool, Norwich, Oxford and many other towns and cities.

University of Bath UCU vice-president Chris Roche, who spoke at the demonstration, commented: "It should be no surprise that this Tory government have a programme of taking from the poorest and most vulnerable in society to pay the rich. The question is, what do we do about it? Nothing challenges the power of the ruling class like organised labour, so join a trade union and get active within it. There's too much at stake to sit back and watch the horror show - stand up and be part of the fight back"
 
38 Degrees Bath commented "Without a significant and sustained opposition to the worst of the Tory government's policies, the suffering of the most vulnerable in society will deepen and spread, and our welfare system and public services may be damaged beyond repair."

Earlier today, Bath Students Against Fees and Cuts released a statement on the budget, which reads:

"George Osbourne’s emergency budget announced a devastating attack on higher education and students in addition to £12 billion of cuts to welfare. 

Here’s our summary of how the budget may affect students :

- Maintenance grants for students with family incomes below £42,000 will be scrapped and replaced by loans from 2016-17. The maximum loan will be £8,200 a year. This will mean that students are forced into even more debt, leaving the poorest students with a debt of £51,000 after 3 years.

- Elite universities that can demonstrate excellent teaching will be allowed to increase tuition fees in line with inflation from 2017-18. In effect this will create a 2-tier higher education system with better teaching only available to those that can afford to pay more.

- George Osbourne’s “Living Wage” of £7.20 an hour is nothing of the sort - it has been condemned by the Living Wage Foundation, who calculate it to be £7.85 an hour (£9.15 for London). George Osbourne’s “Living Wage” is merely a higher minimum wage. Furthermore, it is not applicable to the under-25s. 18-20 year olds will earn £5.30/hr and those ages between 21-25 will get £6.70/hr.

- Under 21s will no longer be entitled to housing benefit. Not everyone has the option of living with their parents, and this will mean many will have to live with abusive parents/guardians or be forced onto the street. This will disproportionately affect those who identify as LGBTQ.

- The youth benefits scheme will be overhauled, with an obligation placed on 18-21 year olds to ‘earn or learn’.

- Cuts to Further Education also look likely to be announced as part of the spending review in autumn.

Bath Students Against Fees and Cuts opposes this vicious attack on higher education, which will mean those from the lowest income families will be left with £51,000 of debt by the end of a 3-year course if they take out the maximum loan - which many will need to in order to survive. Those from wealthier families who can afford to pay for their children to study and live while at university will leave without that debt hanging over their heads. While the maintenance grant system went some way to addressing economic inequality, relieving underprivileged students of some of the debt burden, those from poorer backgrounds will now be put at an immediate disadvantage.

Forcing students into even more debt promotes an individualistic, corporatised vision of higher education. Education must be free - We believe that education is a public good which benefits society. Join us at the national demonstration in November to fight for free education and the introduction of living grants for all in November: https://www.facebook.com/events/1449378505377525/"

 Bath Against Cuts has vowed to continue to fight the cuts being implemented by the majority Conservative administration. Get involved by attending their meetings on the first Tuesday of every month at The Ram, Widcombe at 8pm.

Bath Against Cuts website: https://bathagainstcuts.wordpress.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bathagainstcuts
Twitter: @bathagainstcuts

If you are among the growing number of people affected or concerned by the impact this government is having on the people, the environment and on international affairs, get involved! Our directory of activist and campaign groups can be found here.

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Budget Day Demonstration Outside Bath Tory HQ - Wednesday, 5.30pm

From Bath Against Cuts

On Wednesday, the first Tory-majority government for eighteen years will announce its first budget. All the signs show that it will be everything we feared: massive cuts to essential social welfare coupled with tax cuts to benefit those with more wealth - a budget that takes from the poor to pay the rich. We could expect nothing else from the Conservative Party, but the question is, how do we respond? National demonstrations are great, but we need to bring the opposition to Tory attacks on public services and welfare into our own cities, towns and villages.

At 17:30 on Wednesday, after the budget is announced, we will be meeting outside Bath Tory Party HQ to make our voices heard and to demonstrate to our new Tory MP that he will not be met with resigned indifference in Bath for the choices he makes in the voting lobbies of Westminster. We will also be discussing how to move forward and where to focus our energies in what will be a very tough but crucial five years.
Without a significant and sustained opposition to the worst of the Tory government's policies, the suffering of the most vulnerable in society will deepen and spread, and our welfare system and public services may be damaged beyond repair.

The Tory Council cabinet are meeting from 16:00 on Wednesday at the Guildhall, so we're aimimg to be there when they arrive.

This is a budget that will take from the many to give to the rich few.

The NHS, Education, Jobs, Welfare & public services will all be targeted.

It's important that we stand up and say NO MORE!

Make placards, bring music, bring your voice.

We say:
NO to 'austerity'
NO to the destruction of our public services
NO to cuts to social welfare
NO to more tax cuts for the rich
NO to the victimisation and marginalisation of migrants, disabled, poor and unemployed people.
YES to a fair, just, democratic and equal society.
Please come along, get involved, show that there is such a thing as society, and we will not let it be cut, divided and sold to the highest bidder.

COME & JOIN US!

Facebook event page here: https://www.facebook.com/events/864328026955753/

Tory HQ can be found at 96A Sydney Mews, Bath BA2 4ED Bathwick (behind the Church at the bottom of Bathwick Hill)

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Bath Against Cuts - Join Your Local Anti-Cuts Group

An important message from a member of Bath Against Cuts - Bath's number one opponents to cuts and austerity.

I expect you are all gutted by the election result but five years ago some of set up a anti-cuts campaign to fight the coalition's attacks on the poor and vulnerable. We together have done good work over the last five years. With a majority Tory government we are now needed more than ever. This new government will continue to attack the NHS, people on benefits and trade union activists. If you feel as I do please come to the anti-cuts organising meeting on Tuesday 12th May at the Ram Widcombe at 8 pm. 

The fight back starts now.

Bath Against Cuts usually meets on the first Tuesday of every month (it's the second Tuesday this month due to the election) at 8pm in The Ram.

For more info, follow @bathagainstcuts and check their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/bathagainstcuts

Read our post-election commentary here

Contact details of Bath and Bristol activist groups here - get involved

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Anti-Tory Protestors Take their Message to Downing Street

36.8% of registered voters voted for a "majority" Conservative government. They claim that they have a mandate to rule, but yesterday Britain said otherwise.

On Saturday morning, word reached Bath that a huge demonstration against the Conservative's cuts and for real democracy was about to take place. Activists and campaigners promptly took action and made their way to London to make their voices heard.

Starting at Tory HQ, the several-thousand strong demonstration peacefully marched to Downing Street, to Trafalgar Square and then back to Downing Street. Left-wing activists of all stripes - anarchist-communists, socialists, Green Party members, badger cull protestors and more united as one against the Conservatives.

Police claim that there was violence against them and criminal damage. The most violence our comrades on the demonstration witnessed was against peaceful demonstrators by aggressive riot police, while the real criminal sat in Downing Street plotting his assault on the British public. What the police failed to understand is that their livelihoods are now as under threat as everyone else's, and that plans to privatise the police force with hired security firms such as G4S will mean that pretty soon demonstrations will start to include ex-coppers too. With chants of "We are peaceful" and "Protect us, don't fight us" largely ignored, the police hit, grabbed, pushed and assaulted those acting in the best interest of the country.

Nobody at the demonstration was at all happy about "Fuck Tory Scum" being sprayed on a memorial to women in the second world war, and it is strongly suspected that this was the work of an agent provocateur, rather than a genuine protestor. What better way to discredit a movement than to desecrate one of the least controversial war memorials on VE Day? We need to be better than this - better than them.

                                          Video of scenes from the demo

Police then kettled protestors for several hours. Spirits in the kettle were high, with demonstrators singing, dancing, playing instruments and holding an open mic session.

The feeling on the day was that this was Day 1, and a good effort. Already people reject their society and are coming together to create something better and to oppose those who intend to ruin much of what the disadvantaged in society and their allies have fought for over the centuries. Peace, solidarity, direct action, education and hope are the tools this emerging counter-culture is using. May this continue.

While people were understandably angry and a lot of insults were thrown against the Tories and Cameron in particular, many people we have spoken to during and since the demonstration are wanting to move on from this. We need to be the best we can be. We need to rise above hatred - that's their value, not ours. Focus our anger into creating something positive - because by hating, we are as bad as they are. Opposing and doing everything we can to stop them need not stem from hatred. It can also stem from our love for our fellow humans and our planet. They do not choose to use their ability to love. We can.

Read our post-election thoughts here

Get involved and join an activist group in Bath or Bristol here

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Election Aftermath: Real Change Will Come From Us

On Friday morning, the United Kingdom woke up with a Conservative majority government, a result that nobody expected. This government is on a course to further the goals of capitalism, crush unions, strip away welfare, degrade worker's rights, increase the cost of tuition fees and wreak havoc on the environment, not to mention the badgers and foxes. But this also the beginning of something huge.

People are angry, and rightly so. Those that blindly voted for the party of the rich will slowly realise what they have done when their jobs, healthcare and education are affected. Under the current system, voting in this election was never going to bring about a radical change in society. Yes, proportional representation would be more democratic, and would give some of the smaller left (and also right) parties a bigger chance. Indeed, both the Greens and UKIP are now considering this among their top priorities. If the people of Britain wish to continue having a government then it is an improvement. But more importantly, we need to be building the society that we want to live in. Forming communities, sharing resources and ideas, showing solidarity with each other and rejecting the individualistic, isolationist and apathetic model of society that the powerful want us to inhabit.

There exist already numerous groups, locally and nationally, who are actively campaigning for and working towards a better world. Some of them are protest groups campaigning against things they feel are unjust. Some are political groups and parties who are advocating a different way of doing things. Some are charities, some are environmentalists. All have ideas on how to change the world. Many of these groups we have supported over the years, and we have now published details of how you can get involved.

Take a long hard look at the country and the world right now and ask yourself "What would I change?" "How would I like things to be?" and "What can I do to create this world I want to inhabit?". Then get out there and do it.

It is up to us, not politicians, to change the world. Real change can come from you. Get involved with the groups you support. Start other groups if you feel there are things not being addressed, and talk to other groups in your area about it. Get on the streets. Get on the internet. Talk to everyone you can. We need to build a strong movement for the sake of us all, and the sake of the planet. We need every one of you to be part of it, even if you can't offer much. Whether or not you stood up and were counted in the general election, all hope is not lost. The future depends on you and the world you help to create.

Over the next 5 years we need to be strong. We need to change the political narrative ourselves, not rely on parties to do it for us. If they want to stay relevant then they will need to reflect our views, not the other way around. And if they do not reflect our views then we should reject them.

Peace and love and solidarity in these dark times.

Get involved here: http://standingstonesblog.blogspot.co.uk/p/get-involved.html

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David Cameron Met by Angry Protesters in Bath

David Cameron arrives in Bath (Photo by Rabban)

David Cameron arrived in Bath this afternoon to deliver a speech to an audience largely shipped in from other parts of the country, with supporters coming from places as far off as Worcestershire and Hampshire to make up the numbers. Acting on an anonymous tip-off received late on Sunday night, protesters assembled outside Hayesfield Upper School at around 2pm on Sunday 4th May 2015 to make the prime-minister know he wasn't welcome in Bath.

Despite having only a few hours to organise in the morning, around 40 demonstrators turned out with placards and a megaphone. Groups present included Bath Students Against Fees and Cuts, Bristol Anarchist Federation, Green Party, Infiltration Party, Bath Against Cuts, Bath Against the Badger Cull, 38 Degrees and the Labour Party.

Protesters outside David Cameron's speech

At around 2.45pm, a large Conservative bus arrived outside the venue with David Cameron's team. The soon-to-be ex-prime-minister turned up in a blacked out vehicle moments later, and was met with shouting and an egg, which narrowly missed him - although it is likely it splashed his shoes and trousers. The Guardian has since reported that it was the first egg of the campaign.




We caught up with the egg-thrower after the demonstration, who did not wish to be named. They told us "Throwing an egg at the prime-minister is relatively harmless compared to the damage he's doing to the country".

                                          Video of the David Cameron Protest

Protester Reiss McGuinness commented "David Cameron did not come to greet us, as to be expected".

David Cameron was seen leaving via the back entrance, probably because he did not want to face the people who have been negatively affected by his tenure as prime-minister.

Campaigners noted that the Conservative bus was left running with the engine on for the entirety of Mr Cameron's speech, which is at odds with their claim to be the "greenest government ever". Many attendees arrived in cars and in taxis with only one passenger. The bus was also parked on yellow zig-zags. The police were informed but did not move the bus on.

Video of the egg being thrown here https://vine.co/v/eZhzHHvIljv

Read our Election Special here http://standingstonesblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/election-special-dont-just-vote-get.html

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Success in University of Bath Living Wage Battle

Bath Students Against Fees and Cuts and the three trade unions at the University of Bath have declared a victory in their long campaign for a Living Wage at the university.

Press release from Bath Students Against Fees and Cuts:

After months of increasingly vocal protest on campus, the University of Bath has announced to staff this week that they will pay all workers at least £7.85 an hour – the equivalent of a Living Wage! For the lowest paid staff, many of them student workers, this concession from management represents a pay rise of over 20%.

In recent months, Bath Students against Fees and Cuts and members of the local trade unions have staged four demonstrations on campus calling for a Living Wage for all, an end to exploitative contracts and a reduction in overall pay inequality at the University. In February we held a “Vice Chancellor’s Day” party to highlight the growing gap between the highest and lowest paid at the University. We also had two large protests outside meetings of the University Council, and a lobby of University Court at the beginning of March saw Vice Chancellor Glynis Breakwell and Chancellor Edward Windsor forced to take a back door into the meeting to avoid the students and staff waiting outside.

It is no coincidence that University management have backed down now after months of pressure from protests and activism on campus. Campaigns for equality inevitably involve challenging and putting pressure on those with power and privilege, not by obediently “working in partnership” with them. This victory shows what we can achieve when we organise and fight!

Winning a significant pay rise for the lowest paid staff is a big deal. But while we are celebrating this success, the fight for increased equality and better conditions for working and studying at the university has only just begun. The pay increase that the University have offered is in the form of a “pay supplement”, which university managers could take away at any time, over two thousand workers remain on exploitative zero hour contracts, and overall pay inequality on campus is among the worst in the UK.

Bath Students against Fees and Cuts will be continue to fight for:
+ a maximum 5:1 pay ratio between the highest and lowest earners
+ a GUARANTEED Living Wage for all in-house and out-sourced staff
+ democratic control over senior management pay and appointments
+ action to address gender and race inequality
+ secure employment contracts for all staff, including students who work at the university
+ an end to fees tuition fees and a return to free and publicly funded education, which we believe is a right and not a privilege.

On Saturday 28th March we will be attending a national demonstration in Birmingham calling on the Labour Party to support free education and grants, not make weak pledges to reduce tuition fees to £6000 a year.
For more information, and to get involved in the campaign, visit www.facebook.com/freeeducationbath and send us a message.

JOIN US, AND SUPPORT FAIR PAY, EQUALITY IN EDUCATION AND AN END TO FEES AND CUTS!

Standing Stone's Blog caught up with University of Bath student and Living Wage campaigner, Maisie Sanders, who told us:

“Hopefully this will encourage other businesses in Bath, as well as other universities, to pay their staff a Living Wage, especially seeing as the University of Bath employs more staff on the minimum wage than any other UK university. 

“However, there’s still a lot to be done in terms of lobbying the university to put people before profit. Thousands of staff are employed on insecure zero-hour contracts, which discriminate against women and disabled workers, and pay inequality is still staggering with the Vice Chancellor paid one of the highest salaries in British higher education.”

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Bath Students Against Fees and Cuts - A Week of Action

Living Wage lobby of the Bath University Council

In their busiest week yet, Bath Students Against Fees and Cuts undertook three actions for their campaigns against tuition fees and for a Living Wage at the University of Bath.

The actions started with a Living Wage lobby of the University of Bath council, along with the university unions, on Thursday 26th February. Many students have jobs at the university as well as non-academic staff, and many are paid below the Living Wage - an hourly rate calculated according to the basic cost of living in the UK - currently £7.85 an hour. The campaigners started the demonstration at 3.30pm in the stairwell of Wessex House, where the council meeting was being held. Bath Students Against Fees and Cuts campaigner Katy Boyce told us "Around 20 people petitioned and lobbied members of the university council, including the Vice Chancellor, for a Living Wage at the University of Bath. The Vice Chancellor was visibly perturbed by our presence and the confrontation with one of our members".

While on her way to the meeting, demonstrators confronted Vice Chancellor Glynis Breakwell over the issue. Joe Rayment, the Young Members' Officer at Bath University Unison was able to engage in dialogue with the Vice Chancellor. Joe told her "More people than are here today could be paid on  a living wage just with your salary", to which the VC replied "I can do the maths. Joe then replied "Can you do morality?". A video of the confrontation has now exceeded 800 views since the weekend.

                                         Living Wage lobby of Bath University Council

 

When asked about the confrontation and the video, Joe told us "I am incredibly pleased by how far and wide the video has been spread. The fact that the Vice Chancellor is either unable or unwilling to defend her bloated salary is demonstrative of the interests that she is serving through her management of the university."

Free Education banner at the
Bath Half-marathon"

On Sunday 1st March, members of Bath Students Against Fees and Cuts lined the route of the Bath Half-marathon with "Free Education" banners. Several members of the group were also running in the half-marathon. The action was intended to raise awareness at the high-profile event. A campaigner from Bath Students Against Cuts told us "The issue does not just affect current students, but the consequences of extortionate tuition fees will be felt by generations to come".


The final action of the week was a lobby of the Bath University Court - the statutory body representing the interests of the University's internal and external constituencies. Demonstrators from Bath Students Against Fees and Cuts and the university unions began the protest at 3pm on Tuesday 3rd March outside East Building.

Living wage lobby of Bath University Court

Attendees of the Court meeting included Vice Chancellor Glynis Breakwell and Chancellor Prince Edward, who rather than face the campaigners chose to enter the building via the back door. Demonstrators handed out letters from the unions and from students to members of Court, raising their concerns about the university not paying the Living Wage.

                                         Living Wage Lobby of Court Video

Katy Boyce told us "The Court members were generally quite receptive, many of them took leaflets and some even signed the petition."

Joe Rayment from Bath University Unison attended the court meeting: "In the court meet I challenged the VC to commit to a reduction every year in the pay ratio between the highest and lowest paid staff at the university. She said she would not commit to this because if the university is to stay competitive, apparently we must pay our best people well. When I sought clarification about whether this meant that she was threatening to leave if she did not continue to receive large pay rises every year, despite being the highest paid member of staff at the university, she claimed that this was not what she was saying."

If you live in Bath and support Bath Students Against Fees and Cuts, get involved! Their Facebook page is  https://www.facebook.com/freeeducationbath and they post details of meetings and actions there.

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Upcoming Living Wage Action at University of Bath

Bath Students Against Fees and Cuts and the trade unions at University of Bath will be demonstrating outside the University Council meeting, this Thursday, meeting at the Tiki cafe at 3.30pm.

A statement released by the group reads:

"The Living Wage is the minimum amount someone needs to earn to maintain a normal standard of Living. Disgracefully, the University of Bath refuses to pay a Living Wage to hundreds of its staff, the majority of whom are students. In contrast, the University's senior managers are extremely well paid. For example, the Vice Chancellor recently got another payrise, bringing her annual salary to £395,000! To put that into context, it would take some staff well over thirty years to earn what the Vice Chancellor earns in just one. This inequality is staggering, and getting worse. We say it has to stop.

On Thursday, Bath Students against Fees and Cuts will be joining the campus trade unions to call for a Living Wage for all University staff, and an urgent reduction in pay inequality on campus. Come and join us to lobby the University Council into doing the right thing - to pay all staff a wage they can afford to live on!

Meet at 15:30 in Wessex House, in the south stairwell on level 2. To get there, walk past the 4 West Cafe (Tiki) on your left hand side, and take the next door on the left. Bring your best chanting voices and a sign if you can"

 Social media users can join the Facebook event page here.

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University of Bath Vice Chancellor's Day

Vice Chancellor's Day Party at University of Bath

On February 2nd 2015, Bath Students Against Fees and Cuts held a Vice Chancellor's Day celebration, this time at the University of Bath, in recognition of the Vice Chancellor, Glynis Breakwell, having earned three times as much as the lowest paid worker at the university.

Vice Chancellor's Day cake

Over 300 people attended the celebration outside the university library, with music, party hats and a cake with Vice Chancellor's face on it. A petition for a living wage for staff at the university was signed by 295 people, and a card was presented to the Vice Chancellor's Office.

On Monday 2 February, Bath Students Against Fees and Cuts held a celebration to mark the date on which the Vice Chancellor of the University of Bath, one of Bath's biggest employers, earned three times as much as the annual income of the lowest paid worker. The purpose of the celebration was to draw attention to the wage disparity between the lowest paid workers at the university and the Vice Chancellor.

Vice Chancellor Glynis Breakwell currently earns £395,000 a year, compared to the lowest paid workers, who earn around £11,000 a year. The Vice Chancellor recently received a pay rise of £11,000.

Placards at the University of Bath Vice Chancellor's Day

The party comes on the day the Vice Chancellor signed a letter to The Times arguing that cutting tuition fees would "damage the economy, affect the quality of students' education, and set back work on widening access to education." (Note: The hyperlink takes to The Times' paywall, however a screenshot of the article can be found on this Facebook link). Reiss McGuinness, a member of Bath Students Against Fees and Cuts, said "As to be expected."

A student at the party told us: "It was great to get such a positive response from so many students and staff for our Vice Chancellor's Day celebration and more signatures on our petition for a living wage for staff".

The action comes after another Vice Chancellor's Day at Bath Spa University on 23rd January, when the Vice Chancellor there had earned the same amount as the lowest paid worker at the university, and a Free Education march in Bath city centre on 31st January this year.

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March for Free Education - 31st Jan 2015

Bath Students Against Fees and Cuts

For their second action of 2015, Bath Students Against Fees and Cuts and their allies took once again to the streets of Bath for a Free Education march. The march set off from Bath Abbey, up the High Street, across George Street, down Milsom Street and ending at the benches near the bus station, where a rally was held. With over 100 students and supporters marching, chanting and banging drums, the demonstration was impossible to ignore. 

Not since the Occupy camp in 2011 has Bath seen so many active people campaigning for a better future, and Bath Students Against Fees and Cuts show no sign of giving up any time soon, with their numbers increasing with every action.

A rally was held on the steps following the demonstration. Speakers included Dr Mike Carley from University of Bath UCU, Dominic Tristram, the Green Party candidate for Bath, Bruce Galliver, the Bath Spa Students' Union president, local guru Ray Raine and students from both Bath Spa University and University of Bath.

Other groups who joined in the march included Bristol Anarchist Federation, Occupy Bath, the Green Party, Universities and Colleges Union and Bath Against Cuts. Also present were Free Education campaigners from the University of the West of England. One of their campaigners had the following to say: "When we had an occupation, we had people from Bath Students Against Fees and Cuts come over and support us. I'm annoyed at having to pay £9000 a year. Education is a human right. I will come and support anyone who is standing up."

Christopher Roche, Campaigns Officer for Bath UCU, said "it's been inspiring to see so many students, staff and members of the local community coming together today to defend the principle of free education for all. The commodification and marketisation of higher education is hurting everyone, except for senior university managers who are in the business of awarding themselves increasingly absurd pay rises without any comprehensible justification. At last year's national conference, in response to a submission by Bath UCU, the union reaffirmed its opposition to tuition fees and support for a free and publicly funded education system. Our branch will continue to work alongside students who remain committed to making that ideal a reality."

                                          Video of the march and rally

Following a successful party celebrating the day on which the Vice Chancellor of Bath Spa University earned as much as the lowest paid worker outside the main house on 23rd January, Bath Students Against Fees and Cuts will be holding a similar Vice Chancellor's Day party at University of Bath on Monday 2nd February at 12 noon. They've even made the cake.

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