The IWWs Annual Conference 2024 brought together Fellow Workers (FWs) for a packed weekend of education, organisation and discussion in Bristol. This year’s conference had a very international flavour. FWs from all over Britain and Ireland were joined by Wobs from Austria, Poland, Cyprus, Germany and Australia.
The conference listened to presentations from speakers from Turkey, the USA and Kurdistan and from migrant workers in the UK. We heard, for example, about the organising efforts of domestic workers in Turkey, attempts to decolonise the international NGO, Medicins Sans Frontieres and migrant worker organising in Glasgow.
One of the highlights, for this Wob at least, was hearing about the ongoing struggles to set up the Pan-African Workers’ Association (PAWA) in the UK. It was heartening to hear about them organising to win victories for migrant workers from Africa who are working in the care sector. Conference delegates voted to support these ongoing struggles by PAWA, by modifying the WISE-RA rulebook to allow chartered Associations representation on the Delegate Executive Committee (DEC) and by committing to continuing to support PAWA, as an IWW Association.
Workers’ action against climate change was another theme in the conference. With talks on the pioneering work of Wobbly Judi Bari and Earth First! and on Earth Strike UK strategy. And there were sessions on a range of other topics, from Rethinking our affiliation to the ICL-CIT to Area Organising to LGBTQIA+ Safe Spaces.
And, of course, there were plenty of opportunities for socialising!