“As these pressures combine, our movement will need to step up and deliver stronger, more sustained solidarity. The Solidarity Fund can help achieve this.”
By Robert Poole and Henry Fowler, co-founders of Strike Map
This May Day, Strike Map is launching a new initiative: the Solidarity Fund.
Six years on from our first “Wear Red for Key Workers” campaign—when we encouraged the movement to reclaim May Day in support of workers during the height of the Covid pandemic—we’ve built something far bigger than we first imagined.
Over the past half-decade, we’ve raised significant funds for striking workers through merchandise, beer sales, and fundraising events. What began as a modest effort has grown steadily, showing the scale of solidarity we can build when we organise effectively. During the Birmingham bin strike in particular, tens of thousands were raised across the movement—demonstrating clearly what’s possible.
Of course, raising money for workers is not new. The best parts of our movement have always done this—alongside direct action to support struggles. Our partners in the General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU) were founded on exactly this principle: building collective strength through shared resources, including strike funds to support workers taking action against hostile employers.
But as a movement, we have often fallen short in developing a consistent, accessible fundraising infrastructure. Even now, many efforts rely heavily on bank transfers—something not everyone is able or willing to use.
At a time when crowdfunding platforms allow instant donations by card, strike solidarity funds can still feel fragmented and difficult to access. The Solidarity Fund is designed to help address that gap and to open up a wider conversation about how we modernise and strengthen our fundraising.
Our aims are simple:
- To provide a straightforward and effective way for anyone to support striking workers financially
- To help place Strike Map at the heart of solidarity fundraising, keeping us closely connected to live disputes
Solidarity has always been at the core of Strike Map. Alongside our fundraising, we have organised actions like demonstrations, megapickets and digital solidarity actions like write tos and petitions. These actions are nowhere near as powerful as the striking workers taking action, but they can support the picket lines and prevent workers from being forced back to work too soon.
The Solidarity Fund makes giving easier. You don’t need union bank details or to search for where to send support—you can donate knowing that Strike Map will ensure the money reaches the workers and disputes it’s intended for.
In practice, donors can choose to support a specific dispute or allow us to distribute funds across current campaigns, directing support where it’s most needed. Everyone who contributes will receive a pin badge—something to wear with pride, marking their support for the Solidarity Fund.
We also want to be clear about what this is not.
Financial solidarity is a cornerstone of the labour movement, and we want to see direct relationships between workers, branches, and unions continue to grow. This fund is not intended to replace or disrupt those connections. We will always encourage people to donate directly where they can.
Instead, this is an additional tool—another way for workers, union groups, and supporters to contribute to strike efforts.
We have written to national trade unions to support the Solidarity Fund, and we are proud to already have backing from ASLEF, the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU), NASUWT, and the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS).
Lenin described May Day as a celebration of workers’ “awakening” and their shared struggle against oppression. That’s why we’re using this historic day to build stronger, more lasting infrastructure for solidarity across our movement.
Our first report makes this clear: disputes are lasting longer, shaped by anti-union laws that remain embedded in the statute books despite the Employment Rights Act. The Gloucestershire Phlebotomists managed over 300 days of action, the National Coal Mining Museum of England had over 170 strike days, and the Bin workers in Birmingham had over 15 months of action, showing this fund is needed now.
As elections approach and Reform UK looks set to gain more councils, all in the context of a deepening cost-of-living crisis, we can expect more frequent and longer-running strikes. Sustaining them will require real, material solidarity—especially financial support for workers on picket lines.
As these pressures combine, our movement will need to step up and deliver stronger, more sustained solidarity. The Solidarity Fund can help achieve this.
- You can contribute to the Solidarity Fund here.
- Robert Poole and Henry Fowler are co-founders of Strike Map. You can find out more about Strike Map here, and follow Strike Map on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter/X.
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